M6900 - What specs are you hoping for?

Which was offered on the M4800...

 

Good god, now this SUCKS! There's bloody plenty space on the deck of a 17" laptop, why do they need to ruin the key layout on those, too! Heck, all the previous 17" Precision keyboard layouts were just fine. Why the hell did they need to f*** up something as straightforward as this? I think I'll get a Lenovo P70 then.

 

Dear Dell and your OEM keyboard partners:

The "Home" and "End" (move to end of line) keys are two of the most frequently used editing keys (after the backspace and arrow keys).

• "Home" moves the cursor to the beginning of a text line, or to the beginning of a spreadsheet row. "End" moves the cursor to the end of a text line, or to the end of a spreadsheet row.
  
• Shift-Home or shift-End are frequently used to select the rest of a text line, or the rest of a spreadsheet row.
• On wide lines or rows, where the end is scrolled out of the window, they jump to the end in one immediate step, without scrolling bit by bit by mouse, without going too far by arrow keys.

Making these frequently used keys a two-handed effort is poor design: there is only one Fn key, on the opposite side of the keyboard. Editing keys are often used one-handed (while the other hand is holding a phone, an instrument, a paper, or the mouse). Shift-selecting with these keys now requires chorded typing Fn+Shift-Home or Fn+Shift-End.

(A reason many developers choose MacBookPro is so they can also develop for iOS/iPhone/iPad, not for the keyboard's poor editing keys. Making your editing keys just as bad discards your competitive advantage. Historically Apple simplified their keyboards by requiring cursor movement and selection to be done with the mouse. "Direct manipulation" was easy to remember for users who use it only occasionally. But business laptops are built with strong keyboards for people who use the machines frequently or continually. Dedicated editing keys including "Home" and "End" are faster, more productive, for people who edit frequently.)

(I don't want to reduce my competitiveness by slowing my editing. The absence of "Home" and "End" keys is a major reason I avoid Apple's laptops and their keyboards, and a major reason I avoid the M3800. Bringing this poor design to the other Precision workstations means that people who like these keys and don't edit numbers must choose numberpad models to use "Home" and "End" keys on the number pad. Or pin uncertain hopes on fiddling with keyboard remappers. Or choose competitors' models.)

 

Full ack to Pirx: please use the chassis space of a 17" laptop for a full featured keyboard. Keep the differences to an external keyboard small.

Another chicklet draw back is <ctrl>+<shift>+<esc> (open Windows Task Manager): on a "normal" keyboard you can use one thumb to press both <ctrl>+<shift> and one other finger for <esc>. On chicklets two keys with one thumb tends to not work - one key gets pressed one only canted. Using three distinct fingers for that shortcut is a bit awkward.

The trend to unify anything (parts design & production in this case) may be (or seem) optimal for the economic manufacturer but loses optimal usage for customers.

That economics trend might be OK if it leads to a 17" workstation with 32gb ram, 3tb ssd storage (3 to 4 storage devices), >3.5ghz quad core CPU (and 16:10 display ;-) ) for $1500 - but I guess we are still well above $3000 for such a config...

 

I admit I am the oddball in that I like the new machines from the photos I've seen so far. In terms of performance, it is light years better than my current m6500. I don't know if the keyboard will be good or bad just looking at photos. I have what we are calling "chiclet" keyboards or an "island" keyboard on a couple of 2009 era Macbook Pros and I've never had reason to complain. If the dell can match that quality or better it, regarding the keyboard, I would not feel let down. As for the mapping and use of Fn key or placement and sizes of the keys, I'll have to see and try them. I would dislike using Fn for often used key presses like Home and End. Fortunately, at my workplaces where I most often use my mobile workstation I also have large external display and my favorite mechanical wired keyboard of my choosing that I've invested alot of research time picking out (in other words, keyboards do matter to me alot).

*Sven, I've no problem using three finger presses involving my thumb or any other fingers and they registering properly... on a good quality "island" or "chiclet" keyboard (speaking of the Macbook keyuboard again). And OS X is crazy in that it requires 4 simultaneous key presses sometimes (COMMAND+CTRL+SHIFT+4... then space bar... to perform regional screen captures). I'd prefer regular looking key-caps over chiclet, but I am not feeling completely let down. In fact, my f3 key is barely hanging on my m6500 now, My concern is more toward if it would be difficult to replace parts, such as keyboard if damaged.

as for displays, they seem to be offering a pretty reasonable selection .... 4k (possibly a 3k too?) and inifinitedge will likely be with glass overlay. ANd looking at some photos with what appear to be matte without edge to edge glass (but in lower resolutions perhaps). A touch screen option would obviously be glass/gloss also. I wouldn't immediately say "oh no Dell what did you do!?" until we get some in depth user reviews (keyword is "user", those who use the machine daily for work).

I really don't see deficiencies in the new lineup.

 

I don't mind chiclet keys. What I do mind is the fact that manufacturers (not just Dell) think that they can get away with producing keyboards with rubbish layouts and typing feel.

 

Thanks to JH-man in the press release thread, we have a better picture. This is a 7510 (15" machine).


(More at: http://www.dell.com/se/offentlig/p/precision-m7510-workstation/pd)
On the keyboard:
Suspicions from before seem to be true. Home and End are Fn combo keys. Above the backspace, we have Print Screen (which used to be a Fn combo key on "End"), Insert, and Delete. Volume buttons are Fn combo keys on F2-F4.

On the up side (maybe...), I always wondered why they didn't have a "Menu" key and it looks like that has been added as a Fn combo key on the right Ctrl button.

I agree with everyone else that the Home/End situation is silly. I use those keys all the time. Fortunately I am usually using an external keyboard while doing serious work.

I haven't had any issue hitting Ctrl+Shift+Esc with two fingers on a chiclet keyboard.

 

Thanks Aaron. I typed in 7710 instead of 7510 using the url you listed to see the 17" model. I wonder what these look like from underneath where the intake slots would be. The feet do not seem to elevate it very far from off the ground. They (Dell) say the cooling is much improved, but that may be marketing speaking. With the more efficient CPUs and GPU my hopes are high.

 

Looking at the larger picture here:
http://www.dell.com/se/offentlig/p/precision-m7710-workstation/pd

It looks like the M7710 has the same keyboard as the M7510, also with Home and End under Fn+Left and Fn+Right.

What was Dell thinking (or should I say drinking) when they came up with this keyboard layout?

Looking at the side view of the M7710, it looks like the base is touching ground at places other than the rubber feet. The word 'beer belly' came to mind...

 

I just noticed that it says "coming in 2016" in regards to the Thunderbolt dock. Guess we won't be seeing that right away.

That is indeed a funny sag it has going on underneath.