Feh.
Hate to hear this. Had high hopes that the MacBook keyboard issues were behind us. I will add that my son’s machine (a 2017 model purchased earlier this year) has the same issue.
Check out the article URL, a nice little side comment in those last 13 characters.
One final note: Check out this video showing a warranty-voiding fix to the spacebar problem. Fascinating, but definitely not something you want to try at home.
I have to wonder if any of Apple’s executive team ever run into this. Considering it’s usually food crumbs causing it I imagine they just don’t eat around their machines.
If the stuck keys can be unstuck by using compressed air to clear the debris and people don’t usually have tiny rocks and pebbles stuck to their hands then food crumbs are the most likely culprit.
1. Some stickiness issues can be resolved by compressed air; some cannot. (Again, my 2016 MBP evidences this. It’s a heat tolerance issue; when the CPU is cool, the T key, near the CPU, doesn’t stick; when it is hot it consistently sticks. Compressed air did not resolve this. I’d take it to an Apple Store, but it’s a corp laptop. I could probably get it replaced, but then it’ll take me forever to transfer everything.)
2. I do not eat near my keyboard, and yet another key (not close to the CPU) started sticking. Compressed air resolved this. Luckily, I haven’t had to do this again in about a year.
Again, you’re making assertions but don’t have data to back them up.
These keyboard issues are just terrible to hear about. It’s just hard to imagine that a company as wealthy and resource-heavy as Apple is having problems with a component that should be almost trouble-free. I’d almost think a company has to go out of its way to make problematic keyboard. Something like that just has to almost never fail. Apple should go back to proven keyboard switch design and forget about needing to have the world’s thinnest keyboard.
It should be noted once again, however, that despite what Apple claims, a warranty can only be refused if they prove that your actions caused the problem. Simply opening or modifying cannot legally void the warranty.
Anything short of perfection, and the Apple haters are on it like Trump on a cheeseburger.
I don’t think you have the data to suggest “usually food crumbs causing it.”
(Example: My 2016 MBP has had sticking issues right out of the box whenever the CPU gets hot, and I don’t eat around it.)
Didn’t Stephen Hackett return his previous MacBook Pro due to keyboard issues as well? (Yes, he did. I’d link here but it causes the post to be moderated.)
If the issue is as isolated as Apple says, /either/ Stephen Hackett is the most difficult person on keyboards /or/ the occurrence rate is in fact much, much higher than Apple suggests.
Also note that Gruber had a sticking key on his demo unit… I guess Apple told the truth when they said they weren’t “fixing” it.
I’ve got a MacBook with 3 fracked keys and two dead iPad smart keyboards. I love most things Apple but keyboards are their Achilles heel.
Maybe they should partner with Microsoft for help. 😉
I touch-type: keyboards are extremely important to me.
Given that older style (thicker) keyboards rarely gave problems like this, it seems that the march to thinness is the driver here. The new unibody chassis is extremely thin and so, the new keyboard technology.
I have no problems at all with my iMac Pro extended keyboard which is thin but must not use the same technology as MacBooks/Pros. And, I eat right on top of it and blow crumbs off daily. No problem.
With the new plastic “condom” underneath the keys, I would think humidity might cause sticking, not just crumbs.
I,suspect there are way better choices. Apple should buy one. ?
Maybe the factor is how much dust you have to deal with in your home/office. Dust level depends on lots of factors, from pets to tobacco use to what kind of air filter you use (if any) to whether you live near a playground or construction site. Lots of dust = keyboard problems. Not much dust = no problems.
Naturally there’s no dust in the pristine environment of Apple’s buildings, so they don’t run into this problem and thus OKed the defective keyboard design.
Things that could get under the keyboard keys and cause problems that are not food:
Pet fur/dander
Tobacco smoke
Household dust
Sand (if you take your mac to the beach house on vacation)
Etc, etc, etc.
A “magic” keyboard or a new MacBook keyboard?
I think John’s alluding to the fact that Microsoft makes _excellent_ super-thin keyboards on their Surface Type Covers. I find the keys to be too small on most of them, but the key travel is excellent and the unit is still thin and light.
Don’t get me wrong, I really like the way the butterfly keys feel, but if the new one is as failure-prone as the previous ones that’s not good.
There’s no dust in Jony Ive’s white world. Or USB A devices.
I had one and crumbs didn’t bring it down, but water did.