<\/span><\/h2>\nLet’s talk about the keyboard.\u00a0 The hideous keyboard, that was obviously designed by someone who has never actually USED a keyboard.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/7450-Pwr-Button-600x242.png\")
<\/p>\n
The first problem I noticed was that the power button (upper-right), which doubles as the fingerprint reader, is uncomfortably close to the delete key.\u00a0 This is just terrible placement, and I have already confirmed that an accidental click, if forceful enough, will in fact shut the computer down.<\/p>\n
The second major problem is the function keys.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/7450-Function-Keys-600x241.png\")
<\/p>\n
As with most laptop keyboards, the function keys have a primary and secondary function.\u00a0 By default, the primary functions are related to sound and video – things like mute, sound volume, screen brightness, and switching to an external display.<\/p>\n
To access the\u00a0actual<\/em> function key, you have to press the “fn” key while pressing the function key.\u00a0 For example, “F2” turns the volume down, but “fn+F2” is “the real” F2<\/em>.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/7450-Function-Keys-Shifted-600x241.png\")
<\/p>\n
Also, as with most laptops, there is a “function lock”, which on this laptop is accessed with “fn+Esc”.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/7450-Function-Lock-600x242.png\")
<\/p>\n
“Function lock” inverts the “fn” key behavior, so that the default (un-shifted) keypress invokes “the real” function key, and its shifted (“fn+”) function invokes the sound\/video functions.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/7450-Function-Keys-Locked-600x241.png\")
<\/p>\n
Anyone who uses the laptop for coding or documentation, or just types a lot, would consider this “the normal” layout, because function keys are used for all sorts of useful things:<\/p>\n
\n\n\n| Key<\/th>\n | Shortcut<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n |
\n| F1<\/td>\n | Help<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
\n| F2<\/td>\n | Edit text. For example, edit a shape’s text in Powerpoint, or a cell’s text in Excel.\u00a0 In file explorer, F2 allows you to edit a file or folder name.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
\n| F3<\/td>\n | Search<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
\n| Alt+F4<\/td>\n | Close current window<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
\n| Ctrl+F4<\/td>\n | Close current document<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
\n| F5<\/td>\n | Refresh (for example, in a browser, or e-mail)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
\n| F6 and Shift+F6<\/td>\n | Navigate to different parts of the active window<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
\n| F7<\/td>\n | Spell Check<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
\n| F10<\/td>\n | Access the menu in most applications<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
\n| F11<\/td>\n | Toggle full-screen<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
\n| F12<\/td>\n | Enter debug mode in browsers.\u00a0 Open “Save As” dialog in Word and Excel<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n I learned to use productivity software in the DOS days before mice were completely common.\u00a0 Programs such as WordStar and SuperCalc pretty much required the use of hotkeys for navigation.\u00a0 Later, WordPerfect and Lotus (also before Windows) offered mouse support, but someone once taught me that your productivity drops when you have to switch between mouse and keyboard, so I have always been a keyboard guy, even after Windows came in to common use.<\/p>\n And I’m not one of those people who mindlessly insists that “the old way is better”. However, I still assert that it’s faster and more efficient to keep your hands on the keyboard rather than switch back and forth between mouse and keyboard.<\/p>\n Therefore, to me, having the function key mode default to sound and video because some moron doesn’t know how to use the projector is very frustrating.<\/p>\n But the salvation is “function lock”, right?\u00a0 RIGHT?\u00a0 \u00a0right?\u00a0 \u00a0…..right?<\/p>\n NO IT ISN’T.\u00a0 Not on this piece of crap.<\/p>\n ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/7450-Home-and-End-600x242.png\") <\/p>\n
See….here’s the problem.\u00a0 The special people who designed this keyboard mapped HOME and END on top of F11 and F12.\u00a0 So…if you enable function lock in order to get your function keys back, you lose HOME and END, arguably two of the most useful cursor control keys on the keyboard.<\/p>\n Weeks later, I accidentally hit some random key combination and “SCROLL LOCK” was stuck on.\u00a0 If you’re not familiar with SCROLL LOCK, it only typically affects Excel.\u00a0 The affect it has within excel is as follows:<\/p>\n \n- Normal function:\u00a0 Arrow keys move the cell selection<\/li>\n
- Scroll lock:\u00a0 Arrow keys pan the entire screen<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
So if you suddenly find yourself with SCROLL LOCK enabled and there is no scroll lock key, Excel is now useless.\u00a0 Fortunately, google came to my aid.<\/p>\n ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/7450-Unlabled-Functions-600x241.png\") <\/p>\n
You see, there are UNDOCUMENTED key combinations.\u00a0 As it turns out, I must have hit “fn+S”, which enables SCROLL LOCK, and pressing “fn+S” again disabled it.\u00a0 And there are others, but that’s beside the point.<\/p>\n If you notice, the up and down arrows are have sub-labels, indicating “fn+up”=PgUp and “fn+dn”=PgDn.\u00a0 Page UP and Page Down.\u00a0 On a whim I tried “fn+left and “fn+right” and guess what???? HOME AND END respectively.<\/p>\n It’s a good feature, but they DIDN’T LABEL THE DAMN KEYBOARD.<\/p>\n It’s still awkward to use, but at least it’s slightly less awkward than “fn+F11” and “fn+F12”.<\/p>\n But clearly, ZERO THOUGHT was given to how this product would ACTUALLY be used.<\/p>\n And, this isn’t the worst offender on my list of gripes about the keyboard.\u00a0 My biggest gripe is THIS key, right here.<\/p>\n ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/7450-Copilot-Button-600x244.png\") <\/p>\n
MEET the COPILOT KEY!<\/p>\n On a normal keyboard, this would be the menu key… not often used, but a convenient way to activate the context menu for a given object, which is the same as right-clicking.<\/p>\n And, in fact, you can see that “fn+copilot” = Menu, so you CAN in fact access the menu.<\/p>\n But…what does COPILOT do?<\/p>\n ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/Copilot-600x450.png\") <\/p>\n
On my machine, I don’t have a function set, so …. it brings up this screen.\u00a0 There are three options….NONE, which brings up the screen above.<\/p>\n ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/Copilot-Search-600x450.png\") <\/p>\n
“Search” which brings up the Copilot screen, and…<\/p>\n ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/Copilot-Custom-600x450.png\") <\/p>\n
Custom, which lets you set a custom option.\u00a0 Oh, that’s cool….EXCEPT THE ONLY OPTION IT LETS YOU SET IS COPILOT.<\/p>\n So I have a dedicated, completely useless key on my keyboard because Dell thinks AI is important.\u00a0 Even better, Microsoft coerced Dell to dedicate a key on my keyboard to something useless.<\/p>\n And, what if I press the all-hallowed Windows key?<\/p>\n ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/Windows-Key-600x450.png\") <\/p>\n
I get basically the same thing as if I hit the Copilot key.<\/p>\n So Microsoft has created a mandatory, useless key that wastes space on my keyboard, and Dell has seen to it that my home and end keys (which I use continuously) are harder to use.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/span>Screen<\/span><\/h2>\nMy final gripe is the screen (or lack thereof).<\/p>\n I NEED SCREEN REAL ESTATE.\u00a0 I need a big screen with lots of pixels so that I can view multiple stuffs simultaneously.<\/p>\n However, the anemic 14.5″ display panel on this piece of junk is WAY undersized for my needs.\u00a0 Why is it undersized?\u00a0 Because Dell thought I wanted a tablet, and tablets have smaller screens than laptops.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/span>Conclusion<\/span><\/h2>\nIn conclusion, the Dell Latitude 7450 is a badly-designed piece of crap.<\/p>\n Thank you for reading my rant.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My old work laptop, a HP, was a complete piece of crap.\u00a0 When they sent me my new laptop, as a bit of a Dell fanboy, I was excited to see that it was a Dell.\u00a0 However, I quickly began to question some of the design choices.\u00a0 After using it for a couple of weeks, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-good-design-bad-design","category-rants"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7692","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7692"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7692\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7729,"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7692\/revisions\/7729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} |