As reported by others, we've had a terrible time with the track pad registering clicks while typing. Enough so that we eventually just turned the track pad off completely.
Then some of the keys started acting as if they were stuck in the depressed state and would send multiple characters to the screen when pressed a single time. They aren't physically stuck, and I have no idea if it's a hardware or software problem.
Mercifully the Dell support staff was completely unhelpful. After spending an hour talking to 5 different people I was told the following:
If I wanted support I'd have to reinstall Windows
That if I wanted to return the device (which I do!), I should have called a couple of weeks before I did (unfortunately the keys started acting funny right after my return window apparently closed for good)
That having installed a different OS voided any warranty that might have come with the device
That Dell doesn't support or recommend installing a different OS than what the device comes with (despite my protests that Dell actually encouraged what we did on their website)
Has anyone else experienced the keyboard issue? Is it just us? The keyboard worked fine for awhile, but the machine is practically useless as is and my developer's productivity is down some 60% because of it. Is this a hardware issue, or is it driver related?
It did fix the tap-to-click problem, but I still find the trackpad very sensitive. Simply hovering my thumbs over it while typing (I did "disable trackpad while typing", but there is bound to have gaps when I'm not) causes the cursor to jump around.
For Chris, it sounded like his keyboard is acting up, after he has disabled the trackpad outright.
@dvusboy, @ChrisSturgill: If you can word the trackpad sensitivity issues in a way that is reproducible and obviously a problem, please do post a bug on the Sputnik Launchpad site: bugs.launchpad.net/dell-sputnik . Developers will get on it! What I mean by this is something like "trackpad sensitivity not adjustable in Mouse and Touchpad settings," or "disable trackpad while typing does nothing," etc.
I have the same problem with my Dell XPS13 - as I type, the trackpad appears to respond to my hands just hovering over it, and then somehow stops me typing - it's infuriating!
I'm having a similar problem. The u,i,o,and p keys were not functioning at all under ubuntu. Sent the XPS 13 back to Dell for a keyboard replacement. Now, the q,w,e, and r keys don't function either. Dell has been very responsive but doesn't have a good answer. They are mailing me a USB stick with Windows on it, but that negates the purpose of the machine. Any ideas?
Did George Barton get back to you on this? I ordered my XPS 13 dev ed. last week, getting it wednesday. I chose it because it has Ubuntu on it default and therefore support, but this doesn't sound too good...
DELL-Barton George
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Posted October 11th, 2012 21:00
Chris,
Im sorry to hear about your experience. Let me check with some folks on the team and get back to you.
thx Barton