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MacBook Pro Keyboard Drives Me Crazy

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Re: MacBook Pro Keyboard Drives Me Crazy

#371

Post by cassianoleal »

saagarjha wrote: post #245
ethagnawl wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> 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. You can tap anywhere in that corner and it’ll register.

When it does register, that's true. Sometimes it doesn't though, and to add insult to injury I've had the TouchBar freeze on me several times.

Re: MacBook Pro Keyboard Drives Me Crazy

#372

Post by coldtea »

Have been using Macs since 2004. I like the new MBPs in every other aspect except: the touch strip and the keyboard.

Since I use an external monitor, I don't use the MBPr keyboard, but an external Magic keyboard (Apple) which is excellent (even prefer it to several mechanical ones I have).

But the MBPr keyboard is crap by any measure...

Hopefully there are some rumors that the 2019 MBPr 16" model will change it. There's also a new patent about a different mechanism (with light based actuators) that looks nice if the feel is good.

https://appleinsider.com/articles/19/08/27/apple-may-not-use...

Re: MacBook Pro Keyboard Drives Me Crazy

#373

Post by danfo »

Being incentivised to continue on with my 2012 retina MacBook Pro has a nice side effect of getting me used to reducing my personal wastefulness. I don't think I'm missing out on much. An i7, SSD and enough RAM. It's not new, but it is snappy.

I wonder how long I will be able to continue without needless waste, just replacing the battery and clearing out the fans.

Re: MacBook Pro Keyboard Drives Me Crazy

#374

Post by coldtea »

puranjay wrote: post #349
codemusings wrote: post #335

Recently my b key started to exhibit the same symptoms on my 2016 model. I avoided having to use the keyboard at all costs because it's a serious impedance to my productivity and it still happened to me. What's most infuriating is the realization that I bought a $3000 laptop with a keyboard that will break sooner or later and there's nothing you can do about it except sell it at a substantial loss. Even if I go throu…

I'm off the Apple train. I honestly don't trust them to make reliable hardware anymore. They've had three years to fix this mess but they have shown zero initiative or intention to do it. Apple has consistently shown that it cares more about form over function. No one needs their laptops to be any thinner than they already are. And no one needs the useless, expensive touchbar.

>Apple has consistently shown that it cares more about form over function. No one needs their laptops to be any thinner than they already are

Well, this depends.

Here's how a user put it: "I have to admit being a bit baffled by how nobody else seems to have done what Apple did with the Macbook Air - even several years after the first release, the other notebook vendors continue to push those ugly and clunky things. Yes, there are vendors that have tried to emulate it, but usually pretty badly. I don't think I'm unusual in preferring my laptop to be thin and light. (...) A notebook that weighs more than a kilo is simply not a good thing (yeah, I’m using the smaller 11″ macbook air, and I think weight could still be improved on, but at least it’s very close to the magical 1kg limit)." - Linus Torvalds

(Later he stopped using Apple laptops for the even lighter/thinner chromebooks).

Re: MacBook Pro Keyboard Drives Me Crazy

#375

Post by hajimemash »

I've got a laundry list of recent MacBook Pro issues:

1) Batteries have been swelling like pillows since 2010, affecting 2 of 3 of my MBPs. They said it's an anomaly, but the recent exploding batteries didn't surprise me at all since many people experience this swelling.

2) Double-pressing keys for 2018 MBP, as in this article

3) Keys fading quickly on 2018 MBP, killing the resale value of the laptops instantly. Good for Apple though, both me and others who would have bought my laptop have to go buy new ones

Re: MacBook Pro Keyboard Drives Me Crazy

#376

Post by TMWNN »

snockerton wrote: post #6

I'm glad that others are voicing the same issues I'm experiencing. Sometimes I wonder if I'm taking crazy pills. My solution has been to place an Apple bluetooth keyboard -on top- of my 15" MBP keyboard and that seems to work pretty well, but wow, it shouldn't have come to this...

>My solution has been to place an Apple bluetooth keyboard -on top- of my 15" MBP keyboard and that seems to work pretty well, but wow, it shouldn't have come to this...

I did that with my 2008 unibody Macbook Pro (yes, Macbook keyboards also sometimes broke pre-2016), which also suffered from EM209 [1] (second time, beyond Apple's free-fix period). I used heavy-duty rubber bands to both hold the screen together along the non-visible borders, and affix the wireless keyboard over the computer's. Certainly something to never ever show anyone else, but completely functional with the exception of the inability to close up the computer. Only after failing to start one day did I replace it with the 2012 non-Retina I am typing on; come to think of it, it's now exactly as old as the 2008 when it completely died, albeit in full working order. (It did need a keyboard repair. I am hard on keyboards.)

[1] https://randyzwitch.com/broken-macbook-pro-hinge-fixed-free/

Re: MacBook Pro Keyboard Drives Me Crazy

#377

Post by jotm »

jdnenej wrote: post #341
codemusings wrote: post #335

Recently my b key started to exhibit the same symptoms on my 2016 model. I avoided having to use the keyboard at all costs because it's a serious impedance to my productivity and it still happened to me. What's most infuriating is the realization that I bought a $3000 laptop with a keyboard that will break sooner or later and there's nothing you can do about it except sell it at a substantial loss. Even if I go throu…

What is more astounding to me is not the fact that it happened, but that apple did nothing about it. Years later they are still selling a broken device, and people are still buying it.

Because they're buying it. The failure rate must not be impacting their profits, or people buy a new MacBook before the keyboard breaks, again not impacting their sales.

Re: MacBook Pro Keyboard Drives Me Crazy

#378

Post by C1sc0cat »

coldtea wrote: post #374
puranjay wrote: post #349

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm off the Apple train. I honestly don't trust them to make reliable hardware anymore. They've had three years to fix this mess but they have shown zero initiative or intention to do it. Apple has consistently shown that it cares more about form over function. No one needs their laptops to be any thinner than they already are. And no one needs the useless, expensive touchbar.

> Apple has consistently shown that it cares more about form over function. No one needs their laptops to be any thinner than they already are Well, this depends. Here's how a user put it: "I have to admit being a bit baffled by how nobody else seems to have done what Apple did with the Macbook Air - even several years after the first release, the other notebook vendors continue to push those ugly and clunky things.…

I wonder what Linus would have made of the Compaq Portable or an Osbourn 1 back in the day.

Re: MacBook Pro Keyboard Drives Me Crazy

#379

Post by ucha »

nbevans wrote: post #319
reb wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I liked my 2019 MBP keyboard too. Until one week I noticed it kept repeating e's and n's. And then I learnt its not fixable unless you are prepared to go without a machine for 3 to 14 days. And then I learnt from Rossman Youtube that your machine might never be the same again after Apple's "genius"'s get their hands on. Honestly, I thought it was all a fuss about nothing. But it isn't. BTW my machine is 6 months old.…

If your machine is 6 months old, you have a 2018 MBP keyboard. The 2019 keyboard came out 4 months ago.

Re: MacBook Pro Keyboard Drives Me Crazy

#380

Post by rubber_duck »

puranjay wrote: post #349
codemusings wrote: post #335

Recently my b key started to exhibit the same symptoms on my 2016 model. I avoided having to use the keyboard at all costs because it's a serious impedance to my productivity and it still happened to me. What's most infuriating is the realization that I bought a $3000 laptop with a keyboard that will break sooner or later and there's nothing you can do about it except sell it at a substantial loss. Even if I go throu…

I'm off the Apple train. I honestly don't trust them to make reliable hardware anymore. They've had three years to fix this mess but they have shown zero initiative or intention to do it. Apple has consistently shown that it cares more about form over function. No one needs their laptops to be any thinner than they already are. And no one needs the useless, expensive touchbar.

I think the problem is deeper - their largest customer base probably cares about those things - have you seen how many people now days use MB for office work ? It became a status symbol, keyboard issues aside - they will be perfectly happy if their machine thermal throttles at 50% load because they never even hit 50% load. And it being thicker a few mm. to get proper thermals is a big deal to that audience (my impressions from talking to a few).

I was unfortunate enough that I needed to get a Mac and since I wasn't paying I went for I9 2018 MBP with Vega - this thing sucks horribly - it overheats constantly, blows loudly, the OSX is very unstable - common freezes and getting my 5K thunderbolt monitor to work reliably is a PITA - pray it doesn't lockup on monitor plugin or that it detects the monitors USB hub without a restart - I had to go to a beta to get support for it when I bought it... And not to mention no touch option in a 4k$ device !

Lenovo X1 Carbon running windows is far superior experience for me. Also a big fan of Yoga line for more casual use - GF has one and going from random typing to tablet in bed or in chair is amazing and pair surfing with touch on a large screen is a great experience.

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