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    Dell XPS function keys

    Discussion in 'Dell XPS and Studio XPS' started by ratsrcute, Mar 9, 2016.

  1. ratsrcute

    ratsrcute Notebook Consultant

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    I just got a Dell XPS 15. This is my first new laptop in a while so I'm coping with learning windows 10 as well as the specifics of the XPS.

    I notice that the function keys require a press of the "Fn" key to access. Otherwise they perform their auxilliary funciton such as brightness adjustment. This is ass-backwards.... I have frequent need to use function keys as function keys (F7, F12, etc.)

    Is there any way I can change the default behavior so I don't need to press "Fn" to get them?

    Mike
     
    ratsrcute, Mar 9, 2016
    #1
  2. Andrew Baxter

    Andrew Baxter -

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    It must have been a while since you purchased a new Windows laptop, welcome to the "Apple-ization" of Windows :D

    Good news is there is almost certainly a way to change it, most people refer to it as "Inverting Function keys behaivor" and it probably requires a holding F2 on boot to get to the BIOS settings:

    http://superuser.com/questions/735062/how-to-invert-the-fn-key

    I don't have an XPS but my guess is you can make the change in BIOS as you can with other recent Dell laptops. Moving this thread to the dedicated XPS sub forum in case anybody there has more specific information than I can give you!
     
    Andrew Baxter, Mar 9, 2016
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  3. lalalulu57

    lalalulu57 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Yep Bios setting! And you can use FN + ESC to toggle them
     
    lalalulu57, Mar 9, 2016
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  4. ratsrcute

    ratsrcute Notebook Consultant

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    Thanks everyone. Yes, Apple-ization! It looks like it will work well once I get used to it. I'm going to have to get used to Fn for accessing page up and page down.
     
    ratsrcute, Mar 9, 2016
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  5. tijo

    tijo Sacred Blame

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    First thing I did was invert the default Fn key behavior in the BIOS. Unfortunately, there is not much to be done about the lack of dedicated page up and page down keys though.
     
    tijo, Mar 10, 2016
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  6. LOUSYGREATWALLGM

    LOUSYGREATWALLGM Notebook Deity

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    Agreed. This is one of the reasons why I still prefer to type on my M15x. If only I could swap this keyboard with Alienware keyboard ;)
     
    LOUSYGREATWALLGM, Mar 17, 2016
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  7. tijo

    tijo Sacred Blame

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    They had a very sane keyboard layout on the last gen Latitudes and Precision M4800/M6800 series and they went ahead and ruined it...
     
    tijo, Mar 17, 2016
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  8. RobotDoctor

    RobotDoctor Notebook Consultant

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    I selected FN + Esc and now the Function Keys are primary and the media keys require pressing FN+associated media key. Now to power down and restart to see if this change remains.

    Yes, the inverted Function Key setting did remain on power down and startup. :vbthumbsup:
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Mar 22, 2016
    RobotDoctor, Mar 21, 2016
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    Kikuri likes this.