Comment by ZeroCool2u | Hacker News Reader

Comment by ZeroCool2u | Hacker News Reader

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I'm a developer and one of my work laptops is a MBP 13 inch w/ touchbar. I wasn't a huge Apple fan to begin with, but I used one of the last gen 17 inch MBP's for work, for about 2 years and liked it mostly because of the excellent hardware, specifically the keyboard and trackpad.

The new keyboard is absolutely terrible though. Genuinely the second worst keyboard I've ever used. The new switches have caused dramatically more typing errors for me. I thought it might decrease over time, but after 60 days with it as my daily driver I've seen no improvement. It's an odd feeling when I'd rather use a generic HP desktop keyboard over the Apple keyboard.

I tried to keep an open mind with respect to the touchbar, but so far I haven't found a reason to like it. I will say that trying to use Vi is an exercise in futility if you don't remap the ESC key. It probably wouldn't bother me so much if I didn't feel like it's just sitting there using battery power unnecessarily.

Hopefully others have had a better experience.

The keyboard is... different. I would recommend anyone try it out at an Apple store before buying, absolutely. I actually love it.

Same. I've been loving it as well. I've had the 15" MBP since December, and it took a week or two to get used to the keyboard, but once it happened, I haven't looked back. It was weird at first, but now I rarely even think about it anymore.

I've grown to prefer it as well. Except the noise.

Are you sure it's the switches? Did you move from a 17 inch to a 13 inch? I'd think that would contribute more to your troubles. Is the layout/key density significantly different?

I went from 15' MBP (2008) to 15' rMBP (2012) to the current gen 15' MBP. I've used the new keyboard for about 3 months, and can unequivocally say it's the worst I've ever used. I now carry an external keyboard with me everywhere I go.

edit : downvotes won't change my opinion

Yeah, it's definitely the switches. The spacing is perfectly fine honestly.

I've had mine for 9 months and on the whole I feel like I'm a bit faster typing than my previous MBP although I haven't actually instrumented that.

One thing I find is the keyswitches do seem to collect bits of dirt/crumbs and the like around the edges, and when that happens some become a bit sticky or dead feeling which definitely leads to typing issues. I give mine a good cleaning on a weekly basis with eyeglass cleaner wipes - I turn it off and rub vigorously over the keys. To really get the junk off around the key edges it can take a few passes, and when done well it feels like new.

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