Nice Reliable Keyboard

I got this Dell from a customer who just wanted the hard drive whiped. The Screen had flaked out and needed replacing. I saved up some money and got a compatible used one on ebay. I have been using it ever since. I do a lot of typing both at home and at work. I do usually prefer a split keyboard when I can get it. You usually cannot get those in a laptop unless you use an external one. I thought that this keyboard would be hard to use because it is rather small but I got used to it and though I use an external keyboard for large amounts of typing but I have not had any real difficulties in using the onboard keyboard. I have not had any keys to come off or become stuck but I do occasionally spray the keyboard free of debris using canned air. This comes from my time working on computers. You would not believe how much junk gets in keyboards these days. I think that rather than how they are made is why so many die before their time. Now I will not say I have not seen keyboards from similar models of laptop flake out or keys break off but as for mine it is pretty well built. Far more rugged than my much faster HP laptop. But just like you would not take a corvette out in the mud I would not take my HP out in the field. I would however take my Dell Inspiron 8200 out in the field at a moment's notice and not even have to take an external keyboard to use it.

I was asked to update this so I will add some more info. I myself have not had to replace my keyboard but I had to remove it to complete the replacing of the screen on this computer. I also have replaced probably 20 different keyboards on laptops in my time. This was very simple to do. You can use a flat head screwdriver or if you get the part from Dell you will get a tool to gently pry the control panel above the keyboard up. Then you use a tiny philips head screwdriver to undo the screws. Then gently pull the keyboard ribbon out of the connector on the motherboard. To put it back in reverse these steps. You can find all this information on the Dell site.