My top of the line MBP 2011 died in 2013, 2.5 years after buying it. At that point Apple denied any problems.
Over a year later, with a couple of class action lawsuits on its back, Apple started a repair program. Of course I had already bought another machine to be able to work, so after repairing the 2011 I found myself with a very expensive MBP that was about 4 years old at this point. I didn't have a use for it and of course nobody wanted to buy it at a decent price because of its infamous problems. The expensive investment I made in 2011 went down the drain.
The repair program was just a dick move to avoid legal problems.
If Apple had wanted a fair compensation to their customers they would have taken those machines back and given 60% of the price paid in credit for buying Apple products, which is what a 3-4 year old Mac sells for.
After that I lost all faith in Apple and am much more careful with what I buy from them.
I think about that comment every month or so when another MBP article pops up here. I'd be grateful for a link if anyone knows the HN comment I'm thinking of.
They offered an extended warranty and fixed the core issue in a subsequent design.
The problem in the 2016/2017 models was that you couldn't fix the issue because the dust etc was firmly embedded.
The 2018 model has a membrane underneath so you should be able to fix the keys with compressed air.
It's only when keyboards become thin and delicate that durability becomes a problem.
Two of those I used hard enough that keys fell off.
This latest is the only one which has had issues with the keys not working. Even the ones missing keys, there was a small nub left that still worked.
The main key failure has been the left Command key, which is an utter disaster. I’m furious about it.
Not quite furious enough to give up 15 years of the Mac. But close.
My work 2018 mpb showed a stuck key after 2 weeks (no food near it), and it obviously is not bad luck on my part.
I now use a thinkpad.
Only '16 and on model Macbooks seem to require a cleanroom for the keyboard.
It took them almost two years after the first faulty laptop shipped for those steps to be taken. Let's not re-write history here.
- MacBook Air 2008 broken hinge issues
- image retention issues with Retina 2012 model
- GPU issues with NVIDIA GPU in Retina 2012 model
only to name a few that I personally faced that they later admitted to only after you likely fixed it out of pocket yourself (or sold the device) and with threats of lawsuit.
Also the 2008 era white plastic MacBooks whose shells cracked and flaked off into sharp edges.
Don't forget the infamous 2011 model! And it's less publicized but a similar GPU issue affected the 2010 models as well.
- The 2016-2017 keyboard issue on all MacBooks of that generation I had (5-6 devices).
- The MacBook Air 2008 "core shutdown" issue that the machine thermally throttled itself to a grind and shut down all but a single core.
- Most recently, I faced a water damage issue with iPhone XS Max (the device is advertised as water resistant). Class action lawsuit, anyone?
My face gets grim when I have to admit that I am still a customer, even an advocate, because all the competitors produce mostly crap, insecure, poorly-made and/or invade your privacy. I have, however, started to break the ecosystem chain.
There's been obviously plenty more. Especially on the GPU side it was super annoying. Most of these things will break even after they "fix" it under their quality programs.
Not true. There is hardware that is better made and more reliable than Apple (e.g. ThinkPad) and operating systems that are far more secure (e.g. Qubes).
They sent a tech to my house to fix one device that was delivered with a badly fitted bottom cover, even though I had a return to depot warranty. I had a keyboard that died, I asked to replace the part myself and they happily posted it out. When one of the rubber feet came off another laptop they couriered me a brand new battery overnight (the foot is glued to the battery).
And, if I want more memory or disk, I can do that myself no trouble. No seals, no glue, no warranty stickers.
One credit to Apple, I had an imac that lasted forever. I loved that machine. But finally the disk died and I had to take the whole thing apart and the screen out just to replace the disk. That was the last Apple in my life. Good riddance! :)
But you can spend your money as foolishly or thoughtfully as you want. That's your call. Just try not to be suckered into thinking there aren't alternatives.
I see no evidence that anyone at Apple cares.
While they did change the keyboard design in 2018, there are still reports that the "improved" keyboard is failing as well: https://www.reddit.com/r/applehelp/comments/9w6vk3/macbook_p... https://www.reddit.com/r/applehelp/comments/9w6vk3/macbook_p... https://twitter.com/kapeli/status/1090640259921166336
Maybe this is all great business sense, but it really makes me consider if buying another apple laptop is a good idea.
It's just a shame that good business sense isn't exactly good for the user.
As a shareholder, I entirely support exercising this type of control of the message (on their own website). It is the right thing to do. Nobody has any right to have their words hosted on apple.com except Apple, and I would prefer that anyone with a sample size of less than ten not post negative things about their products on a site potential customers visit.
You may not agree with it, but this is a legitimate defense of what they are doing.