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MacBook Pro Keyboard Drives Me Crazy

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Re: MacBook Pro Keyboard Drives Me Crazy

#171

Post by mortenjorck »

reb wrote: post #78
timfrietas wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really wish this was the top comment. I feel like HN is turning a little too much into an echo chamber dunk fest sometimes.

Also, just to throw another opinion into this dumpster fire: I had to get a new laptop, knew I was getting a 2019 MBP, and was terrified the keyboard experience would be horrendous due to the coverage I see on the topic here. And it isn't at all. It feels different than my 2015 model, but... definitely not worse. I may even be just slightly better because it's noticeably quieter. Just one perspective, but yeah. The k…

When it works, it’s fine. I’ve had a 2018 MBP for a year and apparently didn’t draw the short stick. The travel distance ceased to be a problem after the first week, and I don’t think about the keyboard day to day.

That said, even in my ideal, happy-path case, there’s one minor flaw I do occasionally run up against, which I rarely see mentioned: the keys are too close together. It’s easier – not greatly so, but perceptibly – to hit adjacent keys. There’s no question in my mind that going back to the old keyboard will be an improvement across the board, even for those who haven’t had any of the marquee issues.

Re: MacBook Pro Keyboard Drives Me Crazy

#172

Post by mises »

reb wrote: post #78
timfrietas wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really wish this was the top comment. I feel like HN is turning a little too much into an echo chamber dunk fest sometimes.

Also, just to throw another opinion into this dumpster fire: I had to get a new laptop, knew I was getting a 2019 MBP, and was terrified the keyboard experience would be horrendous due to the coverage I see on the topic here. And it isn't at all. It feels different than my 2015 model, but... definitely not worse. I may even be just slightly better because it's noticeably quieter. Just one perspective, but yeah. The k…

Except not breaking does not a good keyboard make. It still is very bad, no travel, no resistance, feels like a kids' toy. Make something solid and durable for once, apple.

Re: MacBook Pro Keyboard Drives Me Crazy

#173

Post by ethagnawl »

ggm wrote: post #151

I don't know anyone who was a real TTY user who likes on touchbar. I don't know any EMACS user who likes on touchbar. If I do the join over these and anyone else I ask, I actually don't know anyone who likes on touchbar. I think Apple took a long standing market acceptance in the community I live in, and basically trashed it, for lipgloss. I expect to move to a Lenovo Carbon X1, with qualms.

From what I remember, the blasted virtual escape key is also not flush with the top/left corner of the touchbar -- like the escape key is on ~every other keyboard in existence.

I had to use one of these machines for work recently and I hated every minute of it. Going back to my ThinkPad T430, running Debian and i3, was _such_ a relief.

Re: MacBook Pro Keyboard Drives Me Crazy

#174

Post by jeswin »

oliyoung wrote: post #63
therein wrote: post #10

> If Apple releases their new Macs with an identical keyboard, then I'm ditching Macs and will pick up a Microsoft Surface Book or something similar. Whatever it is, I'll make sure to pick a laptop that has a god damned functional keyboard. Same here, MBP keyboards are unbearable. Trying to develop on OSX has become a hassle. Gotta jump through hoops to get gdb to work. Windows with WSL on a Surface Book feels extrem…

The Surface Book 2 is no question, hands-down one of the best pieces of kit I've ever ever owned, it's a phenomenal machine and I've not regretted moving back to Windows for a single second (except for a decent terminal, but that's almost here too)

When the battery dies on the Surface Book, you won't be able to repair it even at a Microsoft Support center. They will just take it back and offer a cheaper price on a replacement. With an iFixit repairability score of 1, it's ridiculously difficult to do the replacement yourself too.

Having to throw out a fully functional device once the battery goes weak should be a practice that gets banned at least for the sake of the environment.

Re: MacBook Pro Keyboard Drives Me Crazy

#175

Post by chipotle_coyote »

_coveredInBees wrote: post #136
p1necone wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eh, as someone who's primarily used Windows (and a bit of Linux with xfce) for my entire life I find Macs basically unusable (seriously how do I browse the file system). I think it's more of a question of familiarity than anything else.

I hear you about Finder. Windows File explorer seems a lot easier and more feature rich compared to Finder. The single most annoying thing is that there is no easy/ obvious way to grab the path to a file/folder in Finder, which seems like the most basic of features. I did figure out a keyboard shortcut at some point, but Finder feels so dated as a file manager.

If the Path bar is visible, you can right-click at any point along the path of the selected file and select "Copy Path." You can also just drag an icon from a Finder window into any window that accepts text, including Terminal, and it'll paste the fully qualified path right in.

I always used to find Windows File Explorer to be the one that was less feature-rich, but I haven't used it in... we'll just say a shamefully long time. But as someone who got used to Macs an equally long time ago, I've wondered if it's because the Mac seemed to make drag-and-drop such a central way of manipulating files and Windows emphasized "select object - select operation" as its central metaphor. If you're used to one way, moving to other system feels weird and clunky.

Re: MacBook Pro Keyboard Drives Me Crazy

#176

Post by caconym_ »

I've had a bunch of these (at least 4 on various work/personal machines IIRC) and I've had no usability issues. I believe in the failures people have reported, but is this guy just saying he can't type properly on these keyboards? Because that sounds like a problem on his end.

edit: I do hate the touchbar.

Re: MacBook Pro Keyboard Drives Me Crazy

#177

Post by msbarnett »

delfinom wrote: post #148
asdff wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You think the company that makes you buy an extra 'fuck you' dongle to plug in your brand new phone into your brand new computer will let you trade up? Sorry if you already bought the lemon model. I'd sell before the new one drops to take less of a hit if I were in your shoes.

Don't forget makes you buy a monitor stand separately for that few thousand dollar monitor

Meh. That’s an incredibly high end reference monitor targeted at a niche set of high end video producers that already overwhelmingly prefer to rack mount their reference monitors.

Most of the target market doesn’t need or want that stand.

Re: MacBook Pro Keyboard Drives Me Crazy

#178

Post by jasoneckert »

I went to Staples (store chain here in Canada) to play with the new butterfly keyboard shortly after it first came out in the MBP years ago, and the MBP they had on display had a non-functional Enter key (it would register once every 2-4 clicks). What is really shocking to me, however, is that it took so long for them to announce they were ditching their flawed design. This delay is a good reflection of the Apple brand mindset at work...

Re: MacBook Pro Keyboard Drives Me Crazy

#179

Post by kdamica »

Completely agree here. Apple sacrificed the user experience in pursuit of thinness of the laptop. I just got my first Windows laptop in years because I didn't want to put up with the keyboard, touchbar, etc.

Windows also now includes a Linux subsystem that works great as far as I can tell (though I'm by no means a power user), so I don't feel as though I've sacrificed anything.

Re: MacBook Pro Keyboard Drives Me Crazy

#180

Post by harrisonjackson »

Apple is replacing these keyboards for free...

https://support.apple.com/en-ca/keyboard-service-program-for...

I get that it is hugely inconvenient to go without your laptop for any amount of time - I depend on mine for work at a 2 person startup, so really I do get it! But if you are this fed up with it, then I'd say go for it.

I finally bit the bullet and found a local certified apple repair place (NOT THE APPLE STORE) that allowed me to take my laptop home with me after they ran diagnostics (10 minutes) and ordered the new keyboard.

I emphasize not the apple store because they will try to keep your laptop for the 24-48 hours it takes your replacement keyboard to ship.

The repair actually took around 3 hours, which I spent playing with my kid! Woot! The place I went through text me when the keyboard came in and then again when my laptop was ready to go - was super easy.

Because of the way the keyboard is bundled into the laptop, they have to replace the battery too - so that was an added bonus.

edit - just want to add that the replacement has had no issues ~1 month in (++spelling)

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