Thu, 04 Jan 2007

Nice Keyboard!

People who spend a lot of time in front of a keyboard like I do are rather particular about the keyboards they use. So much so that when I find a keyboard I like often buy two for when the first breaks down or gets damaged. I also like to have the keyboard I use at work pretty much identical to the one I use at home.

At work I've been using a Dell Enhanced USB Multimedia Keyboard like this one:

[Dell Keyboard]

There are a number of things I like about this keyboard:

Recently I got a new home machine without a keyboard, so I thought it might be time to splash out on a new keyboard as well. My first port of call was the numerous computer shops on York Street in the city and the large collection of stores on George Street near Chinatown. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a single thing I liked. The keyboards on offer all seemed so flimsy or were rugged, but wireless.

Trying a different approach I thought I'd try to get a keyboard like the one I have at work. I started off by searching the Dell Australia web site. The Dell web site is not particularly easy to navigate but I couldn't find it. I did however find it on the US Dell web site where even though it is listed as being available for "select Dell Latitude Notebooks" it is still possible to buy it as a separate item.

It was Sunday, so I emailed the sales enquiry address at Dell Australia and asked how I would go about buying two of these keyboard. Later that day I happened to be at a shopping mall where they had one of these little Dell stands. I asked the Dell staff if it was possible to buy one of their keyboards. No, they said, I have to buy a computer to get one of these nice keyboards. I told him "the customer is always right" and slunk off to wait for a reply to my email enquiry.

I waited two days for a return email from Dell sales. It never arrived so I decided to ring them. I talked to sales first and was then put through to the spare parts department where they finally took my order for two keyboards. Fifty five dollars each and free shipping.

It took far more effort to get hold of than it should have but who cares, 8 days later I finally had my new keyboards. Awesome!

Posted at: 22:45 | Category: Tech | Permalink