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Comment by crazygringo | Hacker News Reader

Most interesting tidbit:

> Apple was careful to mention its latest third-gen keyboard in its press release. The added quietness seems a bit underwhelming to our ears, and we suspect there's something more going on... As you may have heard, there's a brand new silicone barrier under here. Apple says this new addition is purely for soundproofing, but it bears a suspicious resemblance to their 2016 ingress-proofing patent—one that might help prevent the keyboard failures we keep hearing about. This bears further analysis. We'll have a deeper dive on the keyboard situation later in the week. Stay tuned!

Relevant image:

https://d3nevzfk7ii3be.cloudfront.net/igi/Xi2aYwBSYTs2fZT1.h...

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Would it kill them to say "We're sorry about the keyboard problems. Here's what we did to try to address them"?

My future buying decisions will depend a lot on my confidence level in the keyboard.

It is likely due to several lawsuits that are targeted towards previous unreliable keyboard models, which limits their ability to say just that.

It could be legally problematic. Admitting to a general fault could lead to a full on recall which given how integrated the keyboard is could cost almost the same as replacing every single machine.

(Of course, with $100bn+ in cash, they probably should do this, but I can see why they wouldn't.)

I don't like the improvements they made that actually make the new MBPs worse for what I do. I also don't trust them regarding the keyboard issues and will wait two years before even considering a new MBP. If my old MBP breaks it will be some other manufacturer with questionable long term quality but much lower price. They lost my faith and doing a major recall would do lift their image in my eyes tremendously.

Hopefully this is a lesson to Apple to stop integrating fragile / breakable components with almost everything.

Well they did address the problem. They have a service program where keyboards are replaced for free until about 2021. And the 2018 model has a technical fix.

I don't think people really care about apologies. They just want a working laptop.

I'm not looking for an apology. I just would like to not have to guess that the noise reducing technology is actually meant to keep debris out. Just treat me like an adult and say so.

1- lawsuits

2- Apple's marketing strategy has always been to declare themselves geniuses that make magical product. Explaining that they are just like any other company and also completely screw up goes against that.

Youtube video that goes over this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tbVDV1xdQI

Doesn’t “we created a patent to fix this issue” basically admit they knew the product was ‘defective’?

No because their line is that the fix is there only to dampen the sound.

If a fix happens to do both then you're stuck in murky grey territory.

The patent mentioned by the the comment you're responding to has nothing to do with dampening sound.

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