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Esoom

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 30, 2010
415
51
Colorado
Anyone else really like the keyboard?

I'm a fan, wish the BT keyboard had a variant with these keyswitches.

Might be because I use touchscreen keyboards so much, the MB keys just feel right for a laptop.
 

JoePa2624

macrumors regular
Oct 12, 2014
247
105
AZ
I'm 50/50 on it. Some days I'm typing and it's great. Other times I miss a lot of keystrokes and it's slightly frustrating. I appreciate the technology that Apple has put into this keyboard, but I honestly hope that they don't switch the MBPr or MBA keyboards for this one.

My favorite keyboard is still my Magic Keyboard. It really has the perfect key travel and feeling. I love it.
 

newellj

macrumors G3
Oct 15, 2014
8,127
3,030
East of Eden
I expected to like it or at least to get used to it, mostly because like you I had (still have) good luck touch-typing on a full-sized iPad virtual keyboard. It turned out that the short travel really bothered me and actually focused me on the fact that I much prefer the Apple Wireless (BT) keyboard to the standard keyboard in the rMBP/MBA. I'm not saying there's a right or wrong, just personal preference.
 
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Queen6

macrumors G4
I expected to like it or at least to get used to it, mostly because like you I had (still have) good luck touch-typing on a full-sized iPad virtual keyboard. It turned out that the short travel really bothered me and actually focused me on the fact that I much prefer the Apple Wireless (BT) keyboard to the standard keyboard in the rMBP/MBA. I'm not saying there's a right or wrong, just personal preference.

I like the almost mechanical feel of the keyboard, equally the short throw is difficult to gauge and I almost feel like I have to hold myself back from hitting the keys overly hard, while in reality there is no necessitation. What also exacerbates the strangeness of the Retina MacBook`s keyboard for me I frequently jump from one system to another, and occasionally two simultaneously.

Q-6
 
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zhenya

macrumors 604
Jan 6, 2005
6,929
3,677
I have not decided for sure, but I don't seem to hate it. I prefer dedicated mechanical keyboards with lots of travel for my primary usage, but for an ultralight, I think this keyboard is pretty good. It fixes the two primary complaints I have about the keyboard on my Surface Pro which has a similar amount of travel, if not a bit more. The Macbook keys give decent feedback when pressed, and there is enough space between them to quickly feel when you are properly located on the key.
 

Roman2K~

macrumors 6502a
Mar 11, 2011
552
16
I received my rMB today and so far I like this new keyboard very much. It was my biggest fear with this purchase, turned out to be one of the best attribute of the machine. None of the reviews (written & video) do it justice. The feedback click is very present and the actuation force is higher than I thought, being mislead by the video reviews I watched (and I watched almost all of them): both reliefs. Other unexpected good surprise is the new layout of the arrow keys. I actually don't find the taller horizontal keys disturbing, quite the opposite, turns out to be more comfortable and less prone to misses.

Two minor issues, though quality-control related: the backspace and space keys don't make the same noise as the others, they're louder and the feedback is less "firm" (for lack of a better term). They're larger than the others but so are the Caps and right-Shift and those make a similar noise to the smaller keys. Must be defects on my units, I'll check at a Genius Bar if this continues to annoy me.
 
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pacmania1982

macrumors 65816
Nov 19, 2006
1,168
520
Birmingham, UK
I love it! Got used to it in all of 5 seconds. Made it feel weird using my sisters MacBook Air though... Keys travel felt really odd after using my rMB for so long.

Each to their own though, I know its not for everyone.
 

tbirdparis

macrumors 6502
May 30, 2015
292
206
I wonder if they'll switch to this new butterfly mechanism thing for the entire range next generation, seeing as it supposedly promotes better accuracy by pressing down more evenly. For a rMBP for example, presumably they could design a version of it to bring the accuracy advantages, but still with a longer throw because the chassis itself doesn't require it to be so razor thin. In that way, it wouldn't be a major shock to people used to the rMBP keyboard because the deeper action we're used to would still be present... but at the same time it would make the difference between the feel of the rMBP and rMB a bit less marked.
 

Scott6666

macrumors 65816
Feb 2, 2008
1,489
940
It's a wretched keyboard. Missing keystrokes all the time. Have had it since launch week so it's not that I'm just getting used to it.

I came to start a new thread title "Wretched Keyboard" but this will do to air my opinion.

Its's so light weight that I love it for traveling but my most used key by far is the backspace key to correct mistakes. Multiple corrections per sentence usually.
 

zhenya

macrumors 604
Jan 6, 2005
6,929
3,677
That's too bad. I've been spending some time comparing it directly to my wife's MBA this morning. Definitely different, and takes a bit of a lighter touch even though the actuation is actually crisper on the new model. Typing speeds are about the same as measured at typeracer.
 

Scott6666

macrumors 65816
Feb 2, 2008
1,489
940
Some of it is spacing I think (like the - = 0 9 ] \keys). Others like the bottom row / middle / pinkie keys are subject to missed taps. So I actually think I'm hitting a bit harder to avoid those missed taps.

I'm keeping it anyway for the weight but I think about it many times a day as I'm hitting the backspace key. I do best when I slow down enough to actually watch my typing now to make sure I don't go too far after a missing a key.

BTW, EVERYTHING else about it is great. It's fast enough to do programming (don't play games), the new Office Preview and even Parallels with Windows 10
 

newellj

macrumors G3
Oct 15, 2014
8,127
3,030
East of Eden
It's a wretched keyboard. Missing keystrokes all the time. Have had it since launch week so it's not that I'm just getting used to it.

I came to start a new thread title "Wretched Keyboard" but this will do to air my opinion.

Its's so light weight that I love it for traveling but my most used key by far is the backspace key to correct mistakes. Multiple corrections per sentence usually.

Those were among my problems with it. Loved everything else.
 

mattopotamus

macrumors G5
Jun 12, 2012
14,666
5,879
Anyone else really like the keyboard?

I'm a fan, wish the BT keyboard had a variant with these keyswitches.

Might be because I use touchscreen keyboards so much, the MB keys just feel right for a laptop.

The more I use it the more I like it. At first, my typing was really slowed down (usually around 90 wmp and dropped to 80). Now that I have been using it a few months I am back to my normal wmp and actually hate using any other keyboard. I really hope they update the BT keyboard since that is mainly what I use at work.
 

polee

macrumors 6502a
Jul 22, 2008
689
458
I have grown to like the keyboard very much and it feels absolutely normal to me. However, I would not mind keys with slightly more travel. However the width of each key is just right and Apple did a lot of things correctly with this keyboard.
 

TommyBoy5

macrumors regular
Dec 6, 2010
144
107
It took a couple months to get used to it but I'm finally there now.

I took out my 2008 MBP the other day to scrub some more data from it and it had been 73 days since I last backed it up so that's roughly how long it's been since I stopped using it.

Two things I immediately noticed:

1) HOW DID I EVER LIVE WITH THAT TRACKPAD AND SINGLE LOWER CLICK BUTTON!!!! I literally found myself clicking on the trackpad and receiving no response and then having to click the button about 1000 times. I'm not talking about Force Touch, I'm talking about just the clickable track pad. Wow, what a game-changer. This is old news to any of you with a computer that's more modern than my ancient 2008 MBP.

2) The size and real estate around the keyboard was staggering! It looked like a freaking desktop. It weighs four times what my rMB weighs and there are like two feet of space around each side of the keyboard. The keys feel very high up and have this horrendous long travel and clicking sound.

So guess what? I LOVE my rMB. I love the size. I love the portability. I love the resolution.

And I love the keyboard.
 
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echoout

macrumors 6502a
Aug 15, 2007
600
16
Austin, Texas
I'm one week in and REALLY struggling. I use my MBP 6-8 hours a day doing motion graphics work and dealing with client emails, etc. I keep sending messages accidentally on top of having to retype so many words. It all just feels so flat. I do so much with the arrow keys in After Effects and I can't even tell which arrow key is which (or even a key at all) without looking at it. I realize now that I was feeling the edges of the keys to calibrate myself. This almost reminds me of typing on my iPad Pro.

And I've basically had to remove most of the functionality from my Touch Bar because I CAN'T STOP ACCIDENTALLY TOUCHING IT!!!!

I'm trying to be patient.
 

fisherking

macrumors G4
Jul 16, 2010
11,084
5,432
ny somewhere
took me about 4-5 days; my big problem now is... when i work on my 2015 macbook pro, the keyboard throws me off. i much prefer the one on the MB.

give it time, you'll adapt (just as people did moving from the early mac keyboards to the 'laptop' keys).
 
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