Flickr user Jake Gordon is angry. He ordered a new Dell Vostro with a UK keyboard and found that Dell has monkeyed subtly with the bottom row of keys, rendering the computer useless for anyone who touch-types. The right left shift key is too big, and so the entire bottom row has been shifted one space to the right. If I had typed that last sentence on the Vostro, it would read thus:
The right shift key is too vigm abd so the ebtire votton row has veen shifted obe spaxe to the right,
Thankfully, I'm a terrible typist, so even if I were to buy a Vostro I could hunt and peck my way around the problem. Jake, however, called up Dell to find out if there was some mistake with just his keyboard, or if it is a range-wide flaw:
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.
And for those who might suggest that Jake should buy a Mac, don't. He will cover you in bile:
PS: I've deleted a lot of your helpful 'buy a mac' comments from this page. If you want to advertise, go do it in your own space, not mine
PPS: If you fancy trying to convert me you can of course send me a Mac for free. Just don't be surprised if a video of me smashing it to bits appears on the Internet soon after.
UPDATE: Kerry, a Dell representative, left this note in the comments. I have moved it up here into the main post:
Hi Charlie, I work at Dell in the UK. A few minutes ago I emailed Jake with an update on our mistake. We are listening and acting on this feedback. Here is the official update...
A limited number of Dell Vostro 1310 and 1510 laptops in Europe have been sent out with the wrong keyboard layout. We are working diligently to offer a solution to impacted customers and correct the error before any additional units are shipped. We will be contacting impacted customers directly to both apologise and instruct them on next steps. This issue is under investigation and we will come back with more detailed information as soon as possible. We will be acting as quickly as possible to find a satisfactory solution for our customers.
Please email me if you have any questions. I'll be back with an update when I know more concrete next steps.
Thanks, Kerry!
Try touch typing on this [Flickr via Daring Fireball]
