Control-Home / Control End Keys

@grg2rsr  I figured I may as well copy the post I wrote there into this thread for anyone who might want to see it.  Quoted below:

Rockstars are allegedly used as conduits for feedback to Dell, so I'm posting this here in the hopes that somebody who can do something about this will pick it up.  @DELL-Justin C  maybe this is something you can help with since you've facilitated internal escalations of other problem reports I've sent your way in the past.

I've seen this complaint raised by multiple users across multiple threads on this forum, and I have to say the issue they're complaining about would prevent me from buying a system with this problem.

On many laptops, both Dell and non-Dell systems, pressing Fn+Left/Right triggers Home/End.  That does not work on recent XPS 13 models, even though Fn+Up/Down still triggers PgUp/PgDn.  Instead, recent XPS 13 models have moved Home and End to the top row.  For people who are accustomed to using keyboard shortcuts for efficient navigation, having those keys on opposite edges of the keyboard is cumbersome.  Developers seem particularly affected by this, which is especially unfortunate considering that the XPS 13 has a "Developer Edition" variant.

As a point of comparison, I worked with a Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme recently, and its Home and End keys were also on the top row, but pressing Fn+Left/Right also triggered Home/End, even though the Left and Right keys were not actually labeled as Home and End.

Dell could fix this with a firmware update -- and the fact that they haven't actually makes this situation even more frustrating.  It would be absolutely trivial for Dell to replicate Lenovo's implementation of allowing Home and End to be activated in two different ways, even if one of them wasn't labeled, but it would make a world of difference to people who rely on those key commands for maximum productivity.

Forum posts suggest that this issue is currently causing returns and missed sales on recent XPS 13 systems.  The cost/benefit analysis on implementing this fix is a no-brainer.

Thread links for reference:

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 (relates to Alienware 15 R3, but another example of an opportunity where Fn+Left/Right would have been nice)

@grg2rsr  unfortunately no there hasn't been a response in that thread.  The link to it is here.  I suspect most users won't be able to find it, but I'm posting it in case any other Rockstars or official Dell moderators or support reps find this post and want to view that thread.

Just came to say add my support to the demand for a firmware update - my company sent me a new Dell XPS 13 9300, and when I tried to go to the beginning of the URL input of my browser using FN+Left, I realised to my horror that it was not working! I have to FN+F11 to go to the beginning? Really?

Just to add that the new Microsoft Surface line DO respect your sanity and implement FN+Left/Right across their entire line, so even though I absolutely LOVE Dell support and am loathe to lose their help, I will be jumping from Dell for that very reason.

I guess this is why all the Mac-heads that work in new-age startups with me all love their Macs - they generally tend to stop fudging with their users and stay consistent (although the new touch bar has really pixxed off a bunch of people).

On a slightly unrelated note: did I mention that my hand muscle memory goes to the top-right of the keyboard to hit the DEL key? What's there on the new XPS 13 9300 but the DAMN POWER BUTTON.

@TheseusLinux  That’s a Power button?? I thought it was just a fingerprint reader, although as you say, that would still wreck my muscle memory for a frequently used key, even if the unintended consequences wouldn’t have been as bad. I didn’t even notice that. Ugh....

In related news, it seems that the new XPS 15 9500 has adopted this keyboard layout. I suppose it’s possible that Home and End can be triggered with the arrow keys even if they’re not explicitly marked as such, as is the case with at least some Lenovo systems, but I’m not optimistic.

I would also like to voice my concern for this issue as a new Dell XPS 13 9300 user. I really enjoy the laptop overall, and the keyboard is great, with the exception of Fn+Left/Right arrows not acting as Home/End keys.

Given that Dell sells a Developer Edition of this laptop, and the lack of this feature makes code/text navigation slower, I don't see any reason for not providing a BIOS/firmware update that will make sure many customers stick with their products and don't return them.

btw @jphughan, any updates on the Rockstars forum thread?

Thank you!

@polmes  Unfortunately no update, but I just bumped that thread with this post:

Bumping this thread because a) the XPS 13 threads linked in my original post are still growing with more complaints, and b) it seems the XPS 15 9500 may have implemented this same irritating design.  Its Left/Right keys are not marked as Home/End, so complaints are likely to start occurring there.  Unless of course Dell on that system has allowed Left/Right to operate as Home/End despite not being visually marked that way, as Lenovo did -- in which case that should be ported to the affected XPS systems asap.

could you provide the link to the proposal so that we can all upvote it???

anyway, I guess dell is well aware of the content (and length) of this thread, and really don't care much about it.

it they made a bountysource to implement such a simple change I think we could easily raise the money...

@opensas  I don't think Dell has an upvote mechanism for ideas, at least not on this forum.  There used to be a platform called IdeaStorm, but that hasn't been around for a while.  The thread I created in the Rockstars section is just a thread, not a formal feature idea that allows upvoting, and I don't think the Rockstars forum is open to others anyway -- although I did link it a few posts up just in case anyone at Dell who WOULD have access to that forum sees it.

I've found another mechanism to get this escalated internally within Dell.  I obviously can't promise that it will result in a change, but I will do what I can here.  I just need to get a Service Tag or an Order Number from an XPS 13 9300 since I technically have to tie this report to a specific system, but I've already reached out to another user here for that info since I'll also be submitting an unrelated escalation about a separate issue with the XPS 13 9300 for that person.

As a heavy user of keyboard shortcuts myself, I do sympathize with the users affected by this, so I'm doing what I can.

(Side story: It's funny though, I can't help but remember that when I had a Precision M6300, which had all of the navigation keys in the upper-right corner of its keyboard arranged in the desktop-style 3 across, 2 down layout, I thought that was the best possible setup since it mimicked a desktop keyboard.  It took me quite a while to get used to activating Home and End as Fn+Left/Right, but now that I have, I can't go back when using a laptop.  I guess the difference is that modern laptop keyboards aren't as tall as the M6300's keyboard was, and having Home/End split from PgUp/PgDn really doesn't make sense to me at all.  Even if keys aren't going to be mapped to the arrow keys, at the very least they should be grouped together.)

messaged you my service tag

@grg2rsr  I got a Service Tag and submitted the escalation request, although it seems I forgot to update this thread with that info.  Sorry about that.  The report got sent to the Customer Quality Management Team, but I haven't received any human updates since that happened.  I'll report back if I do.

@jphughanthank you very much for doing this!

I just got a phone call from a member of the Customer Quality Management Team about this report. He confirmed he's the right person to handle cases like this, but since he's going to be on vacation next week, he's going to send it to the "Advanced Resolution Center" before he leaves so that it hopefully gets some traction in the meantime, and then he'll keep working it when he gets back. Obviously I can't promise any results here, but hopefully this is at least a step toward resolution.