the court didn't fine Apple, it was a settlement agreed to by the 2 parties.
$50M means nothing for Apple, a rounding error in the big scheme of things, that's what I was saying
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple's $50 Million Settlement Over Faulty MacBook Keyboards: What to Know
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
$50M means nothing for Apple, a rounding error in the big scheme of things, that's what I was saying
I don’t buy that. We all know Tim Cook is obsessed with cost cutting in the pennies for results that are a ton less than $50M. I’m pretty sure he’d be concerned about this
the sad part is this leaves the 2020 MBP as the only golden year for the touchbar. it was the last year with a touchbar and intel processor. these M1s and M2s are cool but in 7 years when they stop getting updates you're gonna be stuck with a useless laptop. you may be able to use OCLP but they can't run windows and their Linux support at the moment isn't exactly great. I'm not sure all of you plan to keep one around for that long but I buy expensive things like laptops with 10 years in mind minimum. in 4 years when the 2020 is no longer supported with OEM parts I hope I can pick one up. I'm sure at least half of you will say I'm an idiot for preferring the 2020 specifically with intel and a touchbar but I see it as a versatile laptop that can run just about any operating system and that's just not something you get out of an M1 or M2. sure you get a performance boost better gaming for the few games that run on Mac. (I'm not talking about parallels the loss in performance is enough to make that useless or equal to an intel mac.)
Microsoft really does need a kick up the arse to get Windows working on ARM and to get its gigantic software library ported over to ARM too.
I can definitely see your point. I would also want at least 10 years life from a laptop, especially something in Apple's price range. The way Apple dropping support for macs is not too encouraging though.
Having said that, I don't feel as bad running an old OS on a computer, as long as an up-to-date web browser is available.
I agree with you. This short support cycle has made me a lot less trusting of Apple. Plus, part of the reason I justified paying more for their products was that I can use them longer. Since that wasn’t the case with my 2016 MBP, I feel scammed
Also, I agree that the Touch Bar is nice. I’m going to miss mine. I could see it coming back again someday if Apple decided to try to innovate but they’ll have to make some improvements. That was the flaw of the Touch Bar: the software was never improved
Can laptops last 10 years this day in age? I can perhaps see this happening with Apple laptops, but Windows laptops, would it be typical to knock a few years off Mac laptops? I have experience in neither. I have used a lot of Windows desktops, and except for the previous PC of mine that lasted me 10 years, the ones before were about 5. I don't keep them in tip top shape (at least with defragging hardrives, and other general hardware and software maintenance), and they are pre-builts, so that's despite those factors going against them.
10 years is and was a long time for any laptop.
Modern Apple laptops probably don't last 10 years either. The battery will only last for about 5 years or so. Since people can't replace it themselves easily and replacement can be quite costly after 5 years, I guess people tend to replace the laptop. Also in recent Apple history the butterfly keyboard and the 'flexgate' springs to mind, which does not inspire confidence in longevity either.
The same goes for Windows laptops. But don't forget there are a lot of different Windows laptop manufacturers out there which can be an advantage.
I have an old cheapo Asus laptop with replaceable battery (which I replaced after 6 years), which is still going strong after around 9 years.
I don't expect that to happen to any laptop anymore.
Last edited:
Yup. And that's surprising, based on my experience with other Apple devices. For example, my iPad 1's battery still holds a charge like when it was new. But my 2012 MBA battery started to lose steam after about four years. It's not like one was used a lot more than the other. Both were daily drivers for their first few years.
Genuine question. How well did Apple honor the free replacement program?
It's no secret that the butterfly keyboards weren't very reliable (I had one for a few months before my 2018 Air got stolen and was already experiencing sticky keys). But if Apple did indeed honor their program to replace defective keyboards, I don't really think they did anything "wrong" aside from just manufacturing bad keyboards for way too long.
There is probably more to the story than I'm aware of given that the lawsuit made it all the way to court.
It's no secret that the butterfly keyboards weren't very reliable (I had one for a few months before my 2018 Air got stolen and was already experiencing sticky keys). But if Apple did indeed honor their program to replace defective keyboards, I don't really think they did anything "wrong" aside from just manufacturing bad keyboards for way too long.
There is probably more to the story than I'm aware of given that the lawsuit made it all the way to court.
They honored it, but they replaced the defective keyboards with the same (unreliable) flawed butterfly keyboards again (and for a lot of people multiple times until their free replacements where over, leaving them with an unreliable keyboard and a difficult to sell laptop in the end).
Apple never came with a final/proper solution for those people (for instance a replacement with a redesigned keyboard which did not have the flaw). On top of that Apple did never officially admit that the butterfly keyboard was flawed to begin with.
Last edited:
So perhaps only the battery will need replacing?
(Either way, good to know!)
As I said, battery replacement out of warranty (especially on a MacBook) can be so costly that a lot of people decide to replace the whole laptop instead.
Which is perfect for Apple.
I mean we already see here in this forum with many people are still using macs from 2012 or even earlier. The processing requires for regular tasks have been exceeded that even an iPad is sufficient. Thus to encourage new purchases, the consumables have to be restricted, aka battery.
Yes 2012 or earlier. The newer ones with the butterfly keyboards are another story though..
If Apple wants to be good for the environment better repairability would not hurt either.
I think the environment part is already discussed to death, and we all know the Apple's main objective is to be green, as in money green. The environment stuff is simply marketing spin of Apple cutting cost/improving margins.
Very true. I have lost count how many keyboards my computer has had: even paid for replacements post replacement. And I would say 60% of the late 2016 custom 15" MBP's in our group have had repairs for quality issues.
Having said that, for the most part I think Apple service is good. The latest repair, in Japan, had the keyboard replacement done on site at the Apple shop.
True. I don’t miss my days of Windows and hard drives where I’d often face a sulky message on power up that my disk needed checking. Watching in grim fascination as the OS laboriously checked numerous disk sectors, doing its best to salvage corrupted data.
My 2017 MacBook Pro occasionally has sticky keys, though nothing extreme after 4 years of usage. How does Apple handle these? I bring it in, explain the issue, and they send it back? Do they replace on the spot anymore? I have not needed to have a computer serviced by them in years.
They can not just replace one or two keys on the spot that is the problem. They even can not replace only the keyboard. They have to replace the whole bottom case of the laptop. That is why they can not repair this on the spot, not even with one sticky key.