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Apple Launches Repair Program for Faulty MacBook and MacBook Pro Keyboards

Flabasha said:
Agreed. Wouldn't make any sense to release a new laptop with an admittedly failed keyboard.
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you'd think so... But the last couple years hasn't really impressed me with Apple's ability to admit something isn't Magical, and stick with it.

they KNEW there was a battery draw flaw in the iPhone 6 and 6s, and have warned that it's potentially possible for 7... who knows about the 8.

they HAD to know by the first round of MacBook pro keyboards that there was going to be issues with the new keyboard. There were issues in them with the MacBook, the first version o MacBook pros' and the subsequent release and it took numerous lawsuits just to get this far. at this point, I fully expect them to keep it until they have yet another "magical innovative keyboard" that they can flaunt.

the iMac's have had years of countless thermal limitation problems because they went a few MM thinner where they didnt have to. Instead of reversing course, adding a few MM of space for better cooling, nothing.

there is a lot of Hubris at Apple. as long as we keep buying these things with known flaws in them, and not hold Apple fiscally responsible, they have no reason to feel like they're doing anything wrong. They've likely done some math where they calculated that redesigning the MBpro for a different keyboard costs them more than the repair costs of current iteration, so just keep the current iteration, even if it fails on users

Either way, with this repair program (always a good thing for a design flaw), my concern would be lengevity of any of these devices using this keyboard. Even if they replace the keyboard under the program, in 5 years, when the program is over, and these keyboards start failing again (since they're replaced with the identical flawed design keyboard), the value of these devices is going to be garbage. I would not buy one used, with the knowledge that anytime I could be out $500-$700 for a keyboard repair.
 
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JPack said:
For the MacBook Pro (2017):
What the heck is going on, Apple?
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This is about normal. Most of the documetns are only for internal use only though. Occasionally if you search specifically enough you'll find all sorts of info about recalls and repair problems.

It's good for customers that they have acknowledged the problem though.

Although internally Apple probably recognised the issue months ago and the bad publicity they would get if that can to light due to the class action suits. Even Tim Cook couldn't spin that one around.
 
Martius said:
Being critical about things is almost always good and Apple deserves critics. Without critics they won't have the motivation to create better products for us. When you are just blindly praising Apple for every single s*** they made, you will one day end up with overpriced paperweight.

Being critical means we care about our beloved company.
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Why do you automatically assume that someone is blindly praising Apple rather than legitimately being supportive of something they believe that Apple done well?
 
KPandian1 said:
Yes. I have the 2015 MacBook Pro which has the older "broken" keyboard mechanism (scissors), that was fixed from the 2015 MacBooks onwards, and included MacBooks Pro series from 2016.

My question was, why did they bother to change the design? Is there any advantage, like tactile response, costs such as royalty (the butterfly is Apple design) or production, thinness, etc.?
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Thinness. the depth required for the new keyboard is much less overall than their previous models. The old design wasn't broken (in fact, it's one of the most wildly used keyboard styles in thin and light laptops even today and when well implemented, like Apple used to do, were very VERY reliable)

Apple is constantly looking to "out innovate" the competition. Ive believes this is done via thinness. This is just one of those instances where Apple's desire to differentiate themselves with something NEW, pushed the barrier a little too far, where they have had to sacrifice reliability to get the extra few MM of space.
 
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Bryan Bowler said:
Regardless of what the haters will say, this is good customer service. Thank you Apple!
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Well, before you give-out any gold stars, check-out the numerous posts of people going through endless hours of frustration trying to get Apple to do the right thing on units that failed just outside of the warranty period.

This keyboard has been a failure for three years, and it took a class action suit for Apple to finally step up to it. So, yeah, great customer service.
 
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I bought a 2016 Retina MBP shortly after they came out. One of the keys did not work at all, out of the box. I took it in, and they exchanged the entire machine for me, right then and there. I happened to get one with an upgraded GPU in the process.

I can't complain too much about that, though this keyboard is much noisier than a scissors-switch keyboard.
 
Nieval said:
Neil Cycunt however is still arguing that there's nothing wrong with the keyboards! :rolleyes:
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I don’t recall Neil ever having commented on this specific issue for that matter, much less state that there was nothing wrong with them. He did offer his take that the thinner design of the keyboard was Apple taking design cues from the iPad and how this might ultimately morph into a all-glass keyboard with haptic feedback. But that’s a far cry from claiming there was nothing amiss with their construction.

So for all the users wishing for an evolution of the current butterfly keyboard design - be careful that you all just might get what you wished for.
 
G4DPII said:
This is about normal. Most of the documetns are only for internal use only though. Occasionally if you search specifically enough you'll find all sorts of info about recalls and repair problems.

It's good for customers that they have acknowledged the problem though.

Although internally Apple probably recognised the issue months ago and the bad publicity they would get if that can to light due to the class action suits. Even Tim Cook couldn't spin that one around.
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Right, and Apple institutes repair programs regularly, with or without class actions. I’m sure Apple has known there’s been a problem for years, after all they have all of the warranty repair numbers. No doubt that’s why we’ve had the reports of Apple making some out-of-warranty repairs at no cost.

I think we’ll find out during the legal proceedings that the failure rate is not nearly as high as some think. But from the limited data that’s been published, the 2017 MBP and even worse the 2016 are definitely failing at a higher rate than did the 2015. Exact numbers will be available after the lawsuit’s discovery phase.
 
BigMcGuire said:
My wife and I got 2017 MBP 13' this year. So "first retail sale of the unit" --- we got Apple Care+ on both of our laptops. So, for us, we get 1 more year of "keyboard" coverage. Ok, cool.

I'm one of the rare, I guess, but I really like this keyboard. 1 more year of "possible keyboard" coverage is Ok to me but not amazing news.

Still nice to see that we'll get at least 4 years of worry free usage out of these things. :p
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I actually love this keyboard design myself, but also already invested in the AppleCare+. I type faster and more accurately with less fatigue on the butterfly designed keys. I actually have a hard time using my older design Apple Bluetooth keyboard when I dock my MaBP.

I like to think that there actually are a lot more people who like this design, that the main reason it has such bad reviews is negative publicity tends to garner more attention than the good reviews. If enough people really did hate the keyboard, then Apple wouldn’t have brought it on board for a second generation design on the MacBook Pros.
 
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Abazigal said:
Why do you automatically assume that someone is blindly praising Apple rather than legitimately being supportive of something they believe that Apple done well?
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Why do you assume that he's assuming that everyone who supports Apple must be blindly praising them?
 
FrozenDarkness said:
I think this confirms that the 2018 model will be updated
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I wouldn’t go that far yet, Apple still has extended repair programs going on for the retina monitor “staingate” issues, which apply even for the newest models. So long as the occurance rate is deemed “acceptable” enough by Apples standards they’ll probably only make minor tweaks to improve the design where possible
 
jinnyman said:
Apple did nothing good on this keyboard issue other than finally admitting that there's the problem.
Any naysayers are blindly supporting Apple in this case.
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And just curious, what more do you expect Apple to do? Give you a brand new computer with completely redesigned body and keys? No company is going to do that post production on old models.

The extended repair program is more than most companies such as Dell, Lenovo, or HP would do. Did Apple take too long to acknowledge the issue? Heck yeah! But is the end resolution satisfactory for most people? I’d say yes.
 
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smirking said:
4 years is a pretty fair time. I've had keys start falling off of the old scissor mechanism keyboards by the four year mark in the past.
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I respectfully disagree. I have a 2013 MacBook Air that is still running fine. I recently changed the battery on it (Apple offers that as a repair for AUD$189) and I expect it to last another 2 years. It was literally half the price of my MacBook Pro that I have had to take in twice already (for a week at a time) and will basically have to throw away at the four year mark because they keyboard replacement is so expensive. This issue needs a more permanent solution.
 
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Painter2002 said:
And just curious, what more do you expect Apple to do? Give you a brand new computer with completely redesigned body and keys? No company is going to do that post production on old models.

The extended repair program is more than most companies such as Dell, Lenovo, or HP would do. Did Apple take too long to acknowledge the issue? Heck yeah! But is the end resolution satisfactory for most people? I’d say yes.
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My rant is not so much on how far Apple should do, bur rather, their obsession of thinness in exchange for faulty design and unwillingness, or impression of being unwilling, to admit their problem.
 
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jinnyman said:
My rant is not so much on how far Apple should do, bur rather, their obsession of thinness in exchange for faulty design and unwillingness, or impression of being unwilling, to admit their problem.
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Ah, fair enough, and to that end I do agree. I think their desire to “innovate” may be exceeding the current quality control capacity. And I do find it funny that often times it seems to take class action suits before Apple will acknowledge hardware issues.
 
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project_2501 said:
the little evidence we can put together - eg from companies that issues hundreds of MacBook pros and see proportion having problems .. the figure is more like 40% failing in the first year
[doublepost=1529706689][/doublepost]a repair is not a redesign

the problems will happen again and again and again
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Source on this percentage? Somehow I seriously doubt it is a 40% failure rate. Apple stores would be swamped with thousands of MacBooks with keyboard issues each week.
 
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Apple's ability to capture the Mac audience and gain more new customers has waned. The Mac lineup refresh has been severely lacking while emphasis has been put on flashy iPhones and iPads with a goal of removing all ports from them, even the charging port, then making these devices as thin as a sheet of glass...

Production of faulty keyboards and other problems had been handled before by Apple in a timely fashion but the latest difficulties were of seemingly the less favored MacBook and MacBook Pro in which Apple may have attempted to sidestep these difficulties while focusing instead on their flagship products..

The Mac community has patiently waited for new Macs to come on line with better and faster processors, new hardware and accessories. However, the wait seems to have been for nothing.. Apples fails to understand that the desktop market will not accept iPad as the new desktop replacement. There are a myriad of devices that still need the actual USB data port and other hardware connections to exchange data. Bluetooth isn't going to cut it...

Loyal Apple customers may soon abandon the Mac and Apple altogether and revert back to Windows as their main desktop machine. For myself, the iPad is barely adequate and the X iPhone ain't all that.. I really miss the mini-jack for the headphones since you just plugged in a nice cheap pair of headphones, no charging or pairing necessary. Windows machines are plentiful and building one even more satisfying with a myriad of processors and devices, not the limited and expensive options offered by Apple.

Apple had taken away one of the main satisfying benefits of owning a computer, the ability to customize and upgrade the hardware. Soldered RAM, closed compartments with fasteners requiring custom tools did not win any accolades from me or thousands of other Apple computer owners.. With that soldered RAM Apple had forced users to configure the Mac-mini with their expensive RAM while equivalent and equally reliable hardware was readily available. Corporate greed had to have played a role in Apple's decision to restrict user manipulation of Apple hardware...
 
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I got mine 2016 model repaired last year as the C key kept repeating randomly. They took it for 3 days and replaced the whole keyboard.

They did it for free without prompting.
 
project_2501 said:
the little evidence we can put together - eg from companies that issues hundreds of MacBook pros and see proportion having problems .. the figure is more like 40% failing in the first year
[doublepost=1529706689][/doublepost]a repair is not a redesign

the problems will happen again and again and again
Click to expand...

I will honestly be surprised if it was anything more than 2 or 3%.
 
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Rogifan said:
When did Apple blame their customers? How is providing free repair blaming their customers?
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They by implication, by not acknowledging or accepting the issue are blaming someone else (e.g like their customers). I hate the idea these repairs are described as free. They are not free on any level. I as the consumer have already paid for a working keyboard and that is what I should receive. At best it can be described as getting something for no additional cost beyond what you have already paid and even that is hardly true in many cases. My “free” iPad repair took two 50 mile round trips and a day off work to be “given” to me
 
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