So there’s an article that’s been making the rounds, with the inflammatory title, The MacBook keyboard fiasco is way worse than Apple thinks.
From the article:
Apple keep insisting that only a “small number of customers have problems” with the MacBook keyboards. That’s bollocks. This is a huge issue, it’s getting worse not better, and Apple is missing the forest for the trees.
The fact is that many people simply do not contact Apple when their MacBook keyboards fail. They just live with an S key that stutters or a spacebar that intermittently gives double. Or they just start using an external keyboard. Apple never sees these cases, so it never counts in their statistics.
I struggled with whether to post this article and, if I did, finding the right take. My issue with the article was the small sample size.
But, I’ve experienced exactly what this article focused on: The “r” key on the very MacBook Pro on which I’m typing this occasionally refuses to work. But it happens so rarely, and responds to my hammering the key back into normalcy, that I just live with it.
Enter John Gruber. From the linked post:
Hansson used the headline “The MacBook Keyboard Fiasco Is Way Worse Than Apple Thinks”, but I suspect it’d be more accurate to say that it’s way worse than Apple admits. They don’t need to look at the number of support incidents from customers. Almost everyone at Apple uses MacBooks of some sort. They know from their own use of the product how problematic reliability is.
And there’s the crux. Apple eats their own dog food, as the expression goes. Numbers being what they are, they must be acutely aware of this problem.
So what’s next? Will we see a MacBook event later this year with a new keyboard? One based on an entirely new (or old and reliable) keyboard design? Time will tell.
I have a real issue with this whole thing. I really love my MBP 15″ and I don’t want to even consider returning it, but I have until next Friday to do this under the return policy. This thing was a LOT of money for a device I expected to be a workhorse for 5 or so years, and now I find myself wondering if this makes sense without paying for AppleCare on top of the 3k (Canadian) I’ve already spent. I’ll be watching closely for the next 8-10 days before I make up my mind, but I’ve NEVER felt like this about a Mac product, Buyers Remorse.
Dave: note that the keys everyone complains about are the most frequently-used ones, like E, R, S, space bar.
I am one of those users. My T key “sticks” whenever the CPU gets hot, but I haven’t returned it. It’s complicated by the fact it’s a corp machine, and I don’t want another butterfly replacement, so since the keyboard mostly works, I stick with it. It also helps that most of my work is on a Mac Pro with a Magic Keyboard 2, which is great.
Apple knows about my problems. They’ve had to replace the keyboard twice on my late 2016 MBP. In case anybody doesn’t know, this involves replacing the top half of the computer. The first time, it turns out they replaced the motherboard as well (and also therefore the hard drive, which caused me significant software licensing problems not helped my by having a backup). I really hate the butterfly keyboard.
I have my fingers crossed that the rumored 16.5″ is going to be a reality this Fall… but I’m terrified it’ll have a butterfly keyboard. Please, Apple, don’t make me choose!
It’s possible that Apple doesn’t appreciate the degree to which it’s a problem, because 90% of their employees are using their laptops at work, in an air conditioned building that is mostly dust-free.
Maybe the biggest reason why some people don’t report any problems, and other people go through multiple keyboard replacements, and keep having the problem over and over again, is that different houses and different workplaces have different degrees of dust in them. If your house has a good air filter on the furnace and you don’t live near construction or a playground, then you might not have a lot of dust in the air and the keyboard might work pretty well with few problems.
But if there’s a playground next door and you keep the windows open to enjoy fresh air and you don’t use a high MERV filter on your furnace/AC system, then… perhaps no butterfly keyboard will ever work right for you.
The fact that people are recommending the 2015 MPB says enough. This is a failure for over 3 years. I cannot understand how a company with so many resources can fail so hard. Apple has really dropped the ball in their whole mac lineup for the last few years. I mean seriously how hard is it to update a computer every year or two (ahem mac mini/pro/iMac), every product line should get a devoted team, something that clearly didn’t happen. And something like butterfly mechanism should be done by a shared team.
The tragic truth is, its clear mac is not the focus anymore, and i can’t blame them, iOS brings in the money. IMO it is so easy to keep Mac fans happy, just give them a good laptop, with macOs. But they are really forcing people to consider switching.