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To be clear, according to Apple, these keyboard repairs are free.
My time isn't free. The fact that I have to deal with this at all makes me never want to buy another Mac and I have been a heavy user for at least 20 years. Super annoyed.
But at least they are doing the right thing. Hopefully the new keyboard design fixes the flaws.
I'll be holding on to my 2012 MacBook Pro until they switch to a different kind of keyboard. If they don't, then I'm getting a Surface instead.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Apple's repair service, and the Apple Store in general, have gotten much better in the last six months or so. Two weeks ago I brought my Apple Watch in for an out-of-warranty repair on a Thursday night. I was told it would take 10 business days. It was ready the following Tuesday.
You think so? I remember back in university, Apple would overnight ship my laptop to fix it. The last time I went to Apple, they wouldn’t even replace my faulty charger without me complaining to the manager.
How is everyone's Apple store experience so radically different?
Add to that, that the keycaps break. They have teeny-tiny clips on the top edge, which just break after a while, and they just lift off, sticking to your finger, or just shift slightly, enough not to 'click' when you press them. I'm not a particularly heavy typist (though it sounds like it on the butterfly keyboard, compared to my previous 2013 macbbok pro), but I've now had about 8 keycaps replaced in the lasst year…
On a related note, has anyone else had issues with the iPad Smart Keyboard after 15+ months? Bought mine for the 10.5 iPad Pro and at some point I started getting Accessory Not Recognized messages, then it would stop working unless I removed and reattached it, then it finally died entirely. There are reports of similar experiences in the Apple Support Communities and on Reddit, and Apple reportedly created a program…
Fortunately the Apple store replaced it for free (Vancouver BC Canada) saying there was a quality program about these keyboards. Apparently it is not the connector, but the flex cable that connects the iPad that fails.
On a related note, has anyone else had issues with the iPad Smart Keyboard after 15+ months? Bought mine for the 10.5 iPad Pro and at some point I started getting Accessory Not Recognized messages, then it would stop working unless I removed and reattached it, then it finally died entirely. There are reports of similar experiences in the Apple Support Communities and on Reddit, and Apple reportedly created a program…
Still, it's sad to see so much Apple tech being life-limited due to aging batteries or what not.
Ugh. I really want to upgrade my 2014 mba. Four gigs of ram doesn’t cut it anymore and my eyes have grown tired of the screen. I love the size, battery life, I just don’t know what to get next.
Then again, once iPadOS drops, iPads will have mouse support, so Brydge will probably come out with an even better keyboard case that actually has a trackpad. Probably best to wait and see.
I'll be holding on to my 2012 MacBook Pro until they switch to a different kind of keyboard. If they don't, then I'm getting a Surface instead.
Unless you live far from any Apple Stores, shouldn’t this warranty program mean that you can upgrade without worry? These laptops effectively require “regular maintenance” (sort of like replacing balding tires on a car); but by buying one of the affected notebooks, you’re getting a free subscription to that maintenance. It’s like using a rental car long-term—whenever the tires wear out, you bring it back to the renta…
Also there's obviously the idea where a keyboard shouldn't be failing after months of moderate use. Somehow, this seems to be a fairly modern problem as we've been making keyboards for 40+ years now.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Unless you live far from any Apple Stores, shouldn’t this warranty program mean that you can upgrade without worry? These laptops effectively require “regular maintenance” (sort of like replacing balding tires on a car); but by buying one of the affected notebooks, you’re getting a free subscription to that maintenance. It’s like using a rental car long-term—whenever the tires wear out, you bring it back to the renta…
The problem is that Apple has often been replacing logic boards when this type of thing happens as well. Some people see it as a good thing, but it usually results in the complete wipe of data. Also there's obviously the idea where a keyboard shouldn't be failing after months of moderate use. Somehow, this seems to be a fairly modern problem as we've been making keyboards for 40+ years now.
With keyboards, yes, but gunk getting stuck in your mouse used to be a big problem, back when mice had balls. :)
Before even that, in PC towers and notebooks with active cooling, they used to be built without dust grates in front of the ventilation fans. The fans themselves used to gunk up!
The real “modern problem” is that you basically can’t clean a MacBook keyboard, since removing any key-cap has a 90% chance of permanently damaging the butterfly key-mech underneath. (I think the main improvement with the successive revisions of the butterfly key-mech is that they don’t snap their pegs off as easily when you remove the key-cap, so you can—in theory—clean them. If you’re a trained repair tech.)