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Apple Still Hasn't Fixed Its MacBook Keyboard Problem (wsj.com)
Joanna Stern, writing for the Wall Street Journal [the link may be paywalled]: Why is the breaking of my MacBook Air keyboard so insanely maddening? Let's take a trip down Memory Lane.
April 2015: Apple releases the all-new MacBook with a "butterfly" keyboard. In order to achieve extreme thinness, the keys are much flatter than older generations but the butterfly mechanism underneath, for which the keyboard is named, aims to replicate the bounce of a more traditional keyboard.
October 2016: The MacBook Pro arrives with a second-generation butterfly keyboard. A few months later, some begin to report that letters or characters don't appear, that keys get stuck or that letters unexpectedly repeat.
June 2018: Apple launches a keyboard repair program for what the company says is a "small percentage" of MacBook and MacBook Pro keyboards impacted.
July 2018: Apple releases a new high-end MacBook Pro with the third-generation of the keyboard that's said to fix the issues.
October 2018: Apple's new MacBook Air also has the third-generation keyboard. I recommend it, and even get one for myself.
Which brings us to the grand year 2019 and my MacBook Air's faulty E and R keys. Others have had problems with Apple's latest laptops, too. A proposed nationwide class-action suit alleges that Apple has been aware of the defective nature of these keyboards since 2015 yet sold affected laptops without disclosing the problem. "We are aware that a small number of users are having issues with their third-generation butterfly keyboard and for that we are sorry," an Apple spokesman said in a statement. "The vast majority of Mac notebook customers are having a positive experience with the new keyboard." If you have a problem, contact Apple customer service, he added. John Gruber, a long time Apple columnist: I consider these keyboards the worst products in Apple history. MacBooks should have the best keyboards in the industry; instead they're the worst. They're doing lasting harm to the reputation of the MacBook brand.
April 2015: Apple releases the all-new MacBook with a "butterfly" keyboard. In order to achieve extreme thinness, the keys are much flatter than older generations but the butterfly mechanism underneath, for which the keyboard is named, aims to replicate the bounce of a more traditional keyboard.
October 2016: The MacBook Pro arrives with a second-generation butterfly keyboard. A few months later, some begin to report that letters or characters don't appear, that keys get stuck or that letters unexpectedly repeat.
June 2018: Apple launches a keyboard repair program for what the company says is a "small percentage" of MacBook and MacBook Pro keyboards impacted.
July 2018: Apple releases a new high-end MacBook Pro with the third-generation of the keyboard that's said to fix the issues.
October 2018: Apple's new MacBook Air also has the third-generation keyboard. I recommend it, and even get one for myself.
Which brings us to the grand year 2019 and my MacBook Air's faulty E and R keys. Others have had problems with Apple's latest laptops, too. A proposed nationwide class-action suit alleges that Apple has been aware of the defective nature of these keyboards since 2015 yet sold affected laptops without disclosing the problem. "We are aware that a small number of users are having issues with their third-generation butterfly keyboard and for that we are sorry," an Apple spokesman said in a statement. "The vast majority of Mac notebook customers are having a positive experience with the new keyboard." If you have a problem, contact Apple customer service, he added. John Gruber, a long time Apple columnist: I consider these keyboards the worst products in Apple history. MacBooks should have the best keyboards in the industry; instead they're the worst. They're doing lasting harm to the reputation of the MacBook brand.
when appearance is prioritized over function. When it came out, all the reviewers went into paroxysms of ecstacy about how thin it was. Now we see what happens when it''s not as thick as it needs to be.
I mean I don't mind paying twice as much for three year old technology when it's backed up by the Apple brand. Like hey, it's part of my hipster uniform. That and avacado toast and dorky eyeglasses.
At least it's about something technological. It could be yet another article about which politician farted upwind of an orphanage.
I don't mind the feel of the keybord per se (and I type a lot) but the following things bother me:
- Touch strip is a bad idea. Maybe it helps people who use fancy software but I'm wearing out a bald spot in the case from when I use vi and miss the recessed non-tactile key.
- The key surface is chicklet and not cupped. This leads to lack of feedback when my hands are drifting off the keys. - A keyboard that cannot be cleaned, really? Many people who buy Macbooks have houses slightly more messy than the Apple store. In fact, I find the neatness of the Apple store a bit unnerving.
I've experienced first hand the sound that the keys make. Picture a gooey public theater floor with spilled pop and candy on it over centuries, now press your foot down on that floor and lift it up. That is the sound the keys make. Fortunately, I got a new keyboard on Apple-care but I now have a laptop that I don't really feel like I can take anywhere because if anything else gets in the keys it will be a problem.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.