Apple Launches Repair Program for Faulty MacBook and MacBook Pro Keyboards

[applesaucePro]

on the apple store online they are still selling the defective vesa mount kit for imac pro, even after they acknowledged it was a problem! ...and when will they acknowledge a mouse that cannot be used at the same time its charging is a problem? or phones without physical buttons or headphone jacks? laptops without common ports or need too many adapters? magsafe? everyone should keep complaining or threatening to sue, whatever they were doing to get apples attention, because it worked.

 

[MecPro]

This is great new, but a bit annoyed as I only bought AppleCare for this reason

 

[newellj]

Doubtful, it’s a service they voluntarily opted to purchase - though hopefully those who had to pay out of warranty top case replacement charges will be refunded

Plus, AC and especially AC+ cover a lot more than just a broken keyboard. But the question makes a good point. I am coming up on the 60 day window for my 2017 MB. I was definitely going to buy AC+ because of uncertainties about the keyboard, but this sort of makes me think I need to think that through again.
[doublepost=1529774175][/doublepost]

I think it is easier to have finger injury typing for long on the butterfly keyboard since it is like hitting a hard floor.

FWIW, though, at least in my opinion, the original 2015 MB keyboard was unusable. The gen 2 keyboards are much better. I've decided that I personally don't mind the travel on the gen 2 keyboards - the thing that I find a little hard to get used to still is the (to me) oversized key pads. YMMV.

 

[MrUNIMOG]

Looking at the butterfly key design, it looks as though the pivot point of the key depends on the plastic butterfly component. This design I naturally assume is a time ticking bomb for future failure as relying on the thin plastic separator of the butterfly(bottom center) as a pivot point would easily lead to breakage. This does not look like good engineering to me, and question why Apple did not design the butterfly assembly with spring metal due to material fatigue considerations and liabilities...

View attachment 767453

Spring steel does break too. Not all plastic is created equal, materials engineering has long been a huge strength of Apple, so I'd be willing to bet that flexing part of the butterfly mechanism won't be a common point of failure even after the current MacBooks have been in use for 10 years or more. It certainly doesn't seem to be the cause for issues people are having with these keyboards so far.

 

[citysnaps]

Those Thunderbolt 3 ports that cost me over $150 in dongles to actually do anything useful with. Wonderful innovation.

New cables cost me about $9. Best laptop I've ever had.

 

[newellj]

Having been through at least a dozen machines, not a single one of them had dust - all failed due to heat warping the butterfly. If Apple weren't so obsessed with thin at all costs, this wouldn't happen. We've never had the keyboard fail on the 2015 and earlier models.

This would be consistent with the impression from reading the MBP and MB forums here - the MB seems to have a much lower failure rate (based on the number of posts and threads related to keyboard failure in each of the two forums).

 

[MrUNIMOG]

on the apple store online they are still selling the defective vesa mount kit for imac pro, even after they acknowledged it was a problem! ...and when will they acknowledge a mouse that cannot be used at the same time its charging is a problem? or phones without physical buttons or headphone jacks? laptops without common ports or need too many adapters? magsafe? everyone should keep complaining or threatening to sue, whatever they were doing to get apples attention, because it worked.

How do you know they're still selling the Vesa Mount Kit and haven't changed the screws for stronger ones?

Also, get used to phones without physical buttons or headphone jacks and say farewell to legacy ports or MagSafe. Whom would you even try to sue about that?

 

[newellj]

So no new revision keyboard but they will offer free repair of the keyboard for four years? After that will the charge the same amount as before announcement or more? My MBP 2010 is 9 years old.

In this case, is it still worth to get Apple Care?

As others have said, AC (or, AC+ now) covers a lot more. I almost never guy extended warranties because I don't like making cash bets against the house, but I bought AC on both my 2012 Mini and my 2015 rMBP. Both had issues in the third year that cost more than the cost of AC. In the case of the MBP, a lot more - the ticket that came back showed a "charge" for almost $900, which was covered by AC.

 

[KPandian1]

After that will the charge the same amount as before announcement or more? My MBP 2010 is 9 years old.

In this case, is it still worth to get Apple Care?

Always get AppleCare (now+) for portables, and the highest end desktops like MacPro and iMac/iMac pro - the cost of repairs is astounding.

I guess you are asking about future purchases, not the 2010 MBP.

 

[jap1198]

Good thing I took mine in earlier this year before my warranty ran out! The new keyboard they replaced it with responds way better.

 

[burgman]

Many people didn't pay premium prices for a laptop that has such a vulnerable keyboard (ergonomic issues aside).

And the figure is far higher than "a small percentage". Corporates that issues hundreds are finding about 40% of these laptops have keyboard failures within the first year.

40%

Sources please, one would think there would be articles here about level, perhaps I missed them

 

[Nieval]

...The interesting takeaway is that the 2016 and 2017 MBPs actually seem more durable and reliable, given that fewer were turned in for servicing, but the keyboard is clearly problematic as more were returned for a 2nd or even third servicing.

 

[LovingTeddy]

I’ve never heard Apple blame the user for this.

Yet charges customer over 500 dollars to fix the problem... that should be covered by warranty... that should be acknowledged long before the class action lawsuit..

This is typical Apple. Users found problem, apple denies problem, charges customer ridiculous amount of money, then class action lawsuit, apple acknowledge the problem, then lunch repair program. This has been going on forever. Ever since the iBook logic board, Nvidia graphic card problem, iPhone 6 bendgate, iPhone 6/6S throttling etc. Apple again and again got caught for ripping its customer off.

I am just happy that i am not locked inside Apple ecosystem. I won't be and i will never want to be.
[doublepost=1529777946][/doublepost]

One estimate I read was 11-12% are affected. That is pretty small.

One in ten MacBook and MacBook Pro has the problem. That is not small number.

Think when you have HIV infection rate of 11-12% of the population, 10% is never a small number.

 

[jerryk]

You are assuming that there will be 2018 MBP's.

Which is a pretty big assumption, given that the platform:

has a flawed keyboard
doesn't cool itself properly
has a small battery
can't accept enough RAM for many

If you had shipped a computer with those attributes in 2017, would you keep it going in 2018?

Or would you go back to the drawing board?

I would go back to the recent past and stick the latest processors, SSDs, display and GPUs in the 2015 chassis and sell that as the second order page option this summer to buy some engineering time.

If rumors are correct, in 2020 they are supposed to be going with the Apple CPUs. They can do a chassis redesign at that point and also come up with the best keyboard in the world, which was tested in dirty work environments (sawmills) and with toddlers that never wash.

 

[mj1108]

I'm guessing Apple's new "dust proof" keyboard patent is off the drawing board and in production, and that's why they went ahead and made this keyboard repair announcement...because they finally have a viable repair option in place to help reverse all the keyboard issues being reported over the last three years. Guessing we'll see the new keyboard here pretty soon when the 2018 computers are finally released. On the outside, I'm sure it's exactly the same as the old keyboard with all the updates/modifications taking place under the surface.

This is what I'm thinking. It'll be interesting to see if they repair the existing ones "like for like" or if they do have a newer version for the 2018 models that they will use to repair them with.

 

[smirking]

FWIW, though, at least in my opinion, the original 2015 MB keyboard was unusable. The gen 2 keyboards are much better. I've decided that I personally don't mind the travel on the gen 2 keyboards - the thing that I find a little hard to get used to still is the (to me) oversized key pads. YMMV.

Same here. I actually prefer the butterfly keys over the previous rMBP scissor keys. The trackpad on the other hand. Ugh. Too damn big!

 

[zwi]

I was already wondering whether we would see any Mac hardware announcements in 2018...

I hope this isn't all that Apple can nowadays commit to outside the iOS ecosystem.

 

[newellj]

Same here. I actually prefer the butterfly keys over the previous rMBP scissor keys. The trackpad on the other hand. Ugh. Too damn big!

You're right (imho) - almost odd when you think about it? Tiny, thin, light laptop with huge keypads and a huge trackpad.

I've gotten to be on the fence. The oversize keypads on the MB feel odd compared to my 2015 rMBP. On the other hand, the "old"-style rMBP keys feel sort of sloppy compared to the 2017 MB with the Gen 2 butterfly keys.

I'm going to volunteer again that the original 2015 MB keyboard was actually unusable for me. It was actually worse for me than touch-typing on an iPad. The Gen 2 keyboard isn't bad, imo, even if it isn't perfect. What most needs attention is the continuing service failures, esp in the rMBP models. (Heat-related, or at least made worse by heat, I wonder?)
[doublepost=1529782931][/doublepost]

Many people didn't pay premium prices for a laptop that has such a vulnerable keyboard (ergonomic issues aside).

And the figure is far higher than "a small percentage". Corporates that issues hundreds are finding about 40% of these laptops have keyboard failures within the first year.

40%

That seems hard to believe. No manufacturer could sustain a failure rate that high, and no buyer, especially corporate buyers, would put up with it. That's economically a catastrophe for all concerned. Even 10% would be a disaster.

 

[Firebrand]

Well it won’t be long before a redesign now. I can’t imagine they will keep selling laptops that have to be covered by a repair program. Hopefully updates soon!

Yep, ‘iPad’ updates soon ;-)

 

[Zdigital2015]

Those Thunderbolt 3 ports that cost me over $150 in dongles to actually do anything useful with. Wonderful innovation.

USB-C to USB 2 Type-B for my Scarlett Audio interface - $6
USB-C to USB 3 Type-Mini B (2) - for external USB 3.0 hard drives and USB 3 Card Reader - $16
USB-C to Display Port (4K@60Hz) - $20
USB-C to Micro USB 2 - Kindle, Micro 4/3 camera and Zoom H1 - $7
USB-C to Mini USB 2 - Any number of ancient devices I occasionally need to connect - $8


Grand total - $55

No sure what dongles you had to buy, but I know that might be tour only alternative if the USB cable is not removable.

 

[Yvan256]

For those of you saying Apple is heading towards making a touch screen keyboard for the MacBook Pros in the future, why do you think that? I genuinely cannot see any benefit or reason to go that way. Higher cost, worse battery life, more difficult to use... what would be the point?

Apple already did it for the function keys on some of the MacBook Pro, so a lot of people are thinking the whole keyboard is next in line to be replaced by a touch screen.

• Higher cost? Apple doesn't care, even though Tim keeps saying Macs are not made for the rich.
• Worse battery life? Apple doesn't care since people will buy it anyway.
• More difficult to use? Apple doesn't care since it takes "courage" to replace the whole keyboard with a touch screen.

The point, however, is probably to make the MacBook Pro 1mm thinner, usability be damned.

 

[smirking]

That seems hard to believe. No manufacturer could sustain a failure rate that high, and no buyer, especially corporate buyers, would put up with it. That's economically a catastrophe for all concerned. Even 10% would be a disaster.

You can easily pick out the commenters who either have an understanding of manufacturing or advanced statistics. 5% sounds like an alarmingly high number to them and 10% borders on catastrophic.

With everyone else, if you bring up 5% as your best guess, you must be a fanboi apologist. *sigh*

 

[kemal]

This means a laptop being made today has a keyboard of such suspect quality, Apple need to cover it with a four year warranty to avoid being sued.

 

[newellj]

This means a laptop being made today has a keyboard of such suspect quality, Apple need to cover it with a four year warranty to avoid being sued.

I decided many years ago that Karl Marx and Mark Felt were both fundamentally correct in how they saw the world, at least at the 75k' level.

(Disclaimer: YMMV)

 

[BornAgainMac]

I wonder if Apple will resolve with the next refresh.