if you notice me typing without the left shift key—yep, that’s why. it’s beyond annoying. i thought my little finger was having an issue, but it’s worse, to the point of not working. i’ve checked under it for cat fur. i fear it’s just one more in the long string of keyboards i’ve done in.
dell and i get along, and i’m used to them. i go on site, they instantly recognize my machine individually, i tell them i’ve got a keyboard issue, they hand me an e-file manual for instruction and ship me the part. i’ll install it myself. if it were something techie, a guy with a briefcase and a pocket protector would show up as soon as the part arrives and install it; i’ve had new motherboards, new displays…i love that next-day business service. since i wear out about a keyboard or two a year, this is a good deal for me, and as aforesaid, sometimes they replace practically the whole machine. on one, just as the policy was about to run out, decay set in, and i got a new keyboard, new touchpad palmrest, new display and new motherboard. that machine is now one of our fallbacks if things really go south with a regular work machine.
a writer is not easy on keyboards. i’ve typed since i was 10, and i’m fast, and have longish fingernails.
I have been bashing the keys with a sort of 6 finger semi-touch since about 1970 and I reckon to get about 12 months out of the average keyboard… Except, I invested [=spent extra hard earned on] three microsoft natural keyboards, the slightly bendy ones which are supposed to give your wrists a better angle of attack.
4 years later all three, office, study and on-the-road-in-the-backpack are all still going. The action is slightly clunky but those guys have taken a beating and are still going! I am not anti-Dell by the way, I just think that maybe I hit the keys at the right angle more often with the ‘natural’ style… instead of bashing down on the corners at a bad angle.
Good luck with the Amazon/CC tryout by the way, will keep a weather eye on the blog.
Lol: I use a laptop only, ever since my back began to protest Crom-many years of sitting in typing chairs. Now i curl up with my trusty laptop which has a shorter reach for the keys, and there we are. I have nursed a little more functionality out of that misbehaving key: I’ve done it before (running a paperclip under it to clear out debris) but it is still balking…intermittently.
I’m still looking forward to that new board. i’ve had sticky keys on this one since the last replacement. So with a new keyboard I’ll get rid of the 6 other intermittently sticking or non-answering keys on this board.
We often take keyboards apart and vaccuum out the cat hair. It still didn’t fix my clunky “k” so I have to keep a close eye on what I type.
… and of course with the machine in your lap all those little crumbs and spills do get in there 8v)). /* And on a historical note, many years ago we used to literally wash/soak/agitate our keyboards in a bowl of warm water and detergent. Removes coffee stains, crumbs and most organic material, then you just have to wait two days for it air dry properly */
Hope you are back to full speed tomorrow, s’time for bed over here.
;lol; i wish1 We’re 9drat that thing) batting a thousand; printer’s being replaced and the keyboard’s being replaced, same day. Two different issues. period’s another key that sticks. sheesh! throws my rhythm.
Goodness. That is serious keyboard abuse. I manage 10+ hours a days on my keyboards. I have the long finger nails and the worst that has ever happened to a keyboard is a few of the letters sysmbols fading from wear. Mind you at home I use a gaming keyboard because they are generally built for heavy usage 🙂
right now i’m using the righthand cap shift, which is a real pita!
My current laptop’s keyboard has a balky right-hand shift key. Other keys occasionally miss too. I’ve taken to blasting the keyboard with a few puffs of canned air. — Wish I could take the thing apart and clean it. — But it bothers me that this keyboard lacks any kind of light or tactile feedback for the caps lock and num lock keys. I think it was designed by… I started to say monkeys (or squirrels) but really, I think that’d insult the monkey and squirrel communities. I’m either harder on keyboards lately, or they’re just plain making them a lot flimsier. Though that doesn;’t beat the cheap laptop whose key caps came off upon first use. That went back to the vendor, pronto. — Keyboards for desktops are getting silly. They now want you to buy a keyboard that would let you control a starship, with all the extra bells and whistles. That’s great, but I want a decent starship, if they’re going to sell me a keyboard that gimmicky and pricey. Although… If there’s a button to beam out those pesky telemarketers….
Note to self: Firefox’s spellchecker thinks “starship” is misspelled. What, you can’t tell me they don’t watch sci-fi shows. (Adding to custom dictionary.)
I just got a new Dell on Friday. I haven’t even gotten it broken in, yet, no fur between the keys or in the DVD drive.
😆 I hope you like it as much as I do! Honestly! Gee,—2 whole sentences with the shift key working! You never know…
ok, aside from the fact i’m a shameless mac convert, with a bouvier [translates into drippy wet bearded dog] in the household, 3 felines that own us and the heinz 57 variety who likes to try to push my laptop out of her way when she decides she needs attention, check for a keyboard protector. in the mac world i found a great one from iskin. there’s got to be something equivalent for the major pc laptop manufacturers. keeps the fur, potential fluid drips and crumbs OUT of my keyboard.
D
it does take a little bit getting used to it. It’s a full 101 key, although the keys are situated slightly differently from a desktop keyboard.
Would an external keyboard help with your problems? I know you said you tend to strike the keys hard, and an external keyboard costing say, $25 is cheaper than waiting for a new keyboard, even if it’s under warranty.
Due to two small, furry organisms, I use a wireless keyboard and a wireless mouse — both of which can be jerked out of the way the instant furry paws start marching over said keyboard. (My big white cat managed to lock up my entire system three days in a row so badly that I had to do a hard down and reboot. Once is a mistake; twice is questionable; the third time …?!) Unfortunately though, the little gray cat manages to kill a keyboard a year by knocking it off the desk enough times. The mice are a little more resilient and can take a few more trips to the floor. It works out to about two keyboards to one mouse.
To clean the cat hair and other assorted junk out of the keyboard I usually fold some packing tape up, sticky sides out, and run it between the keys. Running a notecard between the keys also helps to round it up.
Next time you’re in the market for a writer’s keyboard, try the Adesso. It’s pricey, and no one local to you likely sells it, and it’s tough to buy one without feeling it. But this is a mechanical keyboard, with old-school metal movements. I for one like the clickety-clack noise it makes.
But the thing is, it delivers an immediate tactile feedback to your fingers the instant you’ve really pressed the key. This leads to much less fatigue throughout the day. It’s also supposed to last far longer than the usual keyboards, so it might make up for its extra cost. I’ve had mine for just a few months and love it.
Not using as intensely as you do, but there are some great ‘long life/high use’ keyboards out there. There are those which are insanely expensive but largely worth it (Das Keyboard and UniComp for example), and other mechanically-switched keyboards.
As gapthemind mentioned, these will be ‘clicky’ keyboards, and the UniComp (based off the IBM Model M) will actually have the old style ‘push back’ under the fingers from the buckling spring design. Das Keyboard are also mechanical, but you can get a ‘silent’ version. I’ve had a chance to type on one at a local electronics store which actually had one in stock, and I had difficulty not spending the $140 on it then and there. But your mileage may vary, as well as budget. However, I cannot imagine using a laptop keyboard to do a much typing as your novels must include.Even the full sized keyboards om a laptop are too small for my hands, and the keys just aren’t responsive enough for my needs.
Well, these little laptop keyboards come free [lol] with my service policy, and they’re fast to install. I find the Dell keyboard just fits my hands, and I curl up in my easy chair (I gave up on desks back in 1990 or thereabouts, because my back just wouldn’t take the tension—you can really get kinked when you’re on a writing streak in a high-tension scene: you keep tensing up, a little different from data or copying text off a board. I’d end up stiff as a board, and find that a small-size recliner-rocker of the cheapest sort plus a small-size Dell Latitude does best for me. I’m a fast typist, and I guess they don’t mind replacing my keyboards, because I do it every 9 months or so: I’m just death on keys with flimsy little clips.
Of course the night I was on the road, typing in bed, and Her Furry Grace and His Blackness decided to do a cat-chase across my lap—and keyboard,—peeling keys off left and right—that was a good one. You can put them back on, but they don’t stay well. 😆
Fortunately I have a no-fault policy.