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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.

10 of 125 comments (clear)

  1. This happens by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.

    1. Re:This happens by Mascot · · Score: 4, Informative

      To boot, the early models were even thinner at the slim end.

      2012 MBA: Height: 0.11-0.68 inch (0.3-1.7 cm)
      2018 MBA: Height: 0.16–0.61 inch (0.41–1.56 cm)

      That they somehow managed to mess up something as testable as a keyboard, is one thing. That they haven't managed to fix it several iterations later, is just sad. I'm sticking with my 2012 model and hoping it never dies.

    2. Re:This happens by AmiMoJo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Problem is if they fix it they will be admitting that it was a cock-up. By quietly adding a fraction of a millimetre every year and some little protective membranes they will eventually make it more or less reliable and still get to claim it was a minor issue.

      Fortunately people like iFixIt cut through their bullshit, same as they did with the screen cable flaw.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  2. You're pressing it wrong by mspohr · · Score: 4, Funny

    We all know that Apple never makes mistakes. It must be you.

    --
    I don't read your sig. Why are you reading mine?
    1. Re:You're pressing it wrong by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 4, Funny

      We all know that Apple never makes mistakes. It must be you.

      I hear their next keyboard will have only one button ... :-)

      --
      It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  3. Why would they? by stealth_finger · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Why would they? Suckers keep buying them and then they can make extra on the repairs.

    --
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    1. Re:Why would they? by fluffernutter · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Lol.. You think it's good that "only one out of four" year-old laptops completely broke.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
  4. It's not that simple by SuperKendall · · Score: 4, Insightful

    when appearance is prioritized over function.

    That's not at all the case though.

    I really like how the newer keyboard feels. Yes there's absolutely some fun to typing on a big old clacking keyboard with a long draw, but I find that flatter low travel keyboards are quicker to type on.

    So the thinness DOES have function. Now it may be the case that you can't have a reliable keyboard that thin, but I think we have yet to prove out that theory since Apple keeps iterating and the keyboard keeps improving... and even though there are a number of people who have seen issues, I know a lot of people with the newer keyboard who have not.

    the reviewers went into paroxysms of ecstacy about how thin it was

    Really, who? I recall seeing zero reviews praising that aspect of the keyboard - just the overall thinness of the laptop itself.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  5. Re:So this is what "news for geeks" has fallen to. by GrumpySteen · · Score: 4, Interesting

    At least it's about something technological. It could be yet another article about which politician farted upwind of an orphanage.

  6. Simila Issus by Zephyn · · Score: 4, Funny

    Which brings us to the grand year 2019 and my MacBook Air's faulty E and R keys.

    I hav noticd simila poblms with my kyboad. It's causing numous os.