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Apple Engineers Its Own Downfall with the Macbook Pro Keyboard

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Re: Apple Engineers Its Own Downfall with the Macbook Pro Keyboard

#11
post #8

Glad to see him mention the Samsung debacle as well. When my Note 4 finally gave in to the eMMC problem earlier this year, I upgraded to a new-old-stock LG V20 instead of the latest greatness, because it was the last flagship made with a user replaceable battery. Over my Note 4's 3 1/2 year tenure, I replaced the battery annually. Each time, the battery life performance was restored to what I remembered from when the…

Even the iPhone battery is user replaceable. Yes, it involves unscrewing things, but you can do it with a tutorial and $5 worth of tools from eBay.

Re: Apple Engineers Its Own Downfall with the Macbook Pro Keyboard

#12
I picked up my repaired late-2016 15” mbp this morning from warranty repair (replacement). The keyboard feels 100% better. Apple replaced my top case, logic board, and display system for free, out of warranty. I was very concerned about this computer’s longevity, I’ve even ordered a Razer mx cherry keyboard to use when at my desk to take some workload off apple’s questionable design decision, but the replacement keyboard feels much better. I want to be clear, my desire is not for repairability, like iFixit wants, but for durability and For Apple to stand behind it. The MacBook Pro is a fabulous computer, the keyboard and touchbar were mistakes, but I think they have fixed 1 of the 2.

Re: Apple Engineers Its Own Downfall with the Macbook Pro Keyboard

#13
post #4

Who is Apple engaging in design anorexia for? Does it drive sales? Couldn’t some other stat be used to pad their presentations? Any thickness less than an inch is fine with me. I’m not concerned with whether my laptop fits in an envelope.

I don't know why so many people are under the impression that they do thinness for thinness sake. They do thinness for lightness sake.

The lighter your laptop (or tablet, or phone), the more you'll choose to not leave it behind but rather to just lug it around with you, and so the more places you'll have it and the more it'll be there to aid your productivity in random situations. [Also, for phones and tablets specifically, the longer you'll be willing to hold it up to your face to stare at it before putting it away due to the "gorilla arm" feeling.]

Sometimes I actually carry my MacBook around in my backpack when I'm just downtown for a meet-up and have no plans to do any work. I get it out for the same reasons you might pull out an external Bluetooth keyboard for a smartphone—e.g., if you want to type a long response to an email, or need to type a snippet of something that's awful to type on a phone keyboard, like code. Except that this Bluetooth keyboard happens to have its own computer attached to it.

(I don't use it at home, though; at home, I use a Hackintosh with a real keyboard. Which happens to be an Apple Magic Keyboard 2 with the exact same butterfly key-mech in it that the MacBook and rMBP have. But Magic Keyboard 2s aren't getting gummed up left and right, because the butterfly key-mech itself actually works fine when it's given adequate travel height. It makes a huge difference; you wouldn't even think it's the same key-mech!)

Re: Apple Engineers Its Own Downfall with the Macbook Pro Keyboard

#15

Realistically, I just can't really see Apple fixing this by introducing a new keyboard design that's any thicker. As much as I would love to hear "We've heard your feedback on the keyboards and we've made some drastic changes to address them in our new Macbook Pro", it just doesn't seem like their style. What do others think they're going to do for their next release of laptops?

Replace the entire keyboard with an oversized touchbar? ;)

Re: Apple Engineers Its Own Downfall with the Macbook Pro Keyboard

#17
post #7

Classic case of why business managers shouldn't be directing design of a product. Business managers sees .2mm shaved off the thickness of macbook pro to 'justify' the premium cost of it over other laptops while a developer/pro user of the laptop would increase the thickness to gain battery and maybe mechanical/mesh hybrid keys... I would be more than happy to pay for a pro version of the current macbook pro. EDIT----…

No. Absolutely wrong assessment. This is a design team running amok after their own goals

Re: Apple Engineers Its Own Downfall with the Macbook Pro Keyboard

#18
post #4

Who is Apple engaging in design anorexia for? Does it drive sales? Couldn’t some other stat be used to pad their presentations? Any thickness less than an inch is fine with me. I’m not concerned with whether my laptop fits in an envelope.

I bought a 12" MacBook when it came out because it seemed like it was a big advance over the previous Mac Air. I also bought the first generation Mac Air. So, obviously, you and I don't have similar criteria.

Re: Apple Engineers Its Own Downfall with the Macbook Pro Keyboard

#20

I picked up my repaired late-2016 15” mbp this morning from warranty repair (replacement). The keyboard feels 100% better. Apple replaced my top case, logic board, and display system for free, out of warranty. I was very concerned about this computer’s longevity, I’ve even ordered a Razer mx cherry keyboard to use when at my desk to take some workload off apple’s questionable design decision, but the replacement keyb…

Can you describe what's better about it? Is it merely fixed or is it somehow better than when it was new?
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