I agree, the keyboard is fine, until it stops working properly. Apparently, the problems described in the article are not rare occurrences. That, and also the keys which start to fade out (see some other comments). I have both problems on my 2018 MBP.

I think the keyboard rage comes from the fact that they changed a perfectly fine keyboard with a bogus one, just to have a slightly slimmer laptop (along with many other gimmicks such as the touchbar, or the oversized trackpad).

I don’t think I agree that it’s better than the old keyboard, and it certainly feels a bit icky to type on, but...

There are much worse keyboards.

Quieter? You must have softest typing finger touch imaginable. Every person I see use it is dramatically louder than the old style.

When it works, it’s fine. I’ve had a 2018 MBP for a year and apparently didn’t draw the short stick. The travel distance ceased to be a problem after the first week, and I don’t think about the keyboard day to day.

That said, even in my ideal, happy-path case, there’s one minor flaw I do occasionally run up against, which I rarely see mentioned: the keys are too close together. It’s easier – not greatly so, but perceptibly – to hit adjacent keys. There’s no question in my mind that going back to the old keyboard will be an improvement across the board, even for those who haven’t had any of the marquee issues.

Except not breaking does not a good keyboard make. It still is very bad, no travel, no resistance, feels like a kids' toy. Make something solid and durable for once, apple.

The 2019 model is better than 2018. They fixed several keyboard issues. (duplicate keys, jamming, etc).

I liked my 2019 MBP keyboard too. Until one week I noticed it kept repeating e's and n's. And then I learnt its not fixable unless you are prepared to go without a machine for 3 to 14 days. And then I learnt from Rossman Youtube that your machine might never be the same again after Apple's "genius"'s get their hands on.

Honestly, I thought it was all a fuss about nothing. But it isn't. BTW my machine is 6 months old. It started malfunctioning 2 months ago.

Same here. I just got a 2019 MBP to replace my 2014. I type without looking and I find the keyboard very pleasant (I love the soft click feel and sound). Now I can’t say for the durability but first impression is very good.

I have a 2019 (I think) model and I really enjoy the typing experience.

The vast majority of impressions I've seen are about how the keyboard mistypes or breaks. It's not necessarily about it feeling worse - it is worse in aspects that don't directly related to how it feels to type on it. The keyboard rage is entirely justified if such an expensive device has keyboard problems that are unsolvable. It's really not helpful to dismiss the issues and people's opinions just because you happen to think typing on the keyboard is fine, no idea what anybody is complaining about, everybody is exaggerating and out of their minds.

I don't think most of the comments are directed at the 2019 model. Most even specify an earlier (2018) model. These have known issues. So I think that is "approaching absolute truth".

Speak for yourself..

Speak for yourself. (Typed on an IBM Model-M keyboard)

I used an Apple "ergo" keyboard in the early 90s. Had several of them, they all failed with dead keys and unintended multiple keystrokes within six months. The more things change . . .

The Microsoft Ergo Keyboard, the first one released in 1995 or so, was well nigh perfect (well, once you remapped capslock to something useful, which you could do in software, or in hardware with a little gumption and some conductive paint). Probably saved my career. Then the quality of Microsoft keyboards went to hell as they cost-reduced their way to mediocrity. The more things change . . .

I use a Kinesis Gaming Keyboard now, and I think it's one of the best ergo keyboards on the market. It's programmable to a reasonable degree, has decent key feel, and I've been pounding on a couple of them pretty hard since they were released 2+ years ago without experiencing any issues. I think Kinesis has a clue, but that doesn't mean they won't change . . .

The Keyboardio keyboard has an interesting design and great build quality, but I'm too damned old to retrain, and it requires significant effort to reach a decent typing rate. I'm not up to it. I'd be very interested in buying a more traditional split keyboard from the Keyboardio team if they ever decide to build one. There are probably 10 people at my smallish company who would buy them, too. Kaia and Jesse, if you're reading this, take my money :-)

The Ultimate Hacking Keyboard is just not quite there. The build quality is excellent and the team put an incredible amount of work into the thing, but the lack of an ESC key just kills me. "Hacking" keyboard . . . but no escape key. I just don't understand. Yes, you can remap keys, but you're going to lose something important to a shift sequence that your fingers are going to stumble on for weeks. (Yes control-[ is ESC but this is not the 1970s and I'm not typing on an ADM3A terminal any more).

One thing I'd love to see is an ergo keyboard that includes pressure and velocity information along with keystrokes. I'd like a warning from the system that I'm typing too hard, for one thing, and I'm sure the information would be useful for other purposes.

Still using a 2011 ThinkPad precisely because of the keyboard.

I am using an Apple wireless keyboard (~2014? model, before they changed to thin keys) and I love it. I've used a load of keyboards in my time including some very good mechanical ones, and it's my favourite.

"Shit" is in a lot of ways subjective.

Dunno. The keyboard on my T420 still works 9 years later. None of my desktop keyboards have broken in 5+ years of use, and they were incredibly cheap (10-20€). Keyboards are a solved problem. Apple just keeps inventing new ones.