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Apple Won't Replace Faulty MacBook Pro Keyboards With Third-Gen Components (macrumors.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the new-and-improved dept.

After determining that a "small percentage" of 2015-2017 MacBook and MacBook Pro keyboards may experience sticky keys, Apple initiated a Keyboard Service Program. The company has been servicing affected keyboards for free, but the fix doesn't guarantee the problem won't emerge again. The new 2018 MacBook Pros feature third-generation keyboards that are intended to prevent the keys from getting stuck. "For this reason, some customers have been hoping that Apple will start swapping out second-generation keyboards with third-generation keyboards, as part of its service program, but MacRumors has learned that isn't the plan." From the report: When asked if Apple Stores and Apple Authorized Service Providers will be permitted to replace second-generation keyboards on 2016 and 2017 MacBook Pro models with the new third-generation keyboards, if necessary, Apple said, no, the third-generation keyboards are exclusive to the 2018 MacBook Pro. Hopefully, in that case, it means that Apple has quietly tweaked the second-generation keyboard to be more reliable. It wouldn't really make sense for Apple to replace keyboards with ones that are just as prone to break again, especially if the third-generation keyboards offer a fix.

One possibility is that the third-generation keyboards aren't backwards compatible with 2016 and 2017 MacBook Pro models to begin with. The keyboard is actually one part of a larger component called the "top case," which also has a glued-in battery, and the internal design could be tweaked in 2018 models.

76 comments

  1. Fire the editors by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    You already posted about this you stupid muppet fuckers

    1. Re: Fire the editors by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Did they post about Musk calling some dude a pedo?

    2. Re: Fire the editors by 110010001000 · · Score: 0

      Nope. The story of the week, and they aren't posting about it. I mean, a major tech CEO is in the middle of a mental breakdown and they don't even have a single story about it.

    3. Re:Fire the editors by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      It's a different story - Actually the 2018 MacBook keyboard has a thin rubberized layer under its keycaps, which is patented (http://pdfaiw.uspto.gov/.aiw?docid=20180068808) and as described in the patent: 'designed to “prevent and/or alleviate contaminant ingress'

      Source: iFixit: https://ifixit.org/blog/10279/apple-macbook-keyboard-cover-up/

      Of course Apple won't admit it because they are in the middle of class action lawsuit right now.
      Now the newsworthy here is Apple won't use the new keyboard on previous gen MacBook to fix the keyboard issues, because if Apple does so, it means Apple is admitting its own fault.

    4. Re: Fire the editors by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Aw, you're not getting the chance to use Slashdot as your personal forum to short Tesla stocks?

      Diddums.

      Motherfucker.

    5. Re: Fire the editors by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      News for nerds. Stuff that matters.

      No, it doesn't qualify on either count. Fuck off.

      And yes, although you are AC, I magically know that you are really that cunt with a binary nickname.

      Keep shorting Tesla you cunt.

    6. Re: Fire the editors by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If it wasn't working they'd stop doing it. Since it's still working, why stop. You call him out on it, but if it's making him money why would he stop?

      TLDR: he's doing something right if he's been snorting Tesla for this long.

  2. Score one... by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Score one for crappy, non-modular design -- engineering by artistes, not engineers. I'll stick with my 12" Thinkpad, where swapping a keyboard is one connector and a few screws. Swollen battery? Press two latches, pull out the old battery. Click! Clack! New battery! So easy. More RAM? You get the idea. It can even run MacOS/OS X... The only downside is that it's a few mm thicker, but at least it won't bend like cardboard at the slightest provocation.

    1. Re:Score one... by Rockoon · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I dont understand the desire for the "apple experience." Seems like a whole lot of downside for very little upside.

      --
      "His name was James Damore."
    2. Re:Score one... by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 1, Interesting

      You can pretend to be rich and show off your wealth. It's apparently a form of social/wealth signaling when dating, for people who want vacuous brand loyalists.

    3. Re:Score one... by 110010001000 · · Score: 2

      It is the same thing as people who buy a Tesla, but you can also virtue signal that you "care about the environment" while you drive around in your $80,000 car. Meanwhile, they have a gas guzzling SUV at home to haul the kids around when they decide not to take the Tesla out.

    4. Re:Score one... by Proudrooster · · Score: 1

      Which Thinkpad Model are you running as a Hackintosh?

    5. Re: Score one... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Which ever one you want?

      https://techsviewer.com/install-macos-10-14-mojave-on-virtualbox-on-windows/

    6. Re:Score one... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nowadays it is probably easier to run OSX in a VM.

    7. Re:Score one... by known_coward_69 · · Score: 1

      It's like my in-laws bought a $56000 Lexus and don't know how to use 80% of the features. Or my wife wants a BMW X5.

      People want expensive shit with lots of stuff to feel good

    8. Re:Score one... by Darinbob · · Score: 2

      It's a nice laptop. When I first used one in 2009, I liked it. It was lighter than all other laptops I've used, and the trackpad was easy to use until anything I've seen on PC laptops, and battery life was very good. I distinctly remember at the time being impressed about how much better it was than what I'd used in the past. Granted, I did not pay for it out of my own pocket.

      Today though the gap is smaller, both PCs and Macs have very light models that are both power efficient and with good CPU performance. Trackpad is still better on Mac in my view, but Apple has a lot of key patents here so it's hard for PCs to copy it. On the other hand the newest Macs have the drawback of using USB-C for everything. People at work are holding onto their 2015 Macbook Pros rather than upgrading for a variety of reasons.

    9. Re:Score one... by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      The early Teslas were a good sporty car that I could see people getting just for the car itself instead of being all electric. Less boring than the always-in-the-shop Jaguars and not as expensive as the higher end supercars. The price of course was one of the selling points, an alternative to a Lexus for the senior director.

    10. Re:Score one... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It is called "conspicuous consumption"

    11. Re:Score one... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They both care more about status than ability and knowledge combined.

    12. Re:Score one... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I dont understand the desire for the "apple experience." Seems like a whole lot of downside for very little upside.

      I joined the Apple experience after they switched to Intel. OSX is a great OS, based on unix, you can compile and build software just like you would on other BSD or linux, there's precompiled GNU stuff you can load up, you can run their attractive OS shell, you can go to shell and be a cli monkey. Then you also have access to a lot of nice professional art/video/music applications that you wouldn't get on Linux or BSD. Then since they're on Intel you can also dual/triple boot to Windows/Linux and/or OSX. On top of that they used to select pretty good PC parts and make some well regarded systems.

      Since that time Form won over function. I think the line in the sand for me was the new USB-C MacBook Pros. There's a host of issues now not just the keyboards. The overall sense of neglect and snubbing of actual professions. Maybe people don't want to leave Apple but are forced because Apple doesn't offer a system they need for sale. Then I think about YT guys like Snazzy Labs and Linux Tech Tips, who both had very negative experiences with Apple over the iMac Pro. To me $5000 is a hella lot of money to put into a PC and that right there says buyer beware. Louis Rossmann on YT also has some great insights into some technical aspects and policy aspects of Apple.

      All of this is enough for me to build a PC and try to make the switch away from OSX. It's frustrating but I think it's on a slow decline and the cracks are becoming more apparent. Some on the outside might say "what took you so long to notice?" but if you replace the machine every three years you'll always be under warranty and when OSX works it has a lot of nice things and smooth ecosystem integration. There's always been reasons to be wary of Apple and at least all my data is in more universal formats for the most part. Easier for me to get out than some others I suppose.

      Also for people who might transition but are struggling, check out tonymacx86 for info about setting up a hackintosh. There's also guides and files available to get OSX running in a Virtual Machine on the PC if you google it. Don't try running an OSX VM for anything that needs real time performance or is intensive, but if you have some desktop apps and email you can't toss away today one of these options could potentially help make it less jolting to leave.

    13. Re:Score one... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You can pretend to be rich and show off your wealth. It's apparently a form of social/wealth signaling when dating, for people who want vacuous brand loyalists.

      Dude Apple even offer 0% interest financing on their products, macbooks are everywhere and really the only people who don't have them are the people who don't want them. It's been a longtime since they were a kind of 'status symbol', just like the way the iPhone has gone from a luxury item to something the average burger-flipping teenager turns over every year or so.

    14. Re: Score one... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Uhh... They are not everywhere. They barely have a 20 percent market share, and closer to 5 in the corporate sphere.

      They barely register

    15. Re:Score one... by GuB-42 · · Score: 1

      Excellent screen (especially important for artists), the best trackpad available, fast SSD, very good battery life for the form factor, and it looks cool.

      I never bought a single Apple product, and I don't intend to do so in the future because I have other priorities, but we have to recognize their qualities.

    16. Re:Score one... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Traditionally Apple MacBook have had superior trackpad, keyboard, stability, quality and longevity compared to comparable PCs. I still have MBPs from 2010 and 2011 which have been upgraded to modern SSD and max memory and they are still performing well.

      This has changed over time where Apple first started making it difficult, then impossible to upgrade and refresh the computer yourself, then the quality has dropped and at the same time the price has risen so now it is getting very difficult to justify buying a $5000 laptop which risks breaking just out of warranty.

    17. Re:Score one... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The sad thing is that, as we can all see, this doesn't work! Buying a flashy car doesn't make you feel much better for more than a few minutes - then you're driving around feeling exactly the same as you did before you bought your flash car. Plus the level of selfishness one must have in order to spend $80,000 on a car, when billions of animals are being tortured and killed every day, all around the planet, means you will never be happy. Excessive selfishness means you are stuck in a 'baby' mode of living, whereas caring about others is the natural state of an adult human - most humans are stuck in the 'baby' state.

    18. Re:Score one... by Aquaseafoam · · Score: 1

      Battery life has kinda gone away on recent models though in a race to be as thin as possible.

      --
      09-F9-11-02-9D-74-E3-5B-D8-41-56-C5-63-56-88-C0
    19. Re:Score one... by ilsaloving · · Score: 2

      There are actually a number of reasons, but it basically bois down to because OS X is as closest we've ever gotten to "Linux on the Desktop". I get to enjoy my bash prompt and OSS software (eg: homebrew) and still get to use Microsoft Office and Adobe if I need them.

      Their hardware also used to be really good (circa 2010 give or take). But that's gone to shit now, so the only thing going for them is OSX. Despite the strides that the hackintosh community have made, using a hackintosh still feels too much like walking on egg shells, so if you have disposable income and lack of time, then unfortunately you're still better off just buying their crap hardware.

      I'm still using a 2010 MBP at home as my main workhorse cause I was able to upgrade it to 16GB and 1TB SSD. Buying an equivalent MBP today would cost me 5 grand up front cause everything is a toaster now. Yeah I don't think so.

    20. Re:Score one... by ilsaloving · · Score: 1

      I was specifically buying the 2015s for our workplace for exactly that reason. Now that they've discontinued them, I'm either going to have to look aftermarket, or people are going to have to have a VERY good reason to 'need' a macbook.

    21. Re:Score one... by ErichTheRed · · Score: 2

      I actually like OS X and iOS to a degree, but I agree, there's no real reason to buy MacBook hardware other than to blend in with the other hipster emulators with the Github stickers on their MacBooks.

      BMW and Mercedes do this too. Especially with Mercedes, the idea used to be that you spend a ton of money and get a reliable tank. Now, both are designed to last just beyond the 3-year lease period. Both have insanely expensive, single-source electronic components that can make a simple repair cost thousands. And all of these electronics are designed so they can only be replaced by a BMW dealer and fail long before the mechanical parts do.

      Apple would love nothing more than to lease you a MacBook and have it simply stop working at the end of the 3 years...just send a high voltage pulse and destroy the electronics on the motherboard...sorry, logic board. They're waiting a generation until absolutely everyone is over on the "new iPhone every 2 years" model and doesn't remember what owning electronics was like.

    22. Re: Score one... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not the same thing and you know it.

  3. Other story left front page by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I guess we needed this one to remind us.

  4. No Surprise! by rea1l1 · · Score: 1

    Apple produces the finest lemons.

    1. Re:No Surprise! by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 2

      "I’ve been thinking. When Apple gives you lemons? Don’t buy them. Make Apple take the lemons back! Get mad! We don’t want your damn lemons! What are we supposed to do with these? Demand to see Apple’s manager! Make him rue the day he thought he could sell us lemons! Do you know who we are? We’re the men who are going to crash your company shares down! With your own lemons!"

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
  5. Happy with the decision by ModernGeek · · Score: 1

    Iâ(TM)m just glad that Apple has blessed us with the option of buying a new machine with an improved keyboard. The issues with the old one were blown out of proportion and number of users affected was pretty small. Iâ(TM)ll just be glad when the new units start shipping.

    --
    Sig: I stole this sig.
    1. Re:Happy with the decision by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Yawn! Just another portless wonderbook with the reliability of a sheet of wet cardboard. Call me when Apple makes a real computer, not a prop for hipsters who want to look good.

    2. Re:Happy with the decision by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I can't tell if you are a genuinely a crazy fanboi or just astroturfing. Then again from the looks of your two byte utf8 apostrophe come misinterpreted extended ASCII you must be posting from an iPhone.

    3. Re:Happy with the decision by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 1

      Just another portless wonderbook with the reliability of a sheet of wet cardboard.

      Standard issue for my company's employees is Lenovo SchtinkPads. I was up for a replacement, but there was no budget for new ones.

      However, there WAS a special budget for SchmackBookSchmoes. So I'm using one of those now.

      With a SchtinkPad, you can use it to hammer in railroad spikes all day, and the thing will still run perfectly. My SchmackBookSchoe fell off my sofa . . . and the display was broken.

      So I bought a fancy, expensive protective shell for it. Not that it will help any, if I drop it again . . . but the shell constantly reminds me that the thing is fragile, and I need to be extra careful with it.

      Call me when Apple makes a real computer, not a prop for hipsters who want to look good.

      So why is my company giving us MacBooks . . . ?

      I guess they want us to LOOK like hipsters . . . go figure . . .

      --
      Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
    4. Re:Happy with the decision by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      Well, between you and I, 50% of people have experienced the issue. Unless you don't have a Mac then it's 100%. Seriously, a lot of people have experienced this issue. Most people have dust in their house. If you have pets, it's impossible to keep the dust off.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    5. Re:Happy with the decision by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I can't see the new membrane actually fixing the dust and particulate ingress issue. It would have a chance if it actually fully enclosed the keys, but it doesn't. Check out the iFixit blog page (and video) where they show it and you'll see there are 1/4 inch holes in the membrane over each corner of each switch mechanism.

    6. Re:Happy with the decision by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're an idiot. Yes, you can get decent PC's that are comparable, but anybody who has used a recent Macbook can tell you that they too are fantastic devices. Mine is about 4 years old now and purring like brand new. Still FAST and not a scratch on that gorgeous metal body. Screen still looks fantastic. No flex in the hinges. Headphone jack did stop working. Damn it.

    7. Re:Happy with the decision by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The headphone jack is designed to be dual-purpose wired analog and optical digital. If you can see a light coming out of the headphone jack, the digital switch is probably stuck. My 2011 17" does that and often needs a toothpick poked in to reset it, so I just use a USB audio dongle instead.

    8. Re:Happy with the decision by h4ck7h3p14n37 · · Score: 1

      I'm also stuck with a 2017 MacBook Pro; an i5 with only 8GB of RAM. After seeing the ridiculous prices and lackluster specs of the latest Pro's I searched for comparable Thinkpads. The P52s looked pretty good.

      I'm a server guy and don't need too many CPU cycles or a fancy GPU, but I do need memory to run VM's. Our front-end guys are having problems with their machines not having enough memory (they can't easily test with IE or Edge) and programs like SourceTree are pegging the CPU. I have to spin up Windows EC2 instances for them to use.

  6. Steve Jobs by Vinegar+Joe · · Score: 1

    Continues to screw Apple fan-boys.............even from beyond the grave!!!!

    --
    "The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
    1. Re:Steve Jobs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...or maybe it's just Tim Cook doing the screwing...

    2. Re:Steve Jobs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      He died and a lot of the people he was protecting within the company were vulnerable after his death, some like Scott Forstall, were clearly forced out by his younger and less experienced subordinates, in fact, I suspect he was set up to be holding the bag when the fails around the Apple Maps launch occurred.

      There's a lot of politics between the ignorant, spoilt and very young inner city valley kids who're now moving into engineering roles and the old guard responsible for the good years up to 2012 or so. The new guys engineering skills do not appear to be up to Apple's past standards, but since Tim the gay MBA is in charge instead of Jobs, it's all swept under the carpet.

    3. Re:Steve Jobs by Megane · · Score: 1

      There is a notable decline in repairability starting in 2012 when the retina models came out, just after he died. The obsession with thin has made things even worse since then. I think he would not have allowed it to get this bad.

      --
      #naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
    4. Re:Steve Jobs by Spamalope · · Score: 1

      He'd make sure everyone felt bad until the quality wasn't so bad.

  7. What more evidence do you need ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That Apple doesn't give a flying shit about it's customers.

    1. Re:What more evidence do you need ... by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 2

      ... anymore.

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
  8. Fuck Apple by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Fuck them in their stupid, turtleneck-wearing, neckbeard and man-bun sporting asses...

    Oh wait.

    Don't stick your dick in crazy...

    Carry on!

  9. I know how those keys got sticky by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Something to do with the sexy photos of Tim Cook and Steve Jobs god bless his soul may he rest in peace.

  10. SOP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    From TFS: "It wouldn't really make sense for Apple to replace keyboards with ones that are just as prone to break again, especially if the third-generation keyboards offer a fix."

    Yes, it would make sense. It's Apple's Standard Operating Procedure: Replace defective pieces/parts that don't work with defective pieces/parts that work. Been like that since I can remember.

  11. AAST by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Apple Authorized Service Technician here.

    1.) Yes, I can confirm, the keyboard is integrated with the top case, trackpad, battery, power button, and touch bar on 2017/2017 model MBPs.
    2.) Would the top case from the 2018 work with a 2017 logic board? No. Why? Changed connectors and changed firmware on the battery and touch bar. You can't plug it in, and if you could, your logic board would query the hardware [What are you?], it would respond with [unexpected value], and your logic board and OSX would both go [wtf is this Mickey Mouse horse shit?].
    3.) Give it up. You're not getting a replacement that won't break. The entire intent behind not putting the rubberized seal around the keys was specifically so it would break just outside of warranty and you'd have to get a new one. When you start looking at prices of the parts + repair, most people will think, "You know, it's almost worth it just to get a new one rather than repair this one..." Which is the intent. Apple is trying to get out of the replacement parts business and break into the 'disposable computer' business, except they still want that whole "Apple = expensive, expensive = good + status symbol, thus apple = good + status symbol" meme to keep going.

    1. Re: AAST by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Its probably in Apple's interest to switch to the disposable model so they donâ(TM)t have to employ twats like you.

    2. Re:AAST by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As an AAST, I too tire of Apple's bullshit.

      Internal politics and a younger generation of spoilt and entitled valley kids who clearly can't engineer either hardware or software for shit, ruined Apple.

    3. Re:AAST by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Louis Rossman, is that you? You should make a Slashdot account so people can check out your YouTube channel.

    4. Re: AAST by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He's a twat for telling it like it is?

      What does that make you? A salty apple engineer?

      You're too busy fucking up Apple's reputation and pissing off their Pro users to be posting here if you are.

    5. Re:AAST by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      3.) ok I'll get a new one, but certainly not a macbok !!!

    6. Re:AAST by thegarbz · · Score: 2

      You're on Slashdot among friends. It's okay. You can say the word "motherboard". :-)

    7. Re:AAST by Spamalope · · Score: 1

      Louis at least shows you exactly why it's bad instead of just saying it is. Especially when he's showing the same design flaw through several MBP generations, it's easy to see why he's ranting given the premium pricing.

    8. Re:AAST by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      With the level of Apple fanboyism still here? that would be very unwise, only use Apple approved names, it's beaten into you during certification

  12. Tweaked by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is this the past tense for having smoked crack; or, does it have the Microsoft meaning "Embrace, Extend, Make Incompatible; then Exterminate"?

  13. Here in Australia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This would be grounds for 100% purchase refund due to the product not meeting consumer satisfaction. A temporary fix does not address the problem, because of the nature that it be up to Apples discretion just how long that fix program lasts, and not customers expectations leading to the purchase of the device in the first place.

    1. Re:Here in Australia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This would be grounds for 100% purchase refund due to the product not meeting consumer satisfaction.

      There's no such legislation in Australia. You might be confusing it with the "not fit for purpose" legislation which, unfortunately, Apple can skate around quite easily as a non-functioning integrated keyboard doesn't prevent you from using your notebook with an external keyboard.

    2. Re:Here in Australia by viperidaenz · · Score: 0

      A fully integrated devices, such as a laptop, is not fit for purpose if you need to use external devices for it to function as intended.
      Where do you draw the line?
      When your laptop requires a USB drive to boot as the internal drive has failed, an external keyboard and mouse, an external monitor, and power supply because the battery won't charge?
      So it's basically now a desktop computer?

      You've gone full retard.

    3. Re: Here in Australia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why is this modded down?

    4. Re:Here in Australia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      what-is-a-major-problem

      The keyboard not functioning correctly fundamentally is a major problem with notebook. I would NOT have purchased a machine, hypothetically if I had purchased one, had I known about the defect. Otherwise, yeah, I won't buy that model now. Which is the whole purpose of our consumer protection laws, which, again, do exist.

  14. Enough of this bullshit by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

    What's the least expensive laptop that can easily run macOS?

    --
    #DeleteFacebook
  15. Same thing happened with 2011 MBP video recall by ayesnymous · · Score: 1

    They just replaced the logic boards with the exact same logic board that would experience the problem again.

    1. Re:Same thing happened with 2011 MBP video recall by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      yeah they lost me as a customer that day, I hope they lost lots of others too... no going back after that bs.

  16. Apple users never learn... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No matter how many problems, no matter how crap the software is (iTunes, I'm looking at you), Apple fanboys will still queue up to buy Crapple products.
    Buy a non-Apple laptop and you can replace the keyboard fairly easily, with most models. I've done it for a friend in ten minutes or less, just watched a video on how to do it, £10 for the replacement keyboard (because the old one was ten years old and had been mashed to death by overuse!)

  17. Fixed or not fixed? by ilsaloving · · Score: 1

    I could have sworn there was a story just a few days ago that said that the new keyboards are quieter but do not fix the flaws that make them failure-prone.

    https://www.techradar.com/news...

    So why are people suddenly saying that the new keyboards fix the problem?

    1. Re:Fixed or not fixed? by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      So why are people suddenly saying that the new keyboards fix the problem?

      The new keyboard has a dust shield under each key which is supposed to keep the dust out of the crappy little mechanism, and the crappy little mechanism is also infinitesimally superior to the old one. It's still crap, though, with too little travel and too little feel, and it's still going to be prone to dust problems. They will just crop up a little later.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    2. Re:Fixed or not fixed? by GuB-42 · · Score: 1

      https://ifixit.org/blog/10279/...

      tl;dr Apple implemented one of their own patents called "Ingress Protection for Keyboards".

  18. If you have to ask.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...you can't afford it.

    1. Re:If you have to ask.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      hackintosh laptop