Tylenol Moment for Apple’s Laptop Keyboards

Count me in as someone who bought a thinkpad tablet when I had to send in my 2016 MBP for a keyboard replacement. Having a real OS on a tablet has been such an eye-opening experience that I’m unlikely to ever buy another MacBook unless Apple makes a Surface-like model or the iPad OS grows up and allows for real pro graphics apps.

Yup, my main portable is a Dell Latitude I got refurbished from a nonprofit. Quad-core Skylake, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, functional keyboard, 1080p IPS matte screen, ethernet, USB-A, HDMI, SD card reader, fingerprint reader, smart card reader, SIM card tray, hooks into a $15 dock. Whole thing cost under $500. And it had the remainder of a warranty where a Dell tech came to my place of work to repair a hardware problem.

@Paul
Like Photoshop for iPad?

You mean "Photoshop" for iPad? The thing that was just recently revealed to NOT actually be Desktop-grade Photoshop after all?

More to the point, and I've said it before, but count me in as one of the people who would like to upgrade my 2014 MBP but I simply can't because of what seems like a near 100% chance that any newer MBP would have a keyboard failure. I'm also still pissed that newer MBP come with no ports for things that I still use, like regular USB (every day) and SD Card (at least once a week). There's really no reason for it, since similar spec and size PC laptops come with USB-C, USB-A, and SD Card slots (and some also have Ethernet and other ones). Apple has always made some questionable choices like this, but to me they've taken it too far. Battery life is good enough since a few years ago, there's no point to keep shaving off 1mm at the expense of having a terrible keyboard and a bag full of dongles / hubs. That's what the Macbook Air is for, not the MBP. I think my next Mac might just be a Mini with a good keyboard and monitor, because I rarely use my MBP away from my desk anyway.

I'm simply done buying Apple hardware until this is fixed; my MBA is on a shelf, I won't replace it. I've got a nice (if aging) iMac 5K with a wired "magic" keyboard that just works; and a RasPi4 with a teeny but robust chiclet keyboard for video playing, and once I battery-power it, as a portable cyberdeck if I need to travel.

But given Catalina EOLs so much software I use, I won't be "upgrading" to that either. So when Mojave is EOL, I'll probably leave the Mac entirely. FreeBSD is nice enough, and I can write or compile anything I need myself.

I don't know how Apple keeps getting these "99% customer satisfaction" numbers year after year, because nobody I know is satisfied with anything in the last half-decade.

I waited as long as I could to replace my amazing 11” Air (2013) and hoped for the Mac Book plus proper keyboard and more ports.

Six months ago I bought a Surface Pro 6 and I love it and look back fondly on the Apple years (up to 2015).

I went with a Lenovo P42s in June as my work 2015 Macbook Pro came off of lease. I love the hardware, particularly the keyboard. I’m writing this on my personal Macbook Pro, 2017 model, that I hate with the power of 1000 suns. The keyboard is crap and has been replaced one time already. Now the video card looks to be going so I’m preparing to take it into the shop again. With the increasingly crap quality of MacOS and it’s becoming iOS-like I question what my next stop will be.

All of that said, the thing I miss most with the Lenovo is the great software available for Mac. That’s been the biggest hit to my productivity in this switch; finding suitable replacements where they exist.

As for thinness and weight, I’m carrying an iPhone that is as heavy as a brick so really a bit more weight in my laptop wouldn’t bother me. Tim Cook’s Apple, cheap parts, poor design, no servicability.

@BenG … dongles are big money if you consider that they add around $100 to the cost of a MacBook Pro and most certainly cost less than a tenth of that to make. The same thing with the now absent wall cable that costs $25 extra to buy. Add in memory and SSD markup because those are no longer user changeable and you quickly see how Apple is turning the numbers they’re turning.

@mdhughes "99% customer satisfaction" is pure marketing spin. In other words it's true but also untrue depending on your viewpoint.

I don't think it's spin; I think they genuinely believe those metrics. Which doesn't necessarily mean they're good metrics or that the methodology is sound.

(And they're selective about providing them. What, say, is the customer satisfaction of the 2013 Mac Pro?)

I own a 2.2 GHz MacBook Pro with 1 terabyte flash drive, 32 Ram , and a Radeon Pro 560X. No heat issues even with 100+ plus degrees when outside in the hot Dallas summers.Almost a year now working everyday mostly outdoor on my patio smoking a cigar everyday. Cigar ashes everywhere on the keyboard and some dust I wipe off regularly. No keyboard problems. I run Microsoft Office, Keynote, Pages, and a multitude of 3rd party apps now with Catalina 10.15.1. I boot from an external OWC high speed 1 terabyte flash drive with Catalina. No issues whatsoever. I love the keyboard and the stable hardware and OS. Owned a 2015 Macbook Pro before then with no keyboard issue. I believe that many have issues with the keyboard, but I guess I'm lucky so far.

@Grigg Ted
I completely believe your experience. I had multiple MacBooks over the years and none of them were effected by cracking lower cases during my ownership. Although, at least one cracked after it moved to a family member. Going back further in time, neither of my two iBook G4 models exhibited the blank screen problem.

However, I am well aware both experiences leave me in the minority as both were widespread problems.

If your Macs keeping breaking or otherwise not living up to expectations, we only have ourselves to blame if we keep single sourcing hardware.

Honestly, it might be better to stick with a Mac mini for Mac development and another brand of laptop for all other work. If configured correctly, you can remote into the Mac mini while on the go to keep working in Mac only tools like XCode. Yes, that plan kind of sucks, but it is better than throwing away $2000 every couple years.

The other option is a Mac mini and a non Apple laptop hacked to run OS X. Hacking non Macs to become Macs always seems easier with at least one bona fide Mac in possession.

It's worth noting that until 1995, Apple OWNED the laptop market. It took a single generation of truly terrible computers--the PowerBook 5300--which were slow, had disintegrating plastic, bad system software, and froze constantly--to completely cede that market to Dell.

History CAN repeat itself. Apple needs to focus on reliability, not trying to meet some idiot designer's concept of minimalist design-for-design's sake. Bauhaus, who Ives constantly cites as his muse, was ultimately about FUNCTIONALITY, not irrelevant and counter-productive innovation.