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key travel 2019 1mm vs. 2015 1.3mmThe comparative overall height of the keyboard modules is more than 0.3mm different, and the new computers are dramatically thinner and lighter than the previous ones. The overall effect is a substantial improvement. I don't use the touchbar too much, but it is a moderate improvement over F keys for me (I appreciate the return of a physical escape key).
Subjectively these two keyboards are pretty similar (I slightly prefer the previous ones). Scissor switches are all pretty mediocre; the shape to fit in a laptop just forces very sharp compromises on the design.
I also think making the key tops larger was a mistake, but it is also a relatively marginal difference in practice. Part of the goal may have been to increase the space available for international legends. (That's why IBM and every other vendor increased desktop-keyboard keytop size and switched from a spherical to cylindrical shape in the 1980s.)
In terms of typing experience alone, I like the Apple laptop keyboards from circa 2002 better than any of the laptop keyboards since. And the Mac Portable keyboard from 1989 is way better. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_Portable
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Edit: in response to: > TrackPad, being too large in Post 2015 models causing much higher false positives
Let me highly recommend getting a Japanese language keyboard, which looks like this: http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com/#/gists/da70b0140c8a29...
... and then remapping the letter keys to be wider separated, along the lines of: http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com/#/gists/a578960e19e2c9...
Moving your left hand slightly left and your right hand substantially to the right relative to a typical US-ANSI keyboard will keep you from accidentally palm-swiping the trackpad.