Touch Typing Nightmare

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It looks like Dell’s new Vostro 1310 might be a tad bit difficult to use…if you type by touch. Look at the D key in the picture then look at the Z,X,C,V key in relation to the D. All the keys are off by one. Oops. Thanks to JG for the link.
 
Yeah, I forsee a quick fix, and offering of fixed keyboards to those who purchased unknowingly.
 
I hope that's not real!

I do seriously hate it when keyboard makers screw with the layout of the keyboard. For example, the keyboard on my R61 has the Windows key and the Control key switched :mad:
 
I can't even type on a keyboard with one of those big enter keys... the ones shaped like a backward's L... So my "\" key is to the right of the right shift... That bugs me to no end. \\server\ i mean seriously, I need the "\" key more than most others.

I have issues when they screw with the insert, delete, home, end, pageup/down area.

Do they really expect us to use this ridiculus designs they come up with?


At any rate. I'm sure that each purchaser of these laptops will be getting a new keyboard in the mail with instructions how to replace it very VERY soon.
I don't care if you touchtype or not, you still have a very good idea where the Z key is, and if it's moved over one, even hunt&peck typers will be slower.
 
I hope that's not real!

I do seriously hate it when keyboard makers screw with the layout of the keyboard. For example, the keyboard on my R61 has the Windows key and the Control key switched :mad:

At least your Thinkpad has a Windows key. My T30 does not. =/

As for the Dell: who doesn't type by feel? Middle-schoolers?
 
Probably just certain non-US models. I was working on a guy's computer the other day, and it was from Germany. It had a really weird key layout.
 
After looking at images on Dell's website I am calling shens on this image... Theres no way that any major OEM would alter the standard keyboard layout as it relates to typing.
 
European keyboards (and canada I think) always have that weird shaped enter key, also notice the Alt Gr key (search wikipedia), euro sign is also on 4...
 
I've tried the Logitech G15, Dell keyboards, laser keyboards, M$ natural key, you name it...

13H6706-0041.jpg


For the last 10 years still typing true... I think I'll stick with my 1996 IBM Model M13 Trackpoint
Still in my eyes the best keyboard in history!
 
At least your Thinkpad has a Windows key. My T30 does not. =/

As for the Dell: who doesn't type by feel? Middle-schoolers?

Middle schoolers are far more likely to touch type than your average adult. They've been entirely raised on computers and while they might not have technical knowledge of them they certainly know how to use them and get where and what they want quickly. Keyboarding classes are often required classes in many public middle schools these days.
 
I took typing in middle school. 7th grade, if I remember correctly. That would have been '93.
 
lawl lawl lawl lawl lawl lawl!!! :D hahaa yea i hope they are jking :D
 
The keyboard was made for the Chinese as you can tell from the writing left of the keys. Its seems that a few people here don't know that most Chinese have a smaller pinky then the rest of the world, thats why the Z had to be moved over one key especially for gaming.
 
The "\ |"(back/slash and pipe) key on my KB is just right above the normal enter key, I hate those big enter keys.
 
RTFA?
UPDATE 1st May 2008 5pm: I phoned Dell for 20 minutes and they have confirmed that this affects all new Vostro 1310s in the UK. Oh dear!! They're hoping they can just replace the keyboards, though the guy on the phone said it was a 'motherboard' problem... I can't imagine that though.
 
Wouldn't bother me as I use the good old "hunt and peck" technique :D

Yeah I had typing classes in middle and high school but I, and most of the class, just cheated like a mofo because there was one teacher for like 40 students. He just walked around the lab and never really watched what we were doing. Actually I think he was making sure no one was playing games or trying to steal anything. As soon as he passed me I would H&P until he walked around again.
 
Wouldn't bother me as I use the good old "hunt and peck" technique :D

Yeah I had typing classes in middle and high school but I, and most of the class, just cheated like a mofo because there was one teacher for like 40 students. He just walked around the lab and never really watched what we were doing. Actually I think he was making sure no one was playing games or trying to steal anything. As soon as he passed me I would H&P until he walked around again.

LOL

My teacher hit us with a ruler. She was old-school. She also ran our school's chapter of FBLA. God damn, I hated that class. I use it every day though...
 
The keyboard was made for the Chinese as you can tell from the writing left of the keys. Its seems that a few people here don't know that most Chinese have a smaller pinky then the rest of the world, thats why the Z had to be moved over one key especially for gaming.

Umm....don't think thats the case. Why? Because you can see there are 8 different languages on that palm rest.:rolleyes:
 
Here we go, here's the funny German one I worked on the other day. I kept trying to type in the Windows product key, but it told me it was wrong about 3 times before I realized the "Z" key really wasn't where the "Z" key was supposed to be.. same with the "Y" key, lol.

IMG_0538.jpg
 
I work on so many computers I don't even look at the keyboard, lol. It mindfucks you when 1% of the time you get something like that.. haha. :p
 
I recently relocated to the UK for work and was surprised to find out their keyboard layout was different. It's obvious this is a UK-EN style keyboard, as the 4 key has the British Pound symbol on it instead of the US dollar.

Seems like a bit of poor 'reporting' by Steve (again).
 
Correction: 3 key has GBP and 4 is EURO. There are also some changes with the quotes and slashes as well - I have since switched back to US layout as it was too hard to learn new layout.
 
I recently relocated to the UK for work and was surprised to find out their keyboard layout was different. It's obvious this is a UK-EN style keyboard, as the 4 key has the British Pound symbol on it instead of the US dollar.

Seems like a bit of poor 'reporting' by Steve (again).

did you even read the article?

They keys are all there. Shift, \|, Z, X... its just that the left shift is too big, forcing everything over too far. The Z has to be between the A and S... look on ANY other keyboard and that's where it sits. This is not a US/UK layout issue, just a general monumental flaw.
 
The article claims that touch-type users would be thrown off, when in fact that is the ACTUALY PHYSICAL layout that UK style keyboards have - I shoudl know I'm typing on one now (and no it's not a Dell).

The claim was false and misleading and lead users to belive that if they purchased a Vostro product they would somehow be given something that doesn't conform to PC standards - when in fact it does (for the United Kingdom, read: not USA). In case you didn't know, not everyone lives in the US and requires a US-EN keyboard layout.
 
It's nothing to do with UK/US keyboard differences... the key layout is screwed :rolleyes:

I'd be pissed an wanting a new keyboard, if i'd bought that model.
 
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