What was Dell thinking with the D620 keyboard?

OK, I've had my hands on practically every model Dell laptop that they've made over the past couple of years, and to my surprise, the D620 is the first model I've seen missing some of the most useful "Fn" + keys!

Missing are the following:

Fn+F2 for wireless on/off
Fn+F10 for CD/DVD eject
Fn+ PgUp/PgDn/End for Volume Up/Down/Mute

I use these ALL THE TIME, and for some reason (to save money on blue paint for the key caps?) they decided NOT to include these!!

Is this normal for their Latitude line? Can I install QUICKSET from a different notebook and get that functionality?

Bummer.

 

i thot the wifi switch was a hardware switch?

 

It also has buttons on the top near the power button to control volume. I would find the buttons and the wifi switch (One of the few things I miss that my old Toshiba had) before I used FN keys, I personally find them to be more convient. Thinks like the lack of an SD card reader would annoy me more. Granted this is expected for a business machine.

 

It just a matter of habit. I'm just so used to using those keys, that searching around for the alternate ways of doing it (that wifi catcher switch on the side, or the volume buttons on the top), aren't the first thing I try.

I was just surprised when I went to go eject a CD (I hate fumbling for that dam eject button on the side), and noticed that the F10 functionw was gone, then went to turn down the speaker, and the FN + Pg down was gone!

And yes, the lack of a SD reader, nowdays, is inexcusable. Even "business people" have a need for media readers. My TREO 650, unarguably a business targeted phone, uses SD cards. It's also a common format for moving data between machines. But, I knew it was lacking one when I bought it.

My point was that it seemed odd to remove those, they are just normal in a Dell! (and costs NOTHING to put in!).

 

Well I think its considered 'nicer' to have dedicated buttons, I personally like that more than the fn+x combos, but maybe thats just me...

 

the lack of a media card reader and a pair of half decent speakers may be a deal breaker for me (when i say pair i mean at least two speakers as opposed to the friggen one mono the have now...)

 

Yeah one mono speaker is lame. To imagine the shame of having to play something over that speaker outloud to business collegues and customers. o.o;

 

I'd rather have a decent mono speaker than two smaller (and crappier) speakers which is probably what would happen if they tried squeezing in two.

A mono speaker is really not going to affect sound quality especially from a laptop. I doubt someone sitting in a business meeting across the room is gonna care much about stereo imaging from a laptop that's about as wide as a real single speaker.