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Apple Says New MacBook Pro Keyboard Won't Fix Sticky Key Issue (cnet.com)
After multiple lawsuits have been filed over the butterfly-switch keyboards found on the MacBook Pro and MacBook lineups, you would think Apple would fix this issue by including a keyboard in the new MacBook Pros that can't be damaged by a little dust. Unfortunately, while the new 2018 MacBook Pro does have an updated third-generation keyboard, Apple tells CNET it doesn't include any new engineering or tweaks to address the sticky key issue. CNET reports: Instead, the third-generation keyboard's tweaks are about making it quieter. In a brief typing test, CNET's long-time MacBook reviewer Dan Ackerman says it isn't "whisper-quiet" but does "lack the sharp click of the previous design." Technically, Apple has admitted only that "a smaller percentage of the keyboards in certain MacBook and MacBook Pro models" have demonstrated the sticky key issue. If you buy one, you may likely never have that problem. But it's worth noting that when the company launched its free keyboard repair program in June, it made literally every single model of MacBook Pro with the "butterfly switch" keyboard eligible.
Well a sticky key doesn't make much sound at all, so I guess the noise problem is solved one way or another!
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Just go back to those.
You could actually tell when you pressed it too, since it moved 2 mm instead of 0.25 mm.
I don't understand why Apple is making their laptop keyboards have a different sensation from their desktop keyboards. It's incongruous and annoying.
Quiet keyboards are for hipsters. A real {,wo}man uses Model M or a good counterfeit. Those somehow forced to use a laptop or phone can apt install bucklespring to get at least the audible part of goodness.
If neighbours don't complain, your keyboard is no good.
The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
What is this rinky-dink upgrading?
yu0 are typing it wrong!
We're still relying on corporations to decide our input device?
*Design a keyboard-less device. Let's call it, for the sake of the example, iPad Pro.
*Create a docking connection. Supply an input device that snaps onto the dock. Let's call it, for the sake of the example, Smart Keyboard.
* Open the dock interface up to third parties, e.g. Belkin, who can design custom keyboard covers.
Now when you press a key and nothing happens at least you wont have to hear it pretend like it's working.
Again.
You don't learn. You deserve your sticky keys because you are stupid. Part of Apple's key demographics.
the case for individual keys is subject to this problem. If the keyboard or the top of the case is offset by even a little, then keys will stick. On our Dell Latitudes that have just one big cut-out for the entire keyboard, typically on the left and bottom keys stick because of the case. On our Dell Precision and newer MacBooks, a lot more keys stick because the case surrounds every key. On my personal MacBook Pro late02012, I took it apart and filed the case on the left side of all of the keys, and I haven't had a problem in years.
Sure, and the Chinese government knows everything you do. You so smart!
Because other laptop brands are even worse. We buy Dell Precision laptops with ProSupport Plus, their highest level of support, but we still can't get Dell to do repairs. On our 5500-series of laptops we first started buying which will be a year ago in five days (July 17), they keys and USB ports don't quite match-up with the holes in the case. I've wasted probably 200 hours so far taking laptops apart to file cases so keys don't stick and to fix cases so you can plug in USB cables. It just sucks.
I seem to recall a prolific Slashdot Mac advocate going back and forth with me re: my keyboard issue not long ago, insisting that this issue was fixed in the 2nd generation of this keyboard, and that that's what Apple would replace my keyboard with if I took it in.
I contested the latter point, but it turns out it doesn't matter, because it's still not (by Apple's own admission) fixed in the 3rd gen.
Eventually, I hope this individual realizes that, every time we have disagreed about what Apple was doing, or was going to do, it has only been a matter of weeks before an Apple press release, legal filing, or a quote by a reputable publication (often one that is pro-Apple, at that) confirms what I had been trying to point out. Maybe then he (and others like him) will finally be able to get on board with pressuring Apple to change direction, rather than remaining blind to the fact that Apple seems to be hell-bent on seeing how long they can coast on their pile of money when they design themselves out of the market.
I want to start liking Apple's computers again, but I can't do that while they're so comfortable with knowingly selling defective products that they openly admit that their new, not even released yet, laptops are just as defective as the last two generations. Who's with me?
APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.
That's true of Apple and true of Dell. We hired an intern last October that spends most of his time filing Dell cases to keep keys from sticking and to make it easier to plug in USB cables/keys. On my personal Dell Precision 5520, I can't plug in a USB key on either side and I still have several keys that stick. I'm about ready to pull out my Dremil tool to grind the hell out of the openings in the case. Too bad Dell doesn't consider that enough of a good reason to do a repair.
Stop wanking to porn and ejaculating all over your keyboard. That is how you stop your keys from being "sticky."
This is still true for the most part, except that you won't save that much (if any) money on the Lenovo products that are high-quality rather than crap. Even their ThinkPad line has lemons, so you need to do a little legwork before pulling the trigger.
(I've been a Mac fan for a long time, but recently needed to replace a very old one and had to bow out for this generation. I'm just not impressed with the current offerings, and I went with an HP Envy instead. It's not quite up to MacBook Pro build quality, but it's an ultraportable quad-core i7 for under $1000.)
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
My 2013 13" has most of the same features.. same RAM. I could use a disk upgrade and a few more cores.. but this new version still only has 16 gb of RAM. Still more of an Air than a Pro.
I'm not keen on the ginormous trackpad, the bad keyboard, and the lack of peripherals. I guess I'll wait another year or so.
The only major downside to that is that the Lenovo will come infected with Windows 10.
I don't disagree with your premise, it's just that I walked away from Windows when Ballmer forced Vista on us, with the threat that there was no going back; "it's our way or the highway". Since then, Microsoft took Ballmer's "bend over and take it" attitude with the introduction of the schizophrenic Windows 8, then doubled down with spyware, ads and their "QA is for sissies" approach to forced, non-selective updates with Windows 10.
You need to acknowledge an abusive relationship for what it is. You can't go back to your abuser "because maybe s/he's changed". S/he hasn't.
Apple may not be abusive the way Microsoft is, leaving far fewer visible bruises, but its increasing control over what you're allowed to have in a MacBook is just as unhealthy.
I have plenty of issues with Apple that have absolutely zero to do with this keyboard drama. However, with everything that is involved in designing some new product, testing it, then getting it into the manufacturing pipeline, there's basically no way Apple could have addressed this issue, assuming it is one of those things that manages to escape testing. Very plausible in this scenario, since you likely have a machine just pressing the keys and engineers looking for signs of wear, as opposed to "real world" conditions where people eat around their laptops, stuff rubs off of our fingertips, we shed skin constantly, and all sorts of other really gross things.
Now, if during one of these lawsuits it turns out Apple knew about this issue before the first units with the new keyboard design went up for sale, none of the above would apply.
pressing the keys the wrong way.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
i don't and probably won't (maybe a second hand older model? for shits and giggles?)
but my boss does because we develop for osx/ios too
Looking for people to chat about multicopters, coding, music. skype: gtsiros
Talk to Linus Tech Tips about not getting support from Apple! It's an almost unbelievable story.
So as long as these keyboard complaints have been around, one would think that Apple had enough lead to engineer a proper keyboard like they used to have. It sure seems foolish to spend thousands of dollars on a computer which know know is going to fail in short order and be replace with yet another identical keyboard. Apple is waiting to see if these 2018 MacBook purchasers skip AppleCare or wait until it expires to sock to these guys with a hefty repair bill which probably by now will mean not just replacing the keyboard but most of the entire machine as the endless integration for minimum thinness continues unabated and their machines get crappier and crappier. I say, save your money, people!
Lenovo support Linux on heaps of their products.
The laptop i'm using right now - a W540 - supports RHEL and Ubuntu
...there is still no sane reason to buy one.
Sticky Keys is a 'feature', not a problem.
On my short list for my next laptop, you won't find another MacBook. It'll be Linux, something powerful and with modern specs. Possibly something from lambdal or system76, although I'm hoping to find a Canadian distributor to avoid cross-border expense/hassle. Sorry Apple, you've lost me as a future customer until you wake up and give power users the kind of system they want. Sure, you can say "Apple doesn't care" if I don't stay in their ecosystem but the feeling is mutual.
How do you hire an intern? And I hope filing cases was relevant job experience. Otherwise, you were using slave labor.
I dropped off my 2016 MBP for the keyboard repair on Monday after the space key became too annoying. I asked the tech dude if the replacement keyboard would be identical to what I had in there originally. He didn't know, which I took to mean that likely the answer was "yes, it is identical". He said, however, that later MBP keyboard (I think 2017, but not sure) had a different feel to them with a little more travel in the keys and might stick less. This sounded pretty vague, though, so I take it with a pinch of salt. It's a pity because I like the keyboard when it works. The repair replaces the entire top case and, if I heard correctly, the battery.
soylentnews.org
I'd prefer a laptop to be 1mm thicker but have a decent keyboard and socket for storage/ram. Would also be nice if the keyboard was not riveted to the whole top part of the laptop.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
We hired an intern last October that spends most of his time filing Dell cases to keep keys from sticking and to make it easier to plug in USB cables/keys..
How's the weather in Hell, Satan?
No manufacturing precision is the problem not the design itself. Make the keys consistent size and the hole for the key sized accordingly.
But in the real world the problem of crap and crud accumulating can be a problem so the key holes have to have some distance from the key itself _or_ be absolutely perfect (tolerating crap vs rejecting it completely). Keys can't wobble much in any case however that's not a problem in any higher quality keyboard.
just because you're willing to pay $600 for a computer with a broken keyboard, and $1200 for the Apple logo.
With all our advancements in tech it's rather ironic that typing skills are still a considerable productivity booster in the 21st century workplace. And based on all the marketing we've been hearing from Dragon over the last 20+ years, keyboards should have died long ago, and an infant should be able to control a computer with crying and wet farts by now.
(Visiting alien life) - "The travel brochure said 'advanced species' for this planet. Advanced my ass. They still use keyboards."
Fuck you it just works!
Exactly. It takes courage to do this. Definitely a step up from removing a measly headphone jack from a phone. Crippling a laptop with an inferior keyboard is definitely the way to go and we are fortunate the Apple geniuses are pushing this forward for the benefit of their customers.
I love my Surface Book 2 keyboard. I used to buy nothing but Mac because it was the best Windows and Linux computer on the market. Now I buy Surface Books because they are truly awesome Windows machines and WSL is absolutely amazing.
Mac hardware has gone WAY down hill since Jobs died.
Apple didn't "admit" that only a small percentage were affected, they tried to gas light us that only a small percentage are affected.
Have gnu, will travel.
I think a major design change would be required to fix all of the keyboard issues with the Mac's. The obsession Apple has with thin designs has caused the keyboard redesigned that were once the best in the business to something less tactile and more shallow. Its why I refrain from a notebook that is too thin because all ulta books suffer at least some from a keyboard that has less travel. Lately I have experienced better keyboards on some cheap notebooks then what is on a expensive Macbook Pro. Apple did not a a small percentage of defective keyboards, it has a defective design on most Mac notebooks that needs to be redesigned.
At this point in time, I am no longer buying Apple products. Time and time again they make bad decisions and don't put effort into their end product. Yet, they get away with it because they're "Apple". I mean its stuff like this that makes some people look for alternatives. https://www.pcgamesn.com/steam...
Because there are programs that don't have versions for Linux, only for Microsoft and Apple.
And nobody in their right mind would buy Microsoft.
Why not just add a flexible bellows around each key, sealing it against its cutout and prevent crud from getting underneath the key?
The only reason we live with crud getting underneath laptop keys is because most of them have a big cut-out for the entire keyboard. So the nearest neighboring structure to a key are its neighboring keys, so there's no way to seal them since the seal would bridge multiple keys together, inhibiting them from moving independently. But if you've got an individual cutout for each key, then it's possible to seal each individual key. As a bonus, the cutout doesn't need as tight a tolerance (in fact you want a little more space between it and the key so crud can be picked out).
Sure, and the Chinese government knows everything you do. You so smart!
Apple computers are manufactured in China smarty pants.
...I went with an HP Envy instead. It's not quite up to MacBook Pro build quality, but it's an ultraportable quad-core i7 for under $1000.)
I bought an HP Spectre 13 in 2016. Aside from the limited amount of soldered onto system board memory (8 GB RAM) it has been a pleasant experience. Xubuntu Linux installed without a hitch and recognises all of the hardware including the special function keys. I upgraded from the 256 GB NVMe PCIe SSD to a 1 TB NVMe PCIe SSD about 6 months ago.
Lenovo yogas are simply brilliant. .. nice keyboard. .. just works... adaptable form factor. . Touch... just nice...
The best device.... in the world!
As an Apple fan I would prefer to avoid obsolete physical keyboards all together.
Why buy a laptop og PC or console when I can do All with my iPad?
The virtual Apple keyboard is much Better than ANY physical keyboards even the so called machanical keyboards
AMD and Intel is no match for Apple cpus for games
I get confused by betos, unix, Linux, Windows and All that... iOS is much easier for everything
Why have a big harddrive case when it can be a small iPad instead?
Double bitstream in Apple iOS make it superior to everything
Great impression of a clueless iSheep!