Is It Time to Call the Butterfly Switch Keyboard an Engineering Failure?
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After a year with this configuration one of the keyboards has developed a sticky left shift key. When I jump between the MBP and a 2015 Air, I breathe a sigh of relief for the Air's keyboard. The air, obviously older, does a lot of travel, has no key issues.
I have additional issues with using the MBP keyboard. I always feel like I am burning my finger tips off due to how hot the system always seems to run, especially up top near the touch bar. The caps lock key is every so slightly too far right, so I will regularly hit it instead of the A key.
I'm not saying that my lack of issues negates the presence of issues for other people by any means, and I think that Apple's "repair" policy of "pay us hundreds of dollars to replace the bottom half of your laptop because we made a poorly-conceived design decision" is... dumb, to say the least.
But I don't relate to people who talk about how awful this keyboard is from a usability perspective. I like practically everything about the new keyboard much better than the previous generation's, but my opinion seems to be the overwhelming minority on this. What exactly is so bad about the new keyboard — leaving aside anything repair-related?
...makes it sound like it's not technically possible to replace only the keyboard. Maybe Apple is doing it for free within the warranty, but if so, if I'm reading this right, you'll have to be prepared that your laptop is going to come back with a wiped disk drive (new bottom half).
That sounds like an awful design decision. Do I have that right? (I really don't know, as I have stuck to the 2015 models, and I haven't had to open it for any reason.)
It took a lot of time for them to accept the problem but now they are servicing every laptop 4 years after inception and it doesn't matter if you have warranty. I'm also pretty sure you can ask them about your data so they'd transfer it (there's even a dedicated port on the motherboard for that) and you should do backup anyway.
https://www.apple.com/support/13inch-macbookpro-battery-repl...
It feels perfect to me as far as typing is considered. (Well, I have one issue with it, which is that I could only get an EU English layout and I used to have a US English 2015 model, I much prefer that layout, but this is hardly a butterfly-related issue!).
Honestly, I expected to hate it, especially after reading so much on the consensus about it. 3/4 of a year in, I've had little to no issues with the keyboard, mechanically. I hope that this will keep being the situation, but I can't say that I'm not afraid that it'll break. I really hope it won't, it's kind of annoying to have that sword of Damocles hanging over one's head - that much is true.
As for usability, I find the key travel distance, the firmness of the press and the clickiness to be perfect for me. It took me a while to get used to it, it felt really strange at first but then suddenly, I didn't even notice and I was typing on it like it I never had any other type of keyboard but this butterfly one. Strangely enough, though, typing on an old 2015 model feels strange, awkward, uncertain and kinda mushy to me now, even tho just using a Magic Keyboard at work still feels natural. Maybe it's just muscle memory -- as the Magic Keyboard feels like a separate device from just typing on a laptop? I don't know.
Going over to any other laptop feels so painfully awkward now, the typing experience just feels terrible in comparison to my MacBook Pro. Kind of reminds me of how the Force Touch Trackpad became one of the best pointing devices I've ever used -- any other laptop without one, even the old MacBook Air, just feels so cheap and terrible to use.
But, as I use a mechanical keyboard, and because I had so many troubles with USB-C-dongle-hell, the keyboard is not my main criticism. https://mashable.com/2018/03/14/dongle-hell-2018/
I'd understand if they sacrifice keyboard on a normal device to make it thinner and nicer since the average user wouldn't care and they might even love it more when it is thinner! But, they shouldn't call it PRO then because for most of the PRO users keyboard is the main interface.
What I wonder about is whether it's the short travel distance (the key moves less than a millimeter), and rather rough stop (given the short travel, it really has to just bottom out; other keyboards can "trigger" before they physically hit bottom, so it's possible to be a little lighter with then). Some people seem to like this feel, as you note, but I particularly hate it. It's like typing on concrete, even compared to other laptops, but especially compared to an external mechanical.
The other concerns about a single mote of dust completely destroying the entire bottom half of the keyboard (since it seems impossible to repair some keys without destroying them, as they don't come off, and the entire bottom assembly needs to then be replaced) — is just bad engineering. I'd personally much rather have a slightly thicker, but repairable, keyboard.
Thankfully, the MBP is my employer's, so I don't have to worry about repair costs. Sadly, it means I can't avoid its keyboard by voting with my wallet, aside from externals, which I already have. But sometimes, you're travelling, and the external isn't with you, and the external also chains you to a desk, which in today's idiocracy of open-office environments means that I can't hide in a quiet corner as some of my coworkers like to do.
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The 2018 ones got a protective membrane that seems to have ameliorated the dust mote issue.
The small tear in the sheath is, effectively, the ganglion. (A ganglion cyst, for others reading this, is a tear in a tendon through which joint fluid exits, when it should not. The fluid is in a pouch, so it doesn't go anywhere, but the pouch being pushed through the tear by the fluid causes a bulge wherever this is on your body.) To say that's the cause is like saying the cause of a laceration is that the skin is broken. It's true, but it's not particularly enlightening. The question is what causes that tear to arise in the first place, and trauma and repeated strain are theories (though it seems medical science does not actually know the root cause of ganglions). So, it could be coincidence, but I was already having general wrist pain and numbness, and managing my keyboard use better solved both.
> FWIW my mum (a GP) used to just whack them with a book.
My research brought me across this home "remedy" very quickly. Modern medical science does not recommend this. (Mostly due to the risk of causing other injury to the area.)
It's distracting in the workplace and I would feel bad if I ever had to use one in a library or any other "quiet" environment. These were considerations I never had to make with the previous keyboard.
After I got back to the old type keyboard, it feels a lot more mushy, has longer traveling distances, feels bulkier but is quieter.
The 2017 MBP has issues with dust and bread crumbs but otherwise it felt better after getting used to it and getting back to the old felt awkward. A little bit same the same with the Magic Touchbar and getting back to normal function key row.
Also the old MBPr feels heavy and awkward (but more robust built) compared to the new one, which is a lot more easier to carry aroung and pick up from a bag, but the robustness doesn't protect from stupid connector issues which may render the keyboard and trackpad useless...
I feel divided about the connector issue now that I got USB-C to USB-C and USB-C to USB-A cables + the mandatory USB-C hub with ethernet, memory card reader, HDMI and USB A ports. It's cool to be able to plug USB-A cables directly but then I miss the versatility of USB-C and the ease of having bunch of same connectors around the laptop and without minding what port to use with charger. On the other hand I miss the Magsafe 2 charging port which is a lot more robust as a connector compared to USB-C. The connector issue will fade away when the external devices you're using are getting USB-C ports as well. The connector issue is kind of "iMac supports only USB and Firewire instead of SCSI, LocalTalk, ADB etc) but these transition periods are annoying and frustrating.
Dear Apple, enough with the thinner!
I don't need or want my iPhone to be any thinner, I'd rather it not bend and I'd rather have a headphone jack.
I don't need or want my MacBook to be any thinner than ~2015 MBPs; I care about weight, about a decent keyboard, and about convenient ports. I don't care about it being 5mm thicker or thinner.
It matters less with laptops, but still.
My last Android was a Droid Turbo, and it was perfect without a case: Kevlar back, rounded frame with textured rubber around. I wish Apple would take some clues from other manufacturers.
For laptops, I think what Apple et al are trying to do is thin them down until they are tablet sized. So far, Microsoft managed to make a usable tablet/laptop hybrid in the form of the Surface family. Nobody else really has pulled it off: battery life sucks, ergonomics are terrible (those Lenovo monstrosities with the swivel screen!), OS is all wrong.
My bet is that Apple is using it as an opportunity to develop next gen tech. Just like they did with touchpads that became phone touchscreens, etc.
With their laptops, I enjoy the form factor, but it's really Intel's fault for not delivering the low TDP, low wattage CPUs they promised years ago. The old MBP form factor feels too thick but the battery life of the new ones is disappointing. I actually don't mind the butterfly switch keyboard and like the lower travel distance. The old keyboards felt too mushy.
Every iPhone since the iPhone 7 Plus has been thicker than the one before it. The X is the thickest phone since the 4S, which was released in 2011.
I wrote and debugged about 60,000 lines of C++ on the supposedly non-"pro" MacBook and it was fine.
Still not a fan of it though, the keys are just too loud for how little travel there is.