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The Great Apple Keyboard Cover-Up

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Re: The Great Apple Keyboard Cover-Up

#91

Post by SirHound »

saagarjha wrote: post #74
designcode wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After using my 2016 MBP for two years, going back to my 2014 MBP just feels wrong. The keyboard is so much better on the modern ones, so I’d recommend giving it a chance !

Wow, your comment was killed within seconds. I’d suggest expanding on your opinion.

The 2016 keyboard feels, IMO, way better to type of. In comparison the old MBP feels like a much sloppier machine.

It’s size was also the only thing putting me off a personal purchase. Reliability issues aside (I haven’t been affected but I assume it’s a matter of time) it is a nicer machine.

Re: The Great Apple Keyboard Cover-Up

#92

Post by protomyth »

gnicholas wrote: post #47
wild_preference wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They don’t fix the keyboard. They only “reset” it which means you’ll have to bring it in again once it accumulates enough issues to make it worthwhile. My first key failed within one month. Eventually seven keys came off with ny fingers as I typed. “Non-issue” is comical word choice.

In my case, they are sending out to have the top case replaced. Can’t speak for others, but they’re not just kicking the can down the road. The Apple genius also told me that the replacement part won’t be identical to the original keyboard. We’ll see if it’s the new 3rd generation butterfly or just a tweaked 2nd gen.

That's my big problem with the whole "free" repair. If I send in my computer, what do I get back? Will it have some fix that prevents future problems or will I be SOL in a couple of weeks when one of the keys fails again?

> In my case, they are sending out to have the top case replaced. Can’t speak for others, but they’re not just kicking the can down the road.

They built the thing so they have no real option other the replacing the whole top case. The in store repair is blowing air into the keyboard and hoping it fixes it.

Re: The Great Apple Keyboard Cover-Up

#93

Post by davnn »

corey_moncure wrote: post #69

Was the old keyboard engineering so bad? I feel like Apple has been fixing what wasn't broken since about 2010, regarding the MBP at least. Literally all they needed to do was retina screen, upgrade the internals, and add a few USB-C ports. Was anyone ever legitimately inconvenienced by the thickness of the 2010 MBP? I know I was directly inconvenienced by the loss of MagSafe, ethernet, SD card and USB-A, the loss of…

I switched from a MBP to a Lenovo X1 Carbon and the keyboard is so much better on the X1, it’s on another level.

Lost macOS though, which, in the end, didn’t matter as much as I thought it would.

Re: The Great Apple Keyboard Cover-Up

#94

Post by __david__ »

thought_alarm wrote: post #70
bsimpson wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't used the new keyboard. Can't you still detect the arrow keys by feeling for the split between up/down?

You really can't. Even on the Apple's new desktop keyboards, the split between the up/down keys is much smaller and much more difficult to detect than their older keyboards. It's much worse on the laptop keyboards. And because the left and right arrow keys are now full height, it is literally impossible to determine if your middle finger is over the up/down keys or over the shift/up keys. And if your hand is in the w…

The number of times I've been frustratingly pounding on up arrow only to finally look and discover that I'm hitting shift is astronomical. I'm coming up on 2 years with this keyboard and I still cannot reliably use the arrows without looking.

Re: The Great Apple Keyboard Cover-Up

#95

Post by stefanfisk »

BugsJustFindMe wrote: post #82
dingo_bat wrote: post #7

Reading the comment under TFA it seems macbook keyboards have no water resistance? Seems a bit weird for such an expensive device.

Oh god. Forget about keyboards. I once watched a droplet of water so small that it had to have been affected more by subtle air currents than by gravity hit the edge of the trackpad on a pre-force-touch model and then vanish inside the gap, say around 2011, at which point the trackpad promptly stopped working properly for several days (phantom touches, cursor jumping, dead zones). Be careful out there with the expens…

OMG, this reminds me of when I wrecked my MBA after getting out of the shower!

A drop of water managed to break the power button such that is was constantly being pressed if no other key was pressed, causing hard shutdowns. BUT - if I used a tooth pick to stick one of the unused F-keys I could continue using the computer, with the downside that certain key combinations stopped working (mostly shift combos).

Until I figured out the toothpick fix coding was like a Lost episode in high speed, where all was lost if I forgot to press the button within the allotted timespan.

Re: The Great Apple Keyboard Cover-Up

#96

Post by adrianN »

xvf22 wrote: post #77
thadk wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The area around the hinge on the 2011-2015 Era Macbook was plastic. It seems like they wanted to do away with that, a major mechanical break point, which meant removing travel distance from the keys so the screen could close more directly. (My 2011 MBP screen hinge was a bit wobbly a few years in.) You could look at the USB-C dongles in a similar way: older USB ports could fail eventually on that era MBP. The newer U…

Each of the USB-C ports needs a controller and if any of the four have an issue the computer will not charge.

One of the USB-C ports on my work laptop recently failed but the machine still charged from the other one.

Re: The Great Apple Keyboard Cover-Up

#97

Post by thaumasiotes »

corey_moncure wrote: post #69

Was the old keyboard engineering so bad? I feel like Apple has been fixing what wasn't broken since about 2010, regarding the MBP at least. Literally all they needed to do was retina screen, upgrade the internals, and add a few USB-C ports. Was anyone ever legitimately inconvenienced by the thickness of the 2010 MBP? I know I was directly inconvenienced by the loss of MagSafe, ethernet, SD card and USB-A, the loss of…

> Was anyone ever legitimately inconvenienced by the thickness of the 2010 MBP? I know I was directly inconvenienced by the loss of MagSafe, ethernet, SD card and USB-A, the loss of the FN key row, and loss of serviceability.

For an alternative perspective, http://chainsawsuit.com/comic/2016/10/29/the-new-macbooks-ar...

> Battery life is not great. But you can't use it outside anyhow because it'll blow away.

> We want to make a laptop so thin you'll close it and never find it again.

Re: The Great Apple Keyboard Cover-Up

#98

Post by Jdam »

xvf22 wrote: post #77
thadk wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The area around the hinge on the 2011-2015 Era Macbook was plastic. It seems like they wanted to do away with that, a major mechanical break point, which meant removing travel distance from the keys so the screen could close more directly. (My 2011 MBP screen hinge was a bit wobbly a few years in.) You could look at the USB-C dongles in a similar way: older USB ports could fail eventually on that era MBP. The newer U…

Each of the USB-C ports needs a controller and if any of the four have an issue the computer will not charge.

The USB controller is unrelated to USB power supply.

Re: The Great Apple Keyboard Cover-Up

#99

Post by dfee »

JustSomeNobody wrote: post #58
wingspar wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On other keyboards, I’ve used a drop of CA glue (superglue) to add tactile feedback. Much like some keyboards have a bump on two of the home row keys

Clear nail polish works too. It's also a good makeshift loctite for tiny screws.

Never heard of this. Interesting.

Re: The Great Apple Keyboard Cover-Up

#100

Post by garmaine »

saagarjha wrote: post #73
corey_moncure wrote: post #69

Was the old keyboard engineering so bad? I feel like Apple has been fixing what wasn't broken since about 2010, regarding the MBP at least. Literally all they needed to do was retina screen, upgrade the internals, and add a few USB-C ports. Was anyone ever legitimately inconvenienced by the thickness of the 2010 MBP? I know I was directly inconvenienced by the loss of MagSafe, ethernet, SD card and USB-A, the loss of…

Apple sold a MacBook Pro with all of those things you wanted except Ethernet until yesterday.

What are you talking about?
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