If you asked anyone about the MacBook Pro yesterday, the topic would inevitably come around to the keyboard. If you ask someone today, you will get the same topic, but the sentiment has shifted 180 degrees in that 24 hours.
Apple’s butterfly keyboard mechanism has been at the heart of users’ complaints about the notebook since it was first introduced. Repeating keys and missed keystrokes pushed Apple back to the drawing board several times to fix the problem.
It would seem after the announcement this morning that they have given up on those efforts and shifted gears entirely. Here’s how Apple describes the new keyboard:
The 16-inch MacBook Pro features a new Magic Keyboard with a refined scissor mechanism that delivers 1mm of key travel and a stable key feel, as well as an Apple-designed rubber dome that stores more potential energy for a responsive key press. Incorporating extensive research and user studies focused on human factors and key design, the 16-inch MacBook Pro delivers a keyboard with a comfortable, satisfying and quiet typing experience.
To be clear, I haven’t used the new keyboard yet, so I don’t know exactly how it feels to type on it, but from what I’ve read, it is much better than the previous generations.
For me, the 1mm key travel is the perfect amount—Apple used that on the later butterfly keyboards too, so assuming the mechanism doesn’t affect the key travel, I’ll be happy with that.
I didn’t have any trouble with the butterfly keys on any of my MacBook Pros. I understand that many users did, and it was something that Apple needed to address once and for all. Today, they did that.
I suspect that when the dust settles, and people start to look beyond the new keyboard, they will begin to see what a powerhouse the MacBook Pro is. It provides 2.1 times faster performance than the quad-core 15-inch MacBook Pro and has an available 8TB of storage.
This is the pro notebook that musicians, producers, photographers, and other creative pros have been craving for years.