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2016 or 2017 MBP - keyboard differences?

Kajje

Kajje

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 6, 2012
722
958
Asia
After several mishaps I'm forced into buying my 3rd butterfly MBPr.

2016 rMBP NON-TB was stolen
2016 rMBP NON-TB took a 'coffee break'

I'm now back to an old rMB 12 which is on its last legs.

I'm looking to buy either another base model 2016 (=256GB) or a mid spec'ed 2017 (base 2017 has 128GB).

The only thing that keeps me thinking is the keyboard. This thread is not about whether butterfly is good or not - I personally love it.

However...
The rMB has the 1st generation butterfly with all it's flaws
The rMBP 2016 has the 2nd generation butterfly which is slightly better, but I still encounter regular key mishaps.

While Apple hasn't mentioned anything about any difference between the 2016 and 2017 keyboard I reach out to the community with the question:

Did you encounter any differences between the rMBP 2016 and the rMBP 2017 keyboard?
 
i cant speak on behalf of the 2016 keyboard but i have heard that the 2017 has a more durable keyboard.. less faults that is. Ive had my 2017 n touch bar 256 gb for a month and 2 weeks its working perfectly!
[doublepost=1516159868][/doublepost]
Kajje said:
After several mishaps I'm forced into buying my 3rd butterfly MBPr.

2016 rMBP NON-TB was stolen
2016 rMBP NON-TB took a 'coffee break'
Click to expand...

but at the rate you're going it seems you'll replace this new one very soon haha ;)
 
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Kajje said:
After several mishaps I'm forced into buying my 3rd butterfly MBPr.

2016 rMBP NON-TB was stolen
2016 rMBP NON-TB took a 'coffee break'

I'm now back to an old rMB 12 which is on its last legs.

I'm looking to buy either another base model 2016 (=256GB) or a mid spec'ed 2017 (base 2017 has 128GB).

The only thing that keeps me thinking is the keyboard. This thread is not about whether butterfly is good or not - I personally love it.

However...
The rMB has the 1st generation butterfly with all it's flaws
The rMBP 2016 has the 2nd generation butterfly which is slightly better, but I still encounter regular key mishaps.

While Apple hasn't mentioned anything about any difference between the 2016 and 2017 keyboard I reach out to the community with the question:

Did you encounter any differences between the rMBP 2016 and the rMBP 2017 keyboard?
Click to expand...

Out of Curiosity, why is your old rMB 12 on its last legs? It should be only a couple of years old with plenty of remaining life. This is a sincere question, are you having problems with this machine? If the keyboard is giving you fits, I get it. So, it might just be terminology..... I think of an older machine on its last legs beginning worn out, slow, poor battery life, not upgradable, etc.. I would just be surprised if a two year old Mac was having these issues.

At some point, I am going to have to replace my base 2014 MBA, but I figure it still has a couple of more years.....so I would kind of expect about 6 years of useful life from a MacBook (12in, Air, or Pro). Anyway, just wondering what is compelling you to replace your MacBook.
 
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Mainsail said:
Out of Curiosity, why is your old rMB 12 on its last legs? It should be only a couple of years old with plenty of remaining life.
Click to expand...
My rMB-12 is one of the first machines. It has been sitting in a tropic cupboard for nearly 1 year. There are little ants corpses between the panel and backlight, the rubbers on the screen are brittle, when I reinstalled the latest macOS it lost its SSD for a while (it's back though), had troubles with installing macOS upgrades and when it comes out of sleeping mode the screen turns berserk for a couple milliseconds. On top of that the battery is very bad. I guess I have a Monday Machine (tm).

Lastgreen said:
but at the rate you're going it seems you'll replace this new one very soon haha ;)
Click to expand...
I surely hope that's not the case! You know, it haven't always been like that. I've always put good mileage on MacBooks, but I had a heavy couple of years. Lost a MBA with coffee, got one stolen at the airport, next one died of coffee again.

I have the idea that the butterfly really doesn't like the tropics: into airconditioned (=dry) rooms, back into +90% humidity, and back again. I flied 75k miles last year (and that's only calculating my long hauls). That puts quite a bit of wear on any equipment.
 
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Kajje said:
After several mishaps I'm forced into buying my 3rd butterfly MBPr.

2016 rMBP NON-TB was stolen
2016 rMBP NON-TB took a 'coffee break'

I'm now back to an old rMB 12 which is on its last legs.

I'm looking to buy either another base model 2016 (=256GB) or a mid spec'ed 2017 (base 2017 has 128GB).

The only thing that keeps me thinking is the keyboard. This thread is not about whether butterfly is good or not - I personally love it.

However...
The rMB has the 1st generation butterfly with all it's flaws
The rMBP 2016 has the 2nd generation butterfly which is slightly better, but I still encounter regular key mishaps.

While Apple hasn't mentioned anything about any difference between the 2016 and 2017 keyboard I reach out to the community with the question:

Did you encounter any differences between the rMBP 2016 and the rMBP 2017 keyboard?
Click to expand...

I recently had my 2016 keyboard replaced (caps lock key issue) with a 2017 keyboard. Slight difference in feel, little more travel with the keys, makes less noise. All around a positive upgrade, would recommend it over the original.
 
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Some people will fight to the death saying the 2017 MBP has the exact same keyboard and with the same verocity others state that apple did indeed it. Both parties produce youtubes and other evidences to support their claims, tbh, I don't know. I'm of the opinion that Apple did tweak the keyboard and its a bit better then the 16 model year but its just that, my unscientific/untested opinion. I'm hoping that will continue with the 2018 model as well.
 
I'm currently looking to get a mbp but with tb, from what I have read the 2017 has more durable keyboard ( maybe Apple really did something to improve it.. ). A friend of mine sold his 2016 model to get the 2017 and with the newer moder there are no issues with the keyboard for now.
 
Just get the 2016 model and if there are problems, Apple would replace the keyboard with the 2017 keyboard . That’s what happen to my 2016 MacBook Pro.
 
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Kajje said:
My rMB-12 is one of the first machines. It has been sitting in a tropic cupboard for nearly 1 year. There are little ants corpses between the panel and backlight, the rubbers on the screen are brittle, when I reinstalled the latest macOS it lost its SSD for a while (it's back though), had troubles with installing macOS upgrades and when it comes out of sleeping mode the screen turns berserk for a couple milliseconds. On top of that the battery is very bad. I guess I have a Monday Machine (tm).


I surely hope that's not the case! You know, it haven't always been like that. I've always put good mileage on MacBooks, but I had a heavy couple of years. Lost a MBA with coffee, got one stolen at the airport, next one died of coffee again.

I have the idea that the butterfly really doesn't like the tropics: into airconditioned (=dry) rooms, back into +90% humidity, and back again. I flied 75k miles last year (and that's only calculating my long hauls). That puts quite a bit of wear on any equipment.
Click to expand...

How did it get stolen at the airport, was it in checked luggage?

Thanks for that information about the tropics, since thats where I'm from. I don't have an ants problem, but humidity is an issue and looking at those keys, it looks like it might get jammed easily.
 
My 2016 was a lemon. Repeated warranty fix keyboard issues and a loose USB-C port finally led them to replace it with a 2017. The 2017 worked well for moths until I started running 3D games at length. High heat loads and constant fan spinning for hours. Somehow this triggered the space bar to start acting weird. The tactile response on the right side went away. It's a bit of a spongy feel, it doesn't bounce back as the rest of the keys do. As this occurs, it seems to miss a click every 30-30 strokes. Very annoying. Why oh why can't they get this right?
 
I have a 2016 nTB, got the bottom case part replaced that includes keyboard/speakers/battery/frame.

new keyboard is the 2017 with the added symbol above 'option' print on the option key

Feels better imo. More tight feeling. And spring. And a little less noisy for sure (the 2016 one I had was comically loud, and I know the 2018 is even quieter)... This is after using my 2016 nTB keyboard for 1.5 years.
 
Kajje said:
After several mishaps I'm forced into buying my 3rd butterfly MBPr.

2016 rMBP NON-TB was stolen
2016 rMBP NON-TB took a 'coffee break'

I'm now back to an old rMB 12 which is on its last legs.

I'm looking to buy either another base model 2016 (=256GB) or a mid spec'ed 2017 (base 2017 has 128GB).

The only thing that keeps me thinking is the keyboard. This thread is not about whether butterfly is good or not - I personally love it.

However...
The rMB has the 1st generation butterfly with all it's flaws
The rMBP 2016 has the 2nd generation butterfly which is slightly better, but I still encounter regular key mishaps.

While Apple hasn't mentioned anything about any difference between the 2016 and 2017 keyboard I reach out to the community with the question:

Did you encounter any differences between the rMBP 2016 and the rMBP 2017 keyboard?
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
keiji11 said:
rMBP 2016 1st gen butterfly keyboard

rMBP 2017 2nd gen butterfly keyboard

rMBP 2018 3rd gen butterfly keyboard
Click to expand...
I don't fully agree with this.
rMBP 2016 (1st gen Pro with butterfly) had a 2nd gen keyboard. The rMB 2015 had the 1st gen.

My latest purchase is a rMBP 2017, bought a week before the announcement of the rMBP 2018. It's getting 3 months now and with multiple daily aircon-to-90%-humidity, 25k miles transportation and yet without a single key mishap. Looks like I have a winner here.
 
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keiji11 said:
rMBP 2016 1st gen butterfly keyboard

rMBP 2017 2nd gen butterfly keyboard

rMBP 2018 3rd gen butterfly keyboard
Click to expand...

No the 2015 MacBook had the first generation, then the 2016/2017 had the second, and now the 2018 MBP has the third generation.
 
Did I have some issues with the butterflies? Yes. Not as much as some others, but it was frustrating sometimes for a few minutes.

While I've been enjoying pressing more keys on those chiclets per year, than most of the people do in their lifetime, I would never go back on them. Period.

After a week on my 2015 rMB - back in 2015 when it just came out, chiclets just felt very cheap and unintuitive.

[jackoatmon] Placebo is certainly possible.

Anyway, like it or dislike like them, the butterflies will stay. No choice.
 
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