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Am I the only one who thinks this new “Magic keyboard” sucks?

I haven't tried the new Air yet, but I've had pre-butterfly scissor keyboard MacBooks (e.g., a 2013 MacBook Pro and a few earlier-gen Air models), a 2016 (?) 1st-gen butterfly keyboard on a 15" MBP, a 2018 Air (2nd-gen butterfly?), and a 2019 16" MacBook Pro (1st post-butterfly scissor "magic keyboard").

I'd probably rate the pre-butterfly scissor keyboards as the best, but my 2016 Pro's "magic keyboard" is fine. My 2016 MBP 1st-gen butterfly is awful, IMO, not only because of the sticky key issues (I've got one or two that repeat), but it's also really loud/clacky. I don't love the reduced key travel, either. The keyboard on my wife's 2018 Air is at least quiet, but still less travel than I like.

FWIW, I believe these newer "magic keyboards" have less travel than the earlier-gen scissor keyboards.
 
I'll be honest, the "magic" keyboard is just fine. It's not particularly special, it just is. It's not problematic, the reliability seems a lot higher, and the travel is obviously much higher.

It's definitely not "magic", but it's not bad either, which is critical. It feels much better than my work Dell, to say the least.
 
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Mine makes a squeaky noise when I type. I'm guessing it's the coating and not mechanical but super irritating either way! Anyone else notice this?
 
I love the butterfly keyboard. It looks better with the wide keys. The shallow key travel means the keyboard indent on the top case is small. Also the arrow keys don't leave ugly empty spaces of aluminum like on the magic keyboard. I can always feel which arrow key i am pressing on the butterfly keyboard! It feels amazing for burst typing but i don't like typing long continuous non stop text on it because i start hitting the wrong keys, but that i rarely need to do that.
 
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peterto11 said:
I love the butterfly keyboard. It looks better with the wide keys. The shallow key travel means the keyboard indent on the top case is small. Also the arrow keys don't leave ugly empty spaces of aluminum like on the magic keyboard. I can always feel which arrow key i am pressing on the butterfly keyboard! It feels amazing for burst typing but i don't like typing long continuous non stop text on it because i start hitting the wrong keys, but that i rarely need to do that.
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The last line in your comment basically negates everything else, translated you're basically saying: "I like the butterfly keyboard because I like the cosmetic look and I don't type very much (and when I do it sucks)"

Are you Jony Ive?
 
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seek3r said:
The last line in your comment basically negates everything else, translated you're basically saying: "I like the butterfly keyboard because I like the cosmetic look and I don't type very much (and when I do it sucks)"

Are you Jony Ive?
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No i didn't say that. It's very nice for chatting, writing an essay or a presentation.
I do type a lot but i usually take a brake like when waiting for the other person to reply in a chat or while researching other information to put in my presentation. I needed to transcribe around 25-30 pages of text a few times times. After about half way through the pages i start mistyping. In that scenario the butterfly is inferior. But i rarely have to write nonstop for an hour. I haven't had any reliability problems and my typing speed (wpm) is the same as the old pre 2016 keyboard.
Either way i am happy for the new keyboard because more people enjoy it and hopefully it will be a lot more reliable.
 
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This last exchange made me think of something...when someone says that they like/dislike the butterfly keyboard vs the "magic keyboard" (or earlier iteration scissor keyboard) it would be useful to know whether they are touch-typists.
 
I am a touch typist. I have no problem finding which key i am pressing on the butterfly keyboard without looking at the keyboard.I can also easily find the arrow keys. I disliked the keyboard on the 2015 12 inch macbook. It has the first generation butterfly keyboard and it's keys were just too shallow.
 
I haven't used the new Macbooks. But reviewers say Apple's new laptop keyboard is the same as the standalone "Magic Keyboard" for desktops that Apple has sold for a few years now.

I have used said standalone Magic Keyboard, and I hate it. Actually, I had no idea anyone liked it. It's better than the Butterfly keyboard for sure, but not by much. There's one in the conference room at work, and I struggle every time I have to use it. I always make tons of typos.

For comparison, I really like Apple's pre-butterfly scissor switch designs—I wish they'd just gone back to that. I'm currently typing this on an "Apple Bluetooth Keyboard", which is my favorite keyboard to type on in general.

hipnetic said:
This last exchange made me think of something...when someone says that they like/dislike the butterfly keyboard vs the "magic keyboard" (or earlier iteration scissor keyboard) it would be useful to know whether they are touch-typists.
Click to expand...

I'm a touch typist. I didn't realize... do people who aren't touch typists care what keyboard they use? As long as the keyboard doesn't outright break like the butterfly keyboard admittedly did, I mean. If I'm looking at the keys, I might as well be typing on a touch screen.
 
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Mine arrived this morning and I actually prefer it to my 2015 MacBook Pro for typing on. A lot quieter and the keys feel more sturdy and don't rattle as much in their slots. Love the machine.
 
I have a second 2020 MacBook Air now with an i5, and the keyboard is exactly the same. I am getting used to it now and like it better but it is still not worthy of being called a “Magic Keyboard.” I am being issued a 2019 MacBook Pro from work this week so this should be a real treat if the 2020 Air is supposed to be so much better.
 
Rightly or wrongly (mainly wrongly) Apple really went down a blind alley with the butterfly keyboard.

Going back to a normal keyboard and calling it 'magic' is so Apple it's almost post-Appleism!

I think expectations need to be kept in check - it's a standard rubber dome keyboard with nothing particularly exciting about it. Which is fine. My work HP x360 laptop has a nicer key feel to me, but it's all margin of error stuff. The Magic keyboard shouldn't break, has more travel and has an escape key. Probably enough for now.
 
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playtech1 said:
Rightly or wrongly (mainly wrongly) Apple really went down a blind alley with the butterfly keyboard.

Going back to a normal keyboard and calling it 'magic' is so Apple it's almost post-Appleism!

I think expectations need to be kept in check - it's a standard rubber dome keyboard with nothing particularly exciting about it. Which is fine. My work HP x360 laptop has a nicer key feel to me, but it's all margin of error stuff. The Magic keyboard shouldn't break, has more travel and has an escape key. Probably enough for now.
Click to expand...

I totally agree with this. I received my 2020 MBA yesterday morning and find the keyboard an improvement over the butterfly but that's a low bar. I used to think MacBook keyboards were among the very best in the industry, having also owned (or used at work) laptops by Lenovo, Dell, Toshiba, and others. That was the pre-butterfly keyboard. I think the new "magic keyboard" is very satisfactory but not among the best laptop keyboards available, either in 2015 or now.

That said, people who do a lot of typing will probably like it better than the butterfly. And if you prefer macOS to Windows, then it's the only option.
 
I don't think the keyboard sucks but sure is not as good as my 2015 it replaced. The keys feel like they have a weaker spring but harder bump stop which I don't like.
 
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I'll take the iBook G4 keyboard or that of the old MacBook Pro circa 2008 over any MBA keyboard. Really like the Apple IIe keyboards, too!

When I first got the 2013 MacBook Air, it felt like typing on a brick! Hurt the fingers.

I'm a touch typist and it ruined my typing speed and increased my error rate. Of course, the butterfly keyboards were even worse!

On cold mornings, the MBA palm rests are also freezing!

 
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roncron said:
I totally agree with this. I received my 2020 MBA yesterday morning and find the keyboard an improvement over the butterfly but that's a low bar. I used to think MacBook keyboards were among the very best in the industry, having also owned (or used at work) laptops by Lenovo, Dell, Toshiba, and others. That was the pre-butterfly keyboard. I think the new "magic keyboard" is very satisfactory but not among the best laptop keyboards available, either in 2015 or now.

That said, people who do a lot of typing will probably like it better than the butterfly. And if you prefer macOS to Windows, then it's the only option.
Click to expand...

I'm liking the new "magic keyboard" on the 2020 MB Air more and more, the more I use it.

I remember loving the chicklet keyboard on the pre-retina MB Air and pre-2016 MB Pro. But yesterday I managed to borrow a 2016 MBA for a direct comparison with the 2020 MBA magic keyboard, and I actually preferred the 2020 magic.

Maybe my dislike of the early butterfly keyboards made me remember the pre 2016 chicklet keyboards more favorably.

I'm guessing that, for people like me who prefer to be in the macOS ecosystem, the new magic keyboards on the 16" MBP and the new MBA will be more than satisfactory to most and great to some.
 
CaptHook said:
This is my first MacBook but this is the “improved” keyboard version everyone was raving about? I can’t believe Apple would released his thing. The Pixelbook Go I tried and returned when this came out had a far better keyboard. The MacBook Air keys seem loose and make a ton of noise. I can’t even imagine how bad the last one was if this is an improvement. I even checked to make sure I didn’t accidentally receive a 2019 model but it is definitely a 2020. I don’t see anyone else complaining about this either.
Click to expand...
 
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I really like the new (old?) Keyboard. It feels the same key travel as my late 2013 MBP but more stable.

Hated the butterfly so this is a big upgrade in my book. I think the ThinkPad X1 has the best overall keyboard for my preferences but magic keyboard is fantastic. Love how there's not keyboard flex as well
 
I was issued a 2019 MacBook Pro from work this week and now I see what everyone was talking about. I do like the Air better and it is an improvement, but it still isn't as good as I would expect in a premium product. Going back and forth between my personal Air and the work Pro is interesting but manageable. I am more accurate on the 2020 Air than the 2019 Pro.

Another interesting thing I've found is that the Air is actually faster than the Pro, but I'm wondering if it's the security bloatware loaded on the Pro by my employer. Specifically during multitasking and switching back and forth between apps is where I'm seeing the lag on the Pro.
 
CaptHook said:
I was issued a 2019 MacBook Pro from work this week and now I see what everyone was talking about. I do like the Air better and it is an improvement, but it still isn't as good as I would expect in a premium product. Going back and forth between my personal Air and the work Pro is interesting but manageable. I am more accurate on the 2020 Air than the 2019 Pro.

Another interesting thing I've found is that the Air is actually faster than the Pro, but I'm wondering if it's the security bloatware loaded on the Pro by my employer. Specifically during multitasking and switching back and forth between apps is where I'm seeing the lag on the Pro.
Click to expand...
What are the processor/RAM/SSD specs in each case? Is the MBP a 2TBP or 4TBP model?
 
The arrow keys on the butterfly keyboard are the worst. I can’t even find them by touch, have to look at the keyboard to find them and be sure I’m on the right keys. The magic keyboard is much better for the arrow keys alone.

I liked the keyboard on my 2011 MacBook Pro the best, followed by my 2013 air which is basically the same as the 2011 with maybe slightly less travel. The 2019 16” is similar to these but with a little less travel. I have no issues with it.

I was just surprised by the comment above about how the arrow keys on the butterfly keyboard are ‘easy to find’ The new arrow keys on the butterfly keyboard were the first thing I noticed and I still hate them.
 
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