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Apple's service program for butterfly keyboard MacBooks, even out of warranty

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Re: Apple's service program for butterfly keyboard MacBooks, even out of warranty

#151
post #33
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn’t know there were 16GB options. I thought I got the best last generation MBA at 8gb and 512. It’s my primary machine and I still love it.

I have a MBP 13" 2015 with 16 GB RAM and a MBP 15" 2015 with 16 GB RAM. The 13" was actually bought in begin of 2017.

Ah, as I wrote in the other comment it must have been my mistake, not checking the actual store and just going straight to the refurb store.

Re: Apple's service program for butterfly keyboard MacBooks, even out of warranty

#152

I have two generations of the butterfly keyboard and I can say that the version with a silicone membrane is vastly superior. The keys feel much better, they rattle less for virtually silent typing. iFixit found that the membrane also made a big difference in terms of limiting the impact of dust: https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2018/7/19/17592138/i... I have sent two of the pre-membrane keyboards in for repair…

Are they replacing the old keyboards with new ones?

Re: Apple's service program for butterfly keyboard MacBooks, even out of warranty

#153
post #129
post #5

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…

Serious question: how much force do you type with? The reason I ask is that I see many, many people stab laptop keyboards with a ridiculous amount of force. It actually bothers me like someone is banging on my skull, particularly for the bad keyboards you have (which includes the latest MBP). I learned to touch type in high school. At first, believe it or not, it was with manual typewriters. These actually require a…

I miss the IBM XT & AT keyboards from when I started working programming in the 80s. That was a keyboard that you could take into battle.

Even the Selectric typewriters in high school had lighter keys than those things, but those were the gold standard for computer keys back in the day. Even if the buckling springs made your neighbors deaf.

Yeah, I like to beat on the keys a bit. My 2011 MBP keys feel OK, but I really hate the feel of the newer Mac keys.

Re: Apple's service program for butterfly keyboard MacBooks, even out of warranty

#154
post #148
post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can there be any doubt this is what precipitated Ive’s departure? This keyboard is a disaster. They ended up replacing the entire inside of my laptop when my space bar broke. Then I had the logic board replaced again a few months ago after it was bricked by an update. Worst computer I’ve ever owned and I’ve owned the likes of e-machines, gateway and cheap netbooks back in the day. Each repair exceeded the cost of App…

> Can there be any doubt this is what precipitated Ive’s departure? That this precipitated his departure is doubtful. Ive has had one foot out the door for a few years.

This keyboard has been a disaster for a few years. If it’s true that Ive was the one pushing it then it would be ignorant to think that this failure hasn’t had an impact on his standing within the company. This is a massive failure. We are talking about a part that experiences more physical wear and tear than any other in the computer and that requires a logic board replacement as part of the repair process. That’s absurd. How do you think it impacts the margin when a significant number of units are coming in for one or more repairs? Executives get fired for these kinds of failures all the time. Depending on some of the dynamics behind the scenes, I might want him out for this or at least put on a leash if I’m on the board.

Re: Apple's service program for butterfly keyboard MacBooks, even out of warranty

#155
post #129
post #5

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…

Serious question: how much force do you type with? The reason I ask is that I see many, many people stab laptop keyboards with a ridiculous amount of force. It actually bothers me like someone is banging on my skull, particularly for the bad keyboards you have (which includes the latest MBP). I learned to touch type in high school. At first, believe it or not, it was with manual typewriters. These actually require a…

Thiis is literally the only keyboard where I've had keycaps break, and I started on Sinclair ZX81 which maybe gives an idea how many keyboards I've used. I learned touch-typing at school on mechanical typewriters too. I've broken several with spills, but this is the only mechanical break.

Re: Apple's service program for butterfly keyboard MacBooks, even out of warranty

#156
post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless your product is affected by an issue they decided to never recognize, which in that case you can merrily go fuck yourself because Apple won't lift a finger. Happened to me with an old iMac that developed dust smudges inside the LCD panel due to faulty sealing of the screen.

I owned an Apple Watch for about 2 months before the screen separated from the watch body. The front-line service rep didn’t know what to do about it and took it into the back to show a store manager, who decided it was impact damage and thus not covered by warranty; a fix would have cost something like 70% of the list price for the watch. Instead of the repair, I bought a $20 Timex that’s served me faithfully ever s…

FWIW, I had the watch face separating issue as well. I had mine replaced at Best Buy (well, not actually replaced there, but they were who I dealt with). You should call back and see if you can get yours replaced. It was a well known flaw.

Re: Apple's service program for butterfly keyboard MacBooks, even out of warranty

#157
post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I owned an Apple Watch for about 2 months before the screen separated from the watch body. The front-line service rep didn’t know what to do about it and took it into the back to show a store manager, who decided it was impact damage and thus not covered by warranty; a fix would have cost something like 70% of the list price for the watch. Instead of the repair, I bought a $20 Timex that’s served me faithfully ever s…

FWIW, I had the watch face separating issue as well. I had mine replaced at Best Buy (well, not actually replaced there, but they were who I dealt with). You should call back and see if you can get yours replaced. It was a well known flaw.

Too late now; it was over a year ago and in another country; Didn’t bother keeping the dead watch when I moved. I also had enough time with it to discover that I, personally, didn’t get much value out of the “smart” features.

This happened during a hurricane evacuation and I went to an Apple store several states away while waiting for the airport at home to reopen so I could find out if there had been any damage (fortunately not). Of all the people I dealt with during that experience, Apple’s employees were uniquely unsympathetic to my situation, and I decided I didn’t want anything to do with them ever again.

The proximate cause was probably an impact as I treated it like the sports watch it was advertised to be. The separation wasn’t a failure of the glue, but a crack that traveled around the weak part of the glass where it is curved downwards to meet the bezel. There was a tiny nick that was the nucleus of the fracture that could have been caused by anything (in my case, probably some clay on a tennis ball).

The biggest issue for me was that I didn’t want to have to baby something that fragile, especially when it’s supposed to be a fitness object. And the completely professional, but uncaring and robotic, way their representatives handled the situation.

Re: Apple's service program for butterfly keyboard MacBooks, even out of warranty

#158
post #39

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.

If you don't care about the default telemetry and ads, switch to Windows 10 with WSL. I was a die hard Mac user for a decade and since switching I haven't looked back. Windows is a different beast than it was 10 years ago, and having the whole ecosystem of hardware and software at your disposal is fantastic.

As well as the other methods in this thread, check out Windows Privacy Dashboard. It's got a simple toggle to turn off almost everything ad/privacy/telemetry related you can think off.

https://wpd.app/

Re: Apple's service program for butterfly keyboard MacBooks, even out of warranty

#159

After months of suffering with this, with an out warranty 15" MBP 2016 that was relegated to desk duty with an external keyboard, I heard about this program. I made an Apple Store appointment for the next day (a Tuesday); they checked it, warned me it could be a week or more because of a holiday that week. Thursday morning I had a call that it was ready. Total cost: $0 (according to the invoice the parts were over $8…

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.

>have gotten much better in the last six months or so

Are you sure it is 6 months and not 6 weeks, as in after Angela Ahrendts left.

Re: Apple's service program for butterfly keyboard MacBooks, even out of warranty

#160
post #129
post #5

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…

Serious question: how much force do you type with? The reason I ask is that I see many, many people stab laptop keyboards with a ridiculous amount of force. It actually bothers me like someone is banging on my skull, particularly for the bad keyboards you have (which includes the latest MBP). I learned to touch type in high school. At first, believe it or not, it was with manual typewriters. These actually require a…

This is interesting, thanks. I just got a Macbook Pro with the new keyboards and I'm really liking the lighter force and travel of the new keyboard. It just feels easier to type on. As I've gone back and forth with my 2012 Macbook Air (transfering data and settings), the 2012 keyboard has begun to feel mushy and deep.

That said, the new keyboard is much louder than the old one. Even light presses produce a loud "click" type noise that the older keyboards did not.

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