A desperately needed change. I'm on the verge of taking my 2018 MBP in for its first top case repair, after having it previously cleaned for a failing e key. Now the e, i, and Shift keys are...
A desperately needed change. I'm on the verge of taking my 2018 MBP in for its first top case repair, after having it previously cleaned for a failing e key. Now the e, i, and Shift keys are sticking. Apple has dropped the ball on the MacBook Pro, and when even Apple fans like Gruber refuse to recommend the MBP, you know something is seriously wrong.
I have a 2018 MacBook Pro for work and a 2017 MacBook for personal use (these both have the butterfly mechanisms), and I have yet to experience any issues with the keyboards. I realize 1-2 years...
I have a 2018 MacBook Pro for work and a 2017 MacBook for personal use (these both have the butterfly mechanisms), and I have yet to experience any issues with the keyboards. I realize 1-2 years is not a long time in the life of a keyboard, but I keep wondering what my usage habits are that differ from so many others who complain about these keyboards.
The one thing that I know I do that is likely different from 99.9% of Mac users is that I set the key repeat rate on macOS to be faster than the fastest setting that the preference pane allows:
$ defaults read NSGlobalDomain KeyRepeat
2
Generally, I use the keyboard heavily for interactive shell sessions and a keyboard-centric launcher in Alfred, but I’m not a big writer. In terms of actual prose, I’m probably writing maybe 1k words a day on average. My tab, command, meta (alt), and arrow keys probably take the most abuse (and probably j and k for keyboard based vertical scrolling/selection).
Maybe I’m just a generally more dainty typist than most? Or maybe above average in cleanliness of environments I use my computers in? I’ve honestly never had a keyboard failure on any Apple product I’ve used.
I wouldn’t say that I strongly prefer the butterfly keyboards over previous Apple keyboards, but I actually do like the 'stickiness' of them compared to other keyboards that feel like the keys are a bit 'mushy'. I didn’t like the short key travel at first, but I’ve gotten used to it. I absolutely don’t like mechanical keyboards, though, despite their good ’stickiness'. Clearly, if there are frequent durability issues with the butterfly mechanisms or the design overall, that is something that Apple should be addressing, and if going back to scissor switches is what they’ve found to be the solution, I’m not against it, but I’d really like it if they could find a mechanism that keeps the 'stickiness'. It just feels more precise to me. That said, at my home desk, I use an Apple Aluminum Wired Keyboard, which has squishy scissor mechanisms and that works fine. I do notice the difference between my laptops and the Wired Keyboard, though.
I'm also a clean & tidy freak—to the extent that I wash my hands before I ever even use my machine, to the extent I intentionally don't rest my left wrist on the palm rest for fear of scratching...
I'm also a clean & tidy freak—to the extent that I wash my hands before I ever even use my machine, to the extent I intentionally don't rest my left wrist on the palm rest for fear of scratching the surface from my Apple Watch band. I clean my AirPods with iso-alcohol and blutack weekly, and use new microfibre cloths only to clean screens out of fear of scratching any of my displays. I'd never dare eat over my laptop or machine.
The keyboard issues are real. I do like the short travel & snappiness they have too, actually. But the problem is genuine, and severe. It will happen to you.
If these keyboards have a 20% failure rate, that is unacceptably high while leaving a majority of users without problems. Similarly, I've never had any problems with my Xbox 360 from 2006 (it...
If these keyboards have a 20% failure rate, that is unacceptably high while leaving a majority of users without problems.
Similarly, I've never had any problems with my Xbox 360 from 2006 (it still runs fine to this day).
A desperately needed change. I'm on the verge of taking my 2018 MBP in for its first top case repair, after having it previously cleaned for a failing
ekey. Now thee,i, andShiftkeys are sticking. Apple has dropped the ball on the MacBook Pro, and when even Apple fans like Gruber refuse to recommend the MBP, you know something is seriously wrong.I have a 2018 MacBook Pro for work and a 2017 MacBook for personal use (these both have the butterfly mechanisms), and I have yet to experience any issues with the keyboards. I realize 1-2 years is not a long time in the life of a keyboard, but I keep wondering what my usage habits are that differ from so many others who complain about these keyboards.
The one thing that I know I do that is likely different from 99.9% of Mac users is that I set the key repeat rate on macOS to be faster than the fastest setting that the preference pane allows:
Generally, I use the keyboard heavily for interactive shell sessions and a keyboard-centric launcher in Alfred, but I’m not a big writer. In terms of actual prose, I’m probably writing maybe 1k words a day on average. My tab, command, meta (alt), and arrow keys probably take the most abuse (and probably j and k for keyboard based vertical scrolling/selection).
Maybe I’m just a generally more dainty typist than most? Or maybe above average in cleanliness of environments I use my computers in? I’ve honestly never had a keyboard failure on any Apple product I’ve used.
I wouldn’t say that I strongly prefer the butterfly keyboards over previous Apple keyboards, but I actually do like the 'stickiness' of them compared to other keyboards that feel like the keys are a bit 'mushy'. I didn’t like the short key travel at first, but I’ve gotten used to it. I absolutely don’t like mechanical keyboards, though, despite their good ’stickiness'. Clearly, if there are frequent durability issues with the butterfly mechanisms or the design overall, that is something that Apple should be addressing, and if going back to scissor switches is what they’ve found to be the solution, I’m not against it, but I’d really like it if they could find a mechanism that keeps the 'stickiness'. It just feels more precise to me. That said, at my home desk, I use an Apple Aluminum Wired Keyboard, which has squishy scissor mechanisms and that works fine. I do notice the difference between my laptops and the Wired Keyboard, though.
I'm also a clean & tidy freak—to the extent that I wash my hands before I ever even use my machine, to the extent I intentionally don't rest my left wrist on the palm rest for fear of scratching the surface from my Apple Watch band. I clean my AirPods with iso-alcohol and blutack weekly, and use new microfibre cloths only to clean screens out of fear of scratching any of my displays. I'd never dare eat over my laptop or machine.
The keyboard issues are real. I do like the short travel & snappiness they have too, actually. But the problem is genuine, and severe. It will happen to you.
If these keyboards have a 20% failure rate, that is unacceptably high while leaving a majority of users without problems.
Similarly, I've never had any problems with my Xbox 360 from 2006 (it still runs fine to this day).