[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:


Edit by moderator - if you replace the standard US keyboard with the US-International keyboard, you have to follow this process to get the Mini9 to recognize it properly:

Shut down the Mini.
Disconnect the AC adapter.
Hold down the Fn and K keys.
Reconnect the AC adapter
Release the keys.

Now boot and you should be fine.

[UnaClocker]

holy cow! I want it!

[Klug]

The Mini9 sold in France have a keyboard that is the same that the "new" one.
Obviously some keys are not in the same place the the shape (tiny backspace, etc) is the same.

[thatguyx]

hmm that is interesting. it seems like a better lay out than the US-spec (i guess?) did you get a part number of any kind?
I don't know if it's the camera angle or not, but are the letter keys still the same size? they look a little smaller.

Also, do the keys work normally? (Just wondering since you had one keyboard and now a different setup). If all the keys function correctly, I would love to get this keyboard; it just seems right compared to my current.

[UnaClocker]

Smaller space bar and smaller backspace seem to be the two big concessions they made to do that. I still say I love it. It's even got a tilde and a pipe.. It's perfect.

[WolfKeeper]

Crap.

Time to find a part number.

[yorgle]

Looks like they shrunk the bracket keys and made the tab key regular size as well as allowed three keys to the right of P. I want one.

[dhalbert]

That is the European keyboard. The alphabet keys are narrower to compensate for more keys per row. hybridsolidr, where are you located? Anyone getting this keyboard in a new US Dell?

EDIT: Well, I take it back a bit: it's the same raw key layout as the European, but with different placements. Notice the duplicate "| \" key (??). To compare it with the old US keyboard, I believe the letter keys have been reduced so they are the same width as the number keys. So you may find it a little more cramped (more like an Asus EEE) when typing letters. (On the other hand the Dell keys have a satisfying "snap" that the EEE keyboard does not.)

[vincent9993]

That is a nicer layout in my oppinion...

Anyone know why Dell decided to print the key "i" in Courrier font? All my Dell laptops and Dell external keyboards have an Arial looking "i"

If it's affordable, I will be ordering one when someone figures out the P/N.

[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).