I have a non-touchbar MBP with the new keyboard (and I've had it for about a year at this point), have a 15" touchbar MBP for work at my new job, and had a 13" touchbar MBP at the job I had in 2017, and none of them have had any problems. However, I usually keep the work laptops closed and use external keyboards, and I find for personal travel I tend to use my iPad with the Magic Keyboard more than the laptop. (I also have an iMac for work that requires heavy lifting.)
This is definitionally a man-bites-dog situation. "Keyboard works fine" doesn't make news; "keyboard stops working because someone at neighboring desk ate a cookie" does. I suspect that you and I are not in the minority, and that the new keyboard works fine for most people. But even if that's true, the failure rate is anecdotally orders of magnitude higher than Apple's previous keyboard design, and that makes it a problem that needs to be addressed. Like much of Apple's recent design choices, they have become too willing to compromise function to achieve form. (I know some would say they've done that for decades, but I think they mostly hit the right balance until the last 3–4 years.)
My guess is option 2. Neither option is encouraging.
The extent to which Genius Bar staff are aware of the problem, and whether or not they’ve received specific instructions about it, is something we can only guess at.
I've personally found that the steps work pretty well, and also if you have a vacuum with a brushed attachment on a lower setting may help if compressed air doesn't do it.
You could also bring it in to the apple store and they could attempt to clean it for you!
From the comments here, you'd think that no one knew they could remove the keys!
the problem is that they're (really) easy to break, and hard to replace.
keyboard - generally liked the feel more than the previous 2015 model, but... it was louder. noticeably louder, even if I tried to type lighter. Definitely created some friction in situations where none existed before. And... MBP2016 trackpad size - just was too large for my liking. I knew of no one demanding a larger trackpad, but know of many people (myself included) who had some issues with the larger trackpad (stray palm issues, etc). The few people I know who liked or wanted a larger trackpad used an external one, which had the bonus (for them) of being movable.
The back of my Macbook screen does make intermittent popping sounds though.
I used to work with a guy who smoked at his desk (back when indoor smoking was less of a faux pas), and his mechanical keyboards were full of ash.
It’s not as if we’re demanding a keyboard that works at the bottom of the ocean or can handle ingress by lunar dust.
I think this may have to do with the kinds of keyboards people are used to. Some prefer lighter keys, some prefer a lot of key travel, some like clicky keys, etc.
This is why Cherry makes so many kinds of switches...
On my k70 I had red Cherry MX switches . When I was in kindergarten I used Apple II keyboards.
For mobile devices I used an Motorola droid and a Treo. Also a blackberry .
EDIT: Sorry forgot to mention I touch type (I am touch typing on a IBM model M right now).
Although we have both used the apple bluetooth keyboard and Airs, so that may have contributed for the higher tolerance of the new Macbook Pro keyboard.
Right now I'm typing using a Logitech K750 solar keyboard, which feels very similar to Apple's bluetooth keyboard (although I feel that the keys need slightly more pressure to activate). It is dead silent which is great to use around coworkers.
At home I want to get a Kinesis Freestyle Edge for the ergonomics, and I'm debating if Cherry MX Browns or Blues would be better.
Whenever I profess my love for the new keyboard here, someone always asks me if I touch type.
Yes. The new MBP keyboards actually kick ass for touch typing, and I'm just as shocked when someone doesn't think that, as you are (I'm guessing) when you find out that I touch type.
I have used and loved Model M and Thinkpad keyboards, among others. Now I can't use anything else because the new MBP keyboards are so much better, in my opinion.
Yes, there are some keyboards I don't like. But they are pretty rare and almost everything else I'm fine on.
I have a 2014 MPB I like, a MS Wireless Keyboard 700 I use as my daily keyboard, a Logitech K260, and various Dell, HP and Acer keyboards. All are fine for me.
Overall I think Apple reached and then slightly overshot the point of no more returns on "thin and light."