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MacBook Pro Keyboard Drives Me Crazy

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Re: MacBook Pro Keyboard Drives Me Crazy

#431

Post by vmurthy »

aglionby wrote: post #409
tolmasky wrote: post #37

The worst part is that I can tell this keyboard is actually having a detrimental effect on my typing abilities. Since being on these keyboards for years now, I've noticed that my typing speed has slowed, as I spend a significant amount of cognitive energy preparing to fix mistakes. The faster you type, the more annoying it is to go farther back to fix something. I'm not sure how to quantify the focus it steals from t…

> wait 3 days for a repair My 2015 MBP is affected by the battery recall and they want 2-3 weeks to send it off to a repair centre to have the battery replaced. No chance to have it done in-store owing to safety concerns (which I'm not sure I entirely buy given that it's an overheating issue, but it's hard to tell without the full details). And no budging on the timeframe or possibility of a loaner. One of the more f…

> My 2015 MBP is affected by the battery recall and they want 2-3 weeks to send it off

If you really have to understand the pain, the laptops are banned in Indian flights (domestic and international)[1]. Imagine a company issued laptop not being usable at an important customer exhibition and a lag of 2-3 weeks :-(

https://www.livemint.com/technology/tech-news/specific-model...

Re: MacBook Pro Keyboard Drives Me Crazy

#432

Post by fauigerzigerk »

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.

True, and it really shows the downside of vertical integration for users.

Tying yourself to a particular software ecosystem turns into a bit of a lottery if it means you're left with exactly one totally broken laptop keyboard option for years and years.

Even ignoring the actual brokenness, using a keyboard with very little key travel is just not everyone's cup of tea.

It really makes me think hard about whether or not I want to take this risk again, not just for laptops but for phones as well.

Re: MacBook Pro Keyboard Drives Me Crazy

#433

Post by mkl »

dpedu wrote: post #31
madeofpalk wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Go give windows a try and report back. I've been using Windows for the past couple of weeks and, granted maybe I haven't really given it a chance, using it after using Macs for 10+ years is not great. Maybe developing on macOS has become a hassle (I don't see that, but sure), but doing everything on Windows is a hassle. Taking a screenshot. Opening the right file. Displaying UI at a reasonable scale . Think what you…

> Displaying UI at a reasonable scale. It's amazing how bad Windows still is at this. In my experience, connecting monitors of different densities results in crazy things breaking, like the "maximize window" feature.

My experience is totally different. I use monitors of different densities every day, and move things between them, etc. Nothing bad happens, and maximising just works.

The only bad Windows density thing I run into is when I occasionally remote desktop into Windows Server 2012, which doesn't know about HiDPI or resolution changes, so if it starts on the wrong screen everything is hilariously tiny. That's fixed in more recent Windows Server versions.

Re: MacBook Pro Keyboard Drives Me Crazy

#434

Post by whywhywhywhy »

zmmmmm wrote: post #35

The worst thing is, the 2015 MBP keyboard was nearly perfect. The vast majority of the time I don't even use an external keyboard even when I am working at a desk and am plugged into monitor. It's one thing to fail at designing something because it is hard and you haven't figured it out yet. It's quite another to regress to incompetence on something you already perfected.

Even the little things are inferior on the modern MBP compared to 2015. I use both and have noticed that when you plug headphones into a 2015 the switch over from (muted) speakers to mid volume headphones is instant.

On the USB-C version there is a 1.5 to 2 second lag where if you turn the volume up you'll actually be turning the volume up on the speakers because it takes that long to switch audio sources.

No longer feels like a premium machine.

Re: MacBook Pro Keyboard Drives Me Crazy

#435

Post by trbn »

zbigniewc wrote: post #397
aloer wrote: post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Finder is probably the worst part of using a Mac. But explorer isn’t that much better either I am currently forced to use windows and it’s near impossible to get anything done with it without feeling frustrated. It simply doesn’t follow my speed and line of thought on anything. I am quite shocked after using Mac for 7 years how little progress or even regression windows 10 went through. Without making this into a win…

Interesting! Having used a Mac for 6 months after years of Windows, I had quite the opposite feelings: > unzip hidden behind right click or freaking menu button By default double click or Enter will cause Explorer to peak into .zip files, which is more natural to me as I might not want to unzip the whole file to see the contents. > rename through right click or f2 The fact that in Finder the Enter button does not act…

As for QuickLook on Windows I can recommend the brilliantly named "QuickLook": https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/quicklook/9nv4bs3l1h4s

Re: MacBook Pro Keyboard Drives Me Crazy

#436

Post by MobileVet »

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.

These products spend years in development. They are doing something about it but it takes time. Apparently the all new designs, to start release this fall, will address many of these issues. If they don't, I to will be furious.

That said, due to the huge list of issue, I probably would have interrupted the normal design cycle and accelerated the new models. But 20/20.

Re: MacBook Pro Keyboard Drives Me Crazy

#437

Post by whywhywhywhy »

SkyPuncher wrote: post #194
iamleppert wrote: post #12

I switched to a Thinkpad after I had the horror of using a new Macbook. Running Ubuntu is lovely, so much so that for a developer there is little reason to be using a Macbook anymore. You can get a lot more bang for the buck using a Thinkpad AND have a functional keyboard. Apple should be very worried. Once they loose the developers, users won't be long to follow.

How's the touchpad? That's literally my biggest hold up. I haven't seen anything that holds a candle to Mac's touchpads yet.

The Surface line touchpads are the closest I've seen so far.

Re: MacBook Pro Keyboard Drives Me Crazy

#438

Post by puranjay »

PunksATawnyFill wrote: post #393
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 insulted users and embarrassed itself with this dogshit keyboard and the pathetic emoji bar... on a $4000 "pro" computer, no less. Then there's the glued-together chassis, the soldered-in RAM and drives... when those go bad (and they will), you get to just throw the computer away instead of performing a routine replacement. Apple's shoddily-made computers should be hanging from pegs in blister packs at Walg…

I didn't realize how great upgradable components really are until recently. I had a 2.5 year old Lenovo laptop with a fast processor (i7 at 2.8Ghz). Upgraded the RAM to 16GB and replaced the HDD with a SDD. The thing now runs way faster and feels brand new.

Re: MacBook Pro Keyboard Drives Me Crazy

#439

Post by whywhywhywhy »

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)

>decent terminal

https://github.com/felixse/FluentTerminal is the closest I've found to the feel of the Mac one.

Re: MacBook Pro Keyboard Drives Me Crazy

#440

Post by nbevans »

ucha wrote: post #379
nbevans wrote: post #319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

That is true. I did not realise this, so thanks. Indeed it says mine is a 2018 model in the "About this Mac" screen.

All this time I thought I had a 2019 model because I ordered it in 2019 and it came direct from the factory in China (not from existing stock).

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