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Comment by rurban | Hacker News Reader

You mixed that reputation up with Lenovo thinkpads. Apple keyboards break down after several years with the touchpad and butterfly keyboard disasters are even unusable afresh. You cannot replace anything, and are way overpriced.

Thinkpads on the other hand are like Toyota's

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>Apple keyboards break down after several years with the touchpad and butterfly keyboard disasters are even unusable afresh. You cannot replace anything, and are way overpriced.

I have 10 and 15 year old iBooks and MacBooks and MacBook Pros with intact keyboards...

You mixed the issue with the butterfly BS keyboards in the past 2-3 years with the old Apple keyboards (which didn't just "break down"). The resale value of old Mac laptops I think speaks for itself related to that.

That said, Thinkpads are indeed built like Toyotas and have easy replacements.

> with the butterfly BS keyboards in the past 2-3 years

Sadly 4 years now, they started in 2016. It's the main issue blocking me from buying another MBP - this keyboard broke when it was already out of warranty, I really don't want to risk it again.

Risk what though? They have changed the keyboard now.

They’ve changed the keyboard three times over 4 years, iirc; I am somewhat skeptical that they really know how to get it right given the constraints of their current design.

In the last iteration, they've also changed the design (mechanism).

I was referring to the thinness and resulting length of travel allowed to keys, which afaik are still extreme. TBF i've not tried one of the latest models yet. But as I said, I'm now a bit skeptical. Trust in quality is hard to regain after so many disappointing years.

I have a 2016 Macbook Pro that is out of warranty and Apple is replacing the keyboard at no cost. Unless you broke the keyboard through abuse, any keyboard issues present as a result of "BS keyboards" are covered by Apple.

I have 5 good old macbook airs without the problematic butterfly keyboard and they all became unusable with some dead keys after around 5 years. For 1 or 2 keys you can workaround it, but then you can throw it away.

Does not happen with proper keyboards. Esp. thinkpads.

One could say that you're mixing Thinkpads from IBM era, where they were really well made (my first A21m holds a special place in my heat till this day), Thinkpads from Lenovo that are plastic piece of garbage and MacBooks from Apple post keyboard change, that was indeed faulty, but it isn't anymore. There you go, I've fixed it for ya ;)

That’s going back a very long time. Early Lenovo ThinkPads like the X60 were also excellent.

If you haven't come across it, [HOPE]'s work getting modern internals in X60s is pretty cool. Not sure where the project is at now, I think at some point they were orderable.

https://hackaday.com/2018/03/12/new-guts-make-old-thinkpads-...

My 2016 MBPr was of the first gen with all these changes and it's doing fine as I type this message.

My 2017 MBPr isn't quite the same -- I've had the keyboard changed 3 times so far due to the double key tap issue.

I don't mind though; I'm actually happy when it happens because I get a new battery and top case for free.

How do I get a replacement though?

Ask Apple - it's called the Keyboard Service Program

I got my Thinkpad Edge E530 replaced twice during warranty (motherboard problems) and my work Thinkpad T420s broke down one month after warranty ended, so I have completely opposite experience. I got no problems with IBM Thinkpad T42 though.

eh, my 2013 rMBP is kicking a long pretty well. Kinda sluggish but no issues with the keyboard. It's been dropped a few times too and the screen cable disconnected at some point from a fall but was an easy fix.

2012-2015 rMBPs are the best laptops ever produced, imho. My 2012 rMBP has been passed down to my brother, with a new ssd, and still rocks.

Why Apple had to mess with that perfect formula, I will never understand. I blame Ive.

I’ve been saying it for years!

My 2012 and 2009 Mbps run like new

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