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As More Users Complain About Poor Keyboard in Current MacBook Pro Lineup, Critics Say Apple Should Consider Recalling the Device (theoutline.com)
Last year, a report outlining what it described as a major flaw in Apple's current MacBook Pro lineup became a talking point in the industry. The issue was that a piece of dust could render keys on the MacBook Pro lineup useless, and that Apple had no idea how to fix it. Casey Johnston, writing for The Outline: MacBook Pro's keyboard keys stopped working if a single piece of dust slipped under there, and more importantly, that neither Apple nor its Geniuses would acknowledge that this was actually a problem. Today, Best Buy announced it is having a significant sale on these computers, marking them hundreds of dollars off. Interesting. Still, I'd suggest you do not buy them. Since I wrote about my experience, many have asked me what happened with the new top half of the computer that the Apple Geniuses installed, with its pristine keyboard and maybe-different key switches. The answer is that after a couple of months, I started to get temporarily dead keys for seemingly no reason. Again. Longtime widely respected commentator Jason Snell says, "I know that we Apple-watchers sit around wondering if Apple will release new laptops with new keyboards that don't have these issues, but Apple's relative silence on this issue for existing customers is deafening. If these problems are remotely as common as they seem to be, this is an altogether defective product that should be recalled."
So Apple users are going to be buying the next version anyways.
.... And because of that there is zero chance that there will be a recall. Because that would be an admission that they've done something wrong. And they rarely admit that they've done something wrong or apologize (the Apple Maps fiasco or the "I Am Root" fiasco being the only two times that I can think of that they've said sorry for something). That's something that Jobs preached pretty aggressively.
What's more likely to happen is that they will come out with a new keyboard design at WWDC in June and call it an "innovation" and shove it into every notebook they make to make this go away over the long term. And they'll likely come out with a repair extension program for this crappy keyboard if they have to so that the bad press goes away over the short term. .
This is my opinion. To make sure you don't steal it, it's covered by the DMCA.
A weak spot is usually something the laptop maker skimped on to reduce cost, like a small battery, or a cheap screen, or HDD storage in the SSD era..
The new Macbook keyboard is a deliberately created new feature. Apple came up with a new keyboard mechanism which reduces key travel in order to try to make the laptop a little thinner (like laptops need to be any thinner). It bombed, plain and simple. What's the point of making the laptop 3mm thinner if it forces you to add a can of compressed air to your laptop bag?
"Weak spot" in a MBP keyboard is an understatement:
1. Given that the keyboard is mechanically the most physically abused piece of hardware on the Mac (now that we have no spinning HDs), it ought to have the military tank ruggedness of the "Selectric" keyboard.
2. Watertightness is an absolute must, regardless of what Jony and his champagne tastes has to say. Why? Spills happen. The worst case I saw was a glass of wine set down over a foot away from the MBP. The wine sloshed and sent a single drop of wine out of the glass and into the middle of the keyboard. Game over.
3. Dust & cookie crumb tightness is s a must as these are real world gremlins.
4. The keyboard ought to be able to be removed from the base frame with a couple twist locks like the batteries on earlier black and white plastic Mac Books had in the days of removable batteries. No sweat, no pain, no Genius Bar high priced keyboard repair bill.
5. I should be a senior MacBook Pro human engineering design advisor after having spent 50 years designing durable easy to use products -- that people used and liked and ALL work as intended.