Dell Vostro European keyboard problem on 1310 & 1510 models

09 May 2008
Posted in Laptop Advice

Dell issued a blog post yesterday (Thursday 8th May) apologising to customers about a 'cock up' they made with the keyboards on the Vostro 1310 and 1510 models. This problem will affect a number of these machines distributed in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

The original problem meant that, because of the size of the SHIFT key on the left, the Z key was pushed too far to the right, and this altered the keyboard layout by having the keys one position over from where they should be.

Quote from the Dell Blog:

"Here's what we're going to do: we plan to contact all affected customers, beginning today. All affected customers will receive an updated keyboard. They will have two options: we can send the keyboard and required BIOS update directly to them, or they can choose to have a field technician replace the keyboard onsite."

Anyone who feels they have an issue, or cannot wait until Dell decide to get in touch, can contact Dell themselves via the details on their blog. There are specific pieces of information they will require before you contact them, so ensure you read the blog post before emailing.

There has been a mild uproar about this situation, and across Europe on forums, etc, people have been asking for compensation. Needless to say, there will be no compensation, but Dell will sort the keyboard.

Look closely at the 2 pics that Dell provide on their blog post, as we feel that the solution is not quite right either. They have moved a 'slash' key (which normally sits to the left of the Z key on normal keyboards) across to the right side of the keyboard.

Ooops !!