In January last year I bought a new MacBook Pro from Apple. I got a decent deal on it and with the new and improved butterfly keyboard I hoped it would be good. I choose the upgraded video card, too. My intention was that this would be my laptop for the next few years.
I wrote a review after 3 months with some minor gripes but overall the laptop was great. I even liked that stupid keyboard…
Fast forward 8 months
Now, after only 13 months I’m replacing the MacBook Pro for the new 16 inch model.
Yes, I know, repair program. New keyboard for free… But, it’ll be the same shitty butterfly keyboard which will have the same design flaws and will break within a few months or so. If not sooner.
So, no – The new owner can deal with that. And I’ll help that person to get their new keyboard for free if need be. In the meantime I’ll happily cough up the nearly three thousand euros for a new one to get rid of this thing.
However, with one important cave-at – If this even-more-expensive-laptop also breaks within an unacceptable amount of time it’s byebye Apple. Not sure what I’ll get then, ‘cuz Windows. But that’ll be an thought for another day.
High hopes
I really hope the MacBook Pro 16inch is better. It has a different keyboard at-least. I tried it in the shop. It’s nice. More than a millimeter of key travel, doesn’t feel like typing on a touch-screen and they keycaps are thicker than tinfoil. In my brief experience, it felt kinda pro… hah!
When I tried it in an awkward standing position I typed with less errors than on the butterfly keyboard in a normal sitting position.
In fairness, I actually quite liked the butterfly keyboard, the clickiness and flatness of the thing. It’s not bad. But the build quality of it is appalling. The design stupid. Right Jony? All your fault!
Like for so many other Apple victims… On-and-off random keys just stop working for no apparent reason. According to Apple if you tilt the laptop at a 40-45 degree angle and blow air on it it’ll clear debris and work again. This usually works. They actually have a knowledge-base page for that, with very specific instructions on how to hold and blow air on the laptop.
But what the f*ck Apple, I never had to do that with any keyboard, ever. And on this thing, 2-3 times a week – To clear what, thin air? Because it’s so flat and sunken in, bread crumbs or even a hair can’t get under it… So what’s up with that.
Anyway, what had me give up and order a new laptop was that the ‘N’ key wouldn’t reliably come up. But now after a week of being frustrated with it, it works again. Somewhat, mostly. But not always.
I tested this a number of times by tapping ‘N’ 20 times. It would type about 14 characters. If I was lucky I got 16 or so characters on screen. But as I typed this very sentence, in the word “screen” it would type 3 nnn’s *sigh*
Aside from the ‘N’ key, a whole bunch of keys feel mushy and spongy. Which is really annoying, too. *grrrr*
Am I dyslexic? Am I lost for words?
I type a lot, code, blog posts, chat, emails. In the past year I’ve made a million and one typing mistakes for sure. I blame half of them on the butterfly keyboard.
I can’t type any word or sentence without having characters switched around because the keystroke registers delayed, double or not at all. Or when I type certain words I’m 100% sure I press the right key, but apparently not enough, or not centered enough and it just skips that letter.
It’s so bad that I thought I was getting dyslexia or became some kind of dumbass in general who can’t type anymore.
Of-course not – It’s that damned butterfly keyboard!
So, enough of that!
And enough complaining, too. We all know these things suck balls. Even Apple now knows and kind of admitted to it.
So Tim, you win. You get more of my money. But this is your last chance… I think.
I’ll probably write a first impressions/comparison post when I get the new MacBook next month. And a more detailed review in a few months when I can make up my mind on if Apple has actually fixed things.
