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Comment by tedmiston | Hacker News Reader

I love the feel of the 15" rMBP (mine is sometime in 2013), though I don't think it's any different than earlier non-retinas, at least in key travel and size. The new low profile MacBook keyboards are almost unbearable to type on compared the nice feel of the current and Apple external keyboards.

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The current Magic Keyboard has excellent tactile feedback. Key travel is short, but not too short, and feedback is clear and crisp. The tiny arrow keys bother me a bit, because I use arrow keys a lot. Overall, I find it to be much better than the 2015 MBP with it's “butterfly” mechanism.

Oh, external keyboards are a very different thing as you can go over board with customizing them (myself am using an Ergo Dox).

But the built-in keyboard you can't switch. And there's situations where you can't be bothered with bringing your external KB around. So it's still important how the built in feels.

The non-retina MBP keys have less sideways "wiggle", require just a touch more initial pressure to actuate, and have a slightly greater travel. Compared to my rMBP, they have a delightful tactile "crispness" and give the device a feeling of precision.

If I were a hardware guy I'd put that keyboard in its own case and use it forever :)

That sounds consistent with my experience with the older Apple Wireless Keyboard (second or third gen). I always wished they'd make one with black key caps and the backlight.

I have the same model, totally agree! I think 2013 15" rMBP was the pinnacle of apple laptop design.

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