As an owner of a small company who buys a few macs a year and uses one almost solely, I fully agree with this. I’ve had to replace my latest mbp computer two times now based on keyboard issues (the second time was power and keyboard issues). The keyboard is a disaster. If you have kids, forget about it.
Don’t buy the MacBook Pros even on sale, in my opinion
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Re: Don’t buy the MacBook Pros even on sale, in my opinion
#12I have my MacBook Pro on a stand then use a bluetooth keyboard and external monitor. Rarely do I use the actual keyboard.
If Apple created something similar to a Mac mini with a laptop battery I would buy it immediately. I know it wouldn't work for everyone, but it would suit my needs.
Re: Don’t buy the MacBook Pros even on sale, in my opinion
#13This happened to my wife's macbook pro spacebar, $600 fix. It happens with mine every so often too, but fingers crossed it has 'fixed' itself each time.
Re: Don’t buy the MacBook Pros even on sale, in my opinion
#14The last great Macbook Pro was: > MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015) The new models are subpar in build quality imho and the touch bar is completely useless tech.
Yep, those are the holy grail machines at my shop. Everybody that has one is skipping their turn when they are due for an upgrade. Unfortunately I got hired too late and have a 2017 15-inch.
Re: Don’t buy the MacBook Pros even on sale, in my opinion
#15My plan is to wait until there's a new model out, and then take it in for AppleCare warranty repairs once a month until I hit their lemon limit and they give me a new machine.
The durability of this keyboard is a joke. I even bought one of those rubber keyboard condoms that makes the keyboard suck to type on and the H key still got dust under it somehow and started typing hh.
Re: Don’t buy the MacBook Pros even on sale, in my opinion
#16I can relate to what the article says, and yet find it hard to break away from the ecosystem given the tools I've come to use every day runs so well on the Mac. Muscle memory with shortcuts and all. I've found a quick workaround to simply let the machine cool down. Eg. When running Docker previously and when the machine got heated, I found keyboard problems keep cropping up consistently. Letting it cool for about 20…
I'm an iOS dev so have no other choice - but even if I did, I like pretty much every other aspect of the Mac (both this specific laptop, and the ecosystem) and am happy to give Apple my money, but expect a certain level of quality in return, which this generation of keyboards seems to lack.
Definitely agree with you. I feel underwhelmed with the 2017 MBPs (typing on one right now). And you're absolutely correct: if you're developing for certain app systems, you have no choice. I'm a Ruby developer and I remember years ago people switched to Mac simply so they could use Textmate. Some tools just work better on the system (for better or for worse).
Re: Don’t buy the MacBook Pros even on sale, in my opinion
#17The last great Macbook Pro was: > MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015) The new models are subpar in build quality imho and the touch bar is completely useless tech.
I still use my 2010 MBP from time to time. I recently bought a new iMac, not because I really wanted an iMac, but because I needed a newer and more capable computer for some things, was unhappy with the current MBP offerings, and did not want to buy an already borderline-obsolete Mac Pro.
So far so good with the iMac! I've been an Apple user since 2002, and while I really don't want to move to something else, some of their recent decisions have had me seriously considering it...
Re: Don’t buy the MacBook Pros even on sale, in my opinion
#18This happened to my wife's macbook pro spacebar, $600 fix. It happens with mine every so often too, but fingers crossed it has 'fixed' itself each time.
Yeah, mine has fixed itself when this happened before, but the spacebar issue seems more persistent. Hoping some compressed air can fix it - having to migrate to another machine for the duration of the repair would really annoy me, but I do sometimes need to work without an external keyboard (my preferred option).
Re: Don’t buy the MacBook Pros even on sale, in my opinion
#19My plan is to wait until there's a new model out, and then take it in for AppleCare warranty repairs once a month until I hit their lemon limit and they give me a new machine. The durability of this keyboard is a joke. I even bought one of those rubber keyboard condoms that makes the keyboard suck to type on and the H key still got dust under it somehow and started typing hh.
Nice idea - I've got the three year Applecare so at least I'll be able to get it fixed, didn't realise about the lemon limit!
Re: Don’t buy the MacBook Pros even on sale, in my opinion
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm an iOS dev so have no other choice - but even if I did, I like pretty much every other aspect of the Mac (both this specific laptop, and the ecosystem) and am happy to give Apple my money, but expect a certain level of quality in return, which this generation of keyboards seems to lack.
Definitely agree with you. I feel underwhelmed with the 2017 MBPs (typing on one right now). And you're absolutely correct: if you're developing for certain app systems, you have no choice. I'm a Ruby developer and I remember years ago people switched to Mac simply so they could use Textmate. Some tools just work better on the system (for better or for worse).
I actually quite like the laptop otherwise - I walk to and from work with it every day so the reduced weight and size is great - although the touchbar is meh and the USB-C/dongle situation is still a pain!