News Dell XPS 13, 14, and 16 get Intel Core Ultra, lose function rows and physical touchpads

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Interesting design for sure... As long as there's a way to actually access/use the F-keys, then it shouldn't be a problem since you mostly never use them. What I find strange is the touchpad decision and I just wonder how weird/awkward is going to be getting used to it.

In any case, they look interesting (being fair to Dell), but not having a keypad is a no-go for me, personally.

Regards.
 
How would you enter Dell's BIOS without F2/F12 keys?
Not that I think you would need to, unless these use LPDDR CAMM modules. Secure boot requires a reset in BIOS after upgrading RAM.
 
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I already have trouble r-clicking on my buttonless TouchPad. Drag to select is also much less accurate without buttons. This seems to be a further step in the wrong direction.
 
Most touch input devices are somewhat finicky already, with palm rejection sometimes working and sometimes not. Does Dell think that they have solved it now, that their touchpad is significantly better than anything that has come before?

The Cortana Copilot key is apparently mandated by Microsoft now. We are unfortunately going to see it a lot more.
This key has a tiny sublegend that does remind me of the old Menu key though, so perhaps it can be remapped in BIOS. (hopefully)

MS had already introduced an Office key and an Emoji key in 2019, but I don't think they had been seen on any but Microsoft's two keyboards released then that had it. (Maybe because binging googling for "Office key" will more often often lead to how to install Microsoft Office without paying for it)
 
no function keys — just a "capacitive touch function row," and a haptic touchpad with no defined borders.
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That's a massive no-go. Even Apple had to revert their stupid touchbar decision and bring physical function keys back. No borders for the haptic touchpad might work, but I'd still prefer a slight indentation; it makes it ever so slightly easier to locate the area without taking your eyes off the screen.

And a Copilot key? Ugh. At least the Windows and Context-menu keys were useful. Hopefilly that one can be low-level remapped...
 
I don't get Dell's obsession with "touch buttons". Touch "screens" are useful because you are physically looking at what you are touching. But touch buttons are TERRIBLE! You generally shouldn't have to look at your keyboard to use it. Without any tactile feeling of where the button is, you have to physically look to see that where you are touching is in fact the button you want to push. And it's very easy to be off a little bit and accidentally hit the wrong button. I had one of the early XPS 13 laptops back in the day and it had a couple of touch buttons for volume at least. And I could never use that consistently. They also used these kinds of things on their monitors for a while which they thankfully got rid of. Did I push the power button or did I miss? It didn't turn on yet so I must have missed. But now they're doubling down hard by making a whole row of keys like this.

We usually go with Thinkpads for our office laptops these days and I'm still pretty happy with those. But some of the fancy corporate folks like the Dell XPS. We've been sticking with the non-Plus XPS as those at least have a mostly normal keyboard. I can't see getting these new ones with these bad designs choices.
 
I was sad when Dell took away touchpad buttons. I hate tap-to-click with a passion. There's no way in heck I'm ever buying one without a touchpad.

Dell, you are dead to me.


P.S. as for pretending you're Apple: you're not fooling anyone but yourselves.
 
I will get the new 16 inch because I've had Dell XPS forever.... But the micro SD card is a disaster for me. No one uses those anymore. But I'll use a dongle anyway for the SD and CFexpress cards that people actually use. Why in the world would they bother putting a micro-SD slot? That is utterly useless to any photographer, content creator or production work of any kind.
 
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"The XPS 15, however, will stick around for a bit in its old chassis without any updates, as Dell tells me it's one of the most popular models."
Implying, their current implementation of this design isn't the "popular" model, but they're rolling with it anyways. Good luck with that.

I guess these products are for customers who want to pay Apple-like prices for an Apple-like design, but with Dell's reputation for build quality and Customer Support, and whatever new and exciting cliffs Microsoft is going to jump off at CES. Whoever those customers are, it's not me.
 
Wow, I hate the new XPS lineup. The latest designs are way too minimalist. Not having dedicated function keys is a deal breaker for me. Implementing a touchpad that has unclear edges is also not good. I don't care about the Copilot button since it's probably cosmetic, but I am still at a loss for why I'd want to use Copilot -- what exactly is the benefit to me?

Try again, Dell. You've made some great machines in the past. This new lineup is making some major usability mistakes. I don't want to see these designs become trendy or normalized.
 
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bigdragon said:
Wow, I hate the new XPS lineup. The latest designs are way too minimalist. Not having dedicated function keys is a deal breaker for me. Implementing a touchpad that has unclear edges is also not good. I don't care about the Copilot button since it's probably cosmetic, but I am still at a loss for why I'd want to use Copilot -- what exactly is the benefit to me?

Try again, Dell. You've made some great machines in the past. This new lineup is making some major usability mistakes. I don't want to see these designs become trendy or normalized.
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I wish they would get rid of those silly touch pads. Everyone uses a mouse with these production laptops. Werll.... I guess when you are sitting on a plane....
 
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jp7189 said:
I already have trouble r-clicking on my buttonless TouchPad. Drag to select is also much less accurate without buttons. This seems to be a further step in the wrong direction.
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Have any of you used a touchpad more recent that 2014? Palm rejection on all but super budget laptops is a complete non-issue. You right click with a two finger tap.

I will say, its baffling that they continue to have a fake fn key row. PC sales, if you ignore the artificial covid bump, are lower than ever as smartphones increase in capability. Only those who need to do actual work on their computers are buying new ones, and doing actual work without function keys sucks hard.
 
kealii123 said:
Have any of you used a touchpad more recent that 2014? Palm rejection on all but super budget laptops is a complete non-issue. You right click with a two finger tap.

I will say, its baffling that they continue to have a fake fn key row. PC sales, if you ignore the artificial covid bump, are lower than ever as smartphones increase in capability. Only those who need to do actual work on their computers are buying new ones, and doing actual work without function keys sucks hard.
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I'm on a Precision 7680 right now, and I do a fair amount of copy/paste snippets of code out in the field where having a seperate mouse is inconvenient (no desk). Swipe to select blows on a TouchPad without buttons.
 
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