[LibbyLA]

The "Alt Gr" is strange. That's "right Alt" on a German keyboard. (I designed keycap and keyletter fonts years ago, and did a set of German keycaps with the help of a US expat.)

The Del/Ins key has been moved from the top row to the bottom row. I could probably adjust to either position since my Dell 630C has Ins and Del keys at the top of the keyboard but my Toshiba Portege tablet has them on the bottom row.

vincent9993: That's not necessarily a Courier "I". It's serif (refers to the little cross strokes), while the other keys on the keyboard are sans serif (without the cross strokes). Exactly which typeface Dell used, I don't know and don't care to try to figure out.

If that keyboard is available in the US for a reasonable price, I'd be willing to buy one and try it to see whether I prefer the more normal layout with even smaller keys or whether I prefer the larger keys and the less typical layout.

Unlike many of you, I use the semicolon a lot in SAS programming. In SAS, every statement ends in a semicolon, so when I'm working in SAS, it's a tossup as to whether I need the semicolon or the apostrophe/quotation mark key more!

LibbyLA

[Dunhamzzz]

Originally Posted by dougma

Why are there 2 |\ keys? One is below backspace, one beside space.

I'm gonna buck the trend and say I prefer the old design. Backspace is one of my most frequently used keys ops: and I've found a half-width backspace to be really annoying on other keyboards. The only displaced key that I find myself mis-typing anymore is the - key (hitting forward-delete by mistake).

The upper pipe key is actually a tilda/hash on my UK version.

On and now you've just mention the I key I can't stop noticing it! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooooo

[kancept]

I wonder if the key sizes are closer so it can be Dvorak'd... Most of my other keyboards are Dvorak (even my Touchstream ) I have no problem switching, but I have found myself using my mini9 more than my other machines for daily basics.

[cmarcho]

Originally Posted by hybridsolidr

So I was having problems with the spacebar of my Mini being unresponsive.

Per a thread I found here on the forums I called Dell Technical support and they walked me through a few steps including reseating the ribbon cable of the keyboard. After that failed to correct the issue they sent me a new keyboard which did indeed fix the issue.

I then noticed that the new keyboard had a slightly different feel to it and when I looked at the two side by side I realized they had put the apostrophe key back in normal spot among other things.

Here are the two keyboards:

The OLD one:


The NEW one:

I would like that new keyboard very much!!!! I use the ; and ' and " quite a bit when typing, and those keys being out of place bug the crap out of me.

The invoice should have a part number for that keyboard, PLEASE take a look and let us know what it is.

[GerallK]

Originally Posted by cmarcho

The invoice should have a part number for that keyboard, PLEASE take a look and let us know what it is.

Yes please! That keyboard would be an ideal replacement...

[Klug]

Here's the french keyboard.

[addp009]

I'm a bit confused now. Will this be the new official North America keyboard?
Also, this also means that the keys will be smaller, right? I ask this because I really appreciate the size of the old keyboard. It's so easy to type on and switch between full size keyboards.

[hybridsolidr]

Wow. I post this last night and I wake up to 2 pages. People must want the new layout.

Someone asked if the new keys are any smaller to fit all the other keys and they indeed are smaller. The different feel of the keys is the only reason I even noticed it was different and looked closer.

For example:

The size of the "G" key on the new one is 12mm and on the old one it is 14mm.
The spacebar on the new one is 62mm and the old one is 80mm.
Backspace on the new one is 13mm and the old one is 26mm.

Unaclocker asked for the part number for the new one. The Item Number from the invoice is U061h with a description of KYBD;66;US-Intl;S-PTG;QH;WIN

Hope that helps someone.

[cheapdude]

the new one looks nice, but I'm not willing to go any smaller.
I remapped the " key with the ; key and it's working out ok. The only time I use : is when I need to write 3:30pm or something like that.

[n4s720]

Hrmm. I just bought a new Mini 9. When it arrives, I'll let you know what keyboard it has.

Of course, someone might receive theirs before my comes.