MX-18 Keyboard

The MX-18 keyboard is a huge step backward compared to my MX-17 keyboard. The MX-18 backlight illumination is significantly poorer (Alienware should be ashamed of themselves for doing this), and the MX-17 CAPS LOCK key required a deliberate action to activate (like all other keys on the MX-17). With the MX-18, just touching the CAPS LOCK key activates the key (and the MX-18 illuminated CAPS LOCK indicator is so much smaller than the MX-17 CAPS LOCK indicator that it is virtually worthless).

Is there a way to disable the CAPS LOCK key, I would prefer to assign this function to one of the programmable keys)? if not, how do I remove the CAPS LOCK key without breaking it so that I may reinstall it if I ever should desire to do so?

 

The M18xR1, M18xR2, M17xR3 and M17xR4 all use the same basic keyboards. They are interchangeable, although the Windows Key logo may look different for W7 and W8 logos, and there are variations for different languages.

There are no MX-17 or MX-18 model names. Do you have an Alienware 18, M18x2 or M18xR1 now? Did you have an M17xR2, R3, R4 or Alienware 17 before?

If you are talking about the newer Haswell machines (Alienware 17 and 18) I agree with your observations. The LED keyboard lighting is very muted and dim in comparison to the older systems.

You might be able to disable the CAPS Lock key using a third party key mapping utility. I have never done that before, but I remember hearing a few people talking about them in years past.

 

I'm unsure if you can disable it, but you can assign a new function there at least.