Dell ships wonky Vostros to UK customers

Quick: Look at the bottom row of letters on your computer keyboard, then look at this picture of Jake Gordon's new Dell Vostro 1310. What's wrong? Pay attention to where the Z falls on both machines.

The problem is unique to the UK, where the pipe (|) and backslash (\) are traditionally placed next to the Z key. A skinny left shift key is normally used to compensate for the extra button there.

What obviously happened here is that Dell took a U.S. keyboard design and rearranged the keys with the UK layout, rather than using the UK keyboard design from the start. It's easy to see how this could happen, though it's difficult to excuse such a mistake making it all the way through the production process and past quality control.

Dell has acknowledged the issue and has stopped shipping the Vostro 1310 and 1510 until the problem can be remedied. In a statement, Dell said it would be swapping out the keyboards with correct ones courtesy of a kit mailed to the user or an on-site technician. If you're affected, call Dell customer service in the UK, if they haven't already called you. (I'll add that laptop keyboard replacements are indeed a pretty easy affair.)

The good news: Unlike the old exploding battery issue, which could strike at random, if this is a problem that affects your computer, you surely already know about it.