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May 24th, 2021 11:00

Backport firmware update allowing Fn+Left/Right as Home/End

Short version:
In early February 2021, Dell released BIOS 2.0.0 for the XPS 13 9310.  According to its release notes here, the update adds the ability to use Fn+Left/Right as Home/End.  That's how earlier Dell laptops that used a previous keyboard layout already worked out of the box, and it was a convenient way to use Home/End.  But with the XPS 13 9310, as well as the previous few XPS 13 models AND lots of other newer models in other product lines, Dell switched to a different keyboard layout and REMOVED the ability to activate Home/End that way.  That has generated substantial and sustained complaints from users of such systems since those systems arrived.  So it's wonderful that Dell has restored this capability on the 9310 -- but it's also not nearly enough.  This capability needs to be implemented across a wide range of other laptop models that have the problematic keyboard layout that created this problem in the first place.

Dell, please implement this change on all system models that have the same frustrating keyboard layout as the XPS 13 9310, including system models that are no longer actively sold, such as earlier generations of the XPS 13.

Background:
A few years ago, Dell implemented a keyboard layout change on certain laptops, and it did not go over well.  Previously, Home and End could be activated by pressing Fn+Left/Right.  And PgUp/Dn were activated either by Fn+Up/Dn or (on some models) by dedicated PgUp/Dn keys placed in the same area of the keyboard as the cursor keys.  Since those navigation keys are frequently used together, having them physically close to each other on a keyboard was very convenient.

Then Dell made the poor decision to relocate Home/End to the top row of the keyboard, placing those keys far away from PgUp/Dn.  And making matters worse, they removed the ability to activate Home/End via Fn+Left/Right as an alternative, even though no OTHER function was assigned to those key combinations.  Dell could easily have allowed Home/End to be activated either way, but they didn't.  As a relevant data point, Lenovo's ThinkPad laptops have dedicated Home/End keys on the top row, not Fn-mapped Home/End keys as are found in Dell's newer keyboard layouts, and they allow Fn+Left/Right to be used as well.

This change to the keyboard layout resulted in a substantial number of users making complaints here, returning systems, or citing this as the sole reason they would not buy systems in the first place.  And as the years went on, this change has been implemented on ever more laptop lines as new generations are launched.

Dell has clearly responded to customer demand with the XPS 13 9310 BIOS update, but there are far more models that would benefit from restoring the ability to use Fn+Left/Right for Home/End.  For reference, here are links to SOME of the complaint threads that resulted from this ill-advised change:

https://www.dell.com/community/XPS/XPS-13-9300-Home-and-End-keys/td-p/7515412

https://www.dell.com/community/XPS/Control-Home-Control-End-Keys/td-p/6212592

https://www.dell.com/community/Alienware/Home-and-End-key-functionality/td-p/6057078

https://www.dell.com/community/Latitude/Latitude-5400-customise-fn-Right-Arrow-Left-Arro/td-p/7354599

https://www.dell.com/community/XPS/XPS-15-change-Home-and-End-keys-to-Fn-Left-and-Fn-Right/td-p/7623794

https://www.dell.com/community/XPS/Please-re-map-Fn-Left-and-Fn-Right-to-Home-and-End-on-the-new/td-p/7649522

https://www.dell.com/community/XPS/XPS-13-9300-Map-fn-left-and-fn-right-to-Home-and-End/td-p/7529433

https://www.dell.com/community/Latitude/quot-home-quot-and-quot-end-quot-functionality-by-left-and-right/td-p/7431121

https://www.dell.com/community/Vostro/Is-there-any-way-to-make-the-Home-End-and-function-keys-all-have/td-p/7659637

14 Posts

May 24th, 2021 12:00

Dell, this bothers hundreds of XPS users who upgraded to the 9x00 line, and since it was obviously acknowledged to be a mistake and fixed in 9x10 line, please do not dishonor your customers by forcing them to buy a new model instead of just rolling out an obviously TRIVIAL fix to the issue which makes an otherwise great machine useless.

25 Posts

July 12th, 2021 00:00

Yeah. Even on this forum we can find a tons of complains and silence from dell. Please take a look at post Maybe if we make some noise someone would notice it ?

9 Posts

September 5th, 2021 19:00

Couldn't agree more. This has been an issue since the introduction of the 9300 and I can't believe after fixing it on the newer models Dell would not backport such a simple fix to systems that otherwise are still receiving BIOS updates.

October 7th, 2022 04:00

Can anyone tell me which (if any) of the newer XPS 15 models have this change as well?  I had to intentionally buy an older 7590 one last year to get the old keyboard layout.  

Can anyone confirm if the 9500/9510/9520 have what we want?  Thank you!

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