Chosen Solution
My keyboard broke for this device so I’ve just bought the keyboard only. Link to what I bought: HERE However I am unsure on my purchase since all online repair guides show replacement of keyboards attached to palm rest for this device. Link to what every video shows: HERE I just want to know if it is possible to remove the keyboard from the palm rest, and if so, are there any guides / resources for doing so? All I see are the “palm with keyboard” ones. Thanks!
Hi Coby, Take a look at this guide. It might help. Steffen Hi Coby, Here you find a service manual where the keyboard and palm rest are mentioned (p. 71 forward). Steffen Update (05/31/2018) Hi Coby, The keyboard seems to be plastic welded to the body. See here. If there is still guarantee on it, I would bring it back to the seller. If not, I would carefully remove the black plastic cover of the keyboard. You might then see all the plastic welded dots that hold the keyboard to the body. You might be able to work with a soldering iron to soften these dots and to remove the old keyboard. Do not soften or even remove too much of the plastic, since you need every bit for fix the new keyboard accordingly. Steffen
The Keyboard is held into the palm rest with plastic welds. Follow a disassembly guide for your Dell model until reaching a point where you can comfortably access the keyboard. The keyboard will be covered in a plastic layer to protect the internals from water. Remove that. Then you will be able to see where the keyboard is plastic welded onto the palm rest. I just used a soldering iron and carefully melted them, avoiding wires / cables. Then I could pull the keyboard off. Basically imagine instead of having screws to hold the keyboard in, they had plastic rods melted to hold it in place.
