Vostro 5581 keyboard replacement

Question

Hello I had to buy a Vostro 5581 while traveling in a French speaking country when my main computer died. So, this 5581 has a French keyboard. I purchased a replacement English keyboard from EBay, but when I came to open the 5581 to try and switch keyboards, I found this... https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/en-uk/vostro-15-5581-laptop/Vostro_5581_SM/Removing-the-palmrest-and-keyboard-assembly?guid=GUID-252BD939-8285-4948-8FD5-F25CC32B907C&lang=en-us The keyboard is buried under a metal plate that is permanently fixed to the plastic base with melted plastic nubs. It seems impossible to remove that plate without breaking all those plastic nubs. Am I missing something, or is this truly as awful a design as it seems to be? What would Dell techs do if I sent this computer in under warranty to replace a faulty keyboard? Thanks,BP

ejn63 · Answer

The keyboard and palmrest need to be replaced together.  This is a common design on Dell's low-end Inspiron and Vostro, and now some of the G-series gaming notebooks.

xiaomei · Answer

Sending it back for repair seems to still cost money, you can also find a repair shop to help you replace the keyboard

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