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Gen 3 butterfly keyboard

537635 said:
Oh man, that's keybord porn right there.
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And those are just pics! This baby is even better to touch and feel! lol
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Notagain said:
That’s it! Thanks much. Great angles. If that’s what B&H is selling I’ll take two!
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You're most welcome!

Still $1599 on sale right this moment..

They claim the price ends today - free overnight shipping also (weekend right now though of course)

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1151713-REG/apple_mjlq2ll_a_15_4_macbook_pro_notebook.html

I have to think this is one of the last chances to get one of these brand new, and especially from an authorized retailer so you can add AppleCare+ to it also.

Personally I just stuck with the 1 year from Apple and extra year from my VISA Signature card. My original 2015 had extended AppleCare that ended up being a waste as it's never had a single issue.
 
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Notagain said:
Wow, my wife's 2015 refurb just arrived. The serial number indicates it was built in the first half of 2018.

Any educated guesses about whether the change in keys and typing feel might indicate that the problematic keyboard of more recent models lies underneath. If so, I wonder if it would have that same extended coverage protection Apple does for those keyboards. I'm a simple man -- I just want the keyboard that's on my wife's older work 2015 built first half of 2016.

Or could the built date indicated by the serial number mean the "refurbished" date?

And why is it all so mysterious?
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No, you're confused. All MBPs from 2008-2015 use the same keyboard, the scissor switch mechanism keyboard. They are all exactly identical.

The 2016 uses the generation 1 butterfly keyboard, and it has physically larger keys than the 2008-2015 models. Gen 1 is covered by a 4 year extended warranty.

The 2017 uses the generation 2 butterfly keyboard, which looks the same as the 2016 keyboard. Gen 2 is covered by a 4 year extended warranty.

The 2018 uses the generation 3 butterfly keyboard, which is identical to the 2017 keyboard except it has a silicone membrane around each key. Gen 3 currently is NOT covered by a 4 year extended warranty, but eventually I'm sure it will be, sometime once the calendar turns 2019.

The actual assembly build date of your machine has nothing to do with the keyboard that goes inside it, the keyboard it has is based solely on the model year of the machine. I have a brand new 2015 machine that was built in July of this year (Apple sold the 2015 model through July) and, because it's a 2015 model, it has the 2008-2015 scissor keyboard.
 
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turbineseaplane said:
And those are just pics! This baby is even better to touch and feel! lol
[doublepost=1546105220][/doublepost]

You're most welcome!

Still $1599 on sale right this moment..

They claim the price ends today - free overnight shipping also (weekend right now though of course)

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1151713-REG/apple_mjlq2ll_a_15_4_macbook_pro_notebook.html

I have to think this is one of the last chances to get one of these brand new, and especially from an authorized retailer so you can add AppleCare+ to it also.

Personally I just stuck with the 1 year from Apple and extra year from my VISA Signature card. My original 2015 had extended AppleCare that ended up being a waste as it's never had a single issue.
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Do you have to register with Apple to have the one year warranty in effect since it wasn't bought directly from Apple?
 
SDColorado said:
Yes. Lenovo claims that they are designed to withstand up to 16.9 oz of liquid, though Lenovo has shown them to withstand significantly more... If the keyboard *does* die, it can be replaced by most people at home in minutes. Loosen a few captive screws (the type that don’t come all the way out), lift it up, remove the cables, do the reverse for the new one.
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Looks like they didn't stick with their classic keyboard after reintroducing them for the throwback anniversary edition. How's their new chiclet version compare to the classic Thinkpad keyboard?

I'll have to find somewhere I can try them out at.

Always cool when you can easily replace a keyboard. "Easily" being the operative word. I had to replace a Sony Vaio keyboard for someone recently.

Wow. I pretty much had to rip apart half of the machine to get to the keyboard and then securing just the connecting cable ribbon was harder than reassembling an iPhone 4s series after a battery replacement.

I suppose that's better than what Apple chose to do with the tbMBPs, but not by much.
 
smirking said:
Looks like they didn't stick with their classic keyboard after reintroducing them for the throwback anniversary edition. How's their new chiclet version compare to the classic Thinkpad keyboard?

I'll have to find somewhere I can try them out at.

Always cool when you can easily replace a keyboard. "Easily" being the operative word. I had to replace a Sony Vaio keyboard for someone recently.

Wow. I pretty much had to rip apart half of the machine to get to the keyboard and then securing just the connecting cable ribbon was harder than reassembling an iPhone 4s series after a battery replacement.

I suppose that's better than what Apple chose to do with the tbMBPs, but not by much.
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Yeah, Apples decision to go with a riveted in design is just looney for a keyboard that is as prone to failure as these seem to be. You would have though that by Gen 3, rather than just adding a little silicone barrier, they would have also made them more serviceable.

They keyboard on the Lenovo X1 Extreme is very nice. Great travel, good pitch, good feedback. A very nice keyboard for sure.

Everything is easy to service on the X1 Extreme as well, not just the keyboard. RAM and SSD can be accessed by just loosing a few of those safety screws (that don’t come all the way out) and popping off the back plate. No pentalobe
screws, no weird clips, all pretty straight forward
 
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Based on the things I'm reading here I'm starting to get a perception that every MBP 2018/2017/2016 will have a keyboard issue and it's making me paranoid and scared to actually purchase one. Is this the case for +90% of the units or it's only isolated cases?
 
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iMacedonian said:
Based on the things I'm reading here I'm starting to get a perception that every MBP 2018/2017/2016 will have a keyboard issue and it's making me paranoid and scared to actually purchase one. Is this the case for +90% of the units or it's only isolated cases?
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Only Apple really knows. But there are people who’ve never had problems, and there are cases (one of which I’ve seen firsthand) of most of the computers in an office having problems.
 
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iMacedonian said:
Based on the things I'm reading here I'm starting to get a perception that every MBP 2018/2017/2016 will have a keyboard issue and it's making me paranoid and scared to actually purchase one. Is this the case for +90% of the units or it's only isolated cases?
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It's like buying Italian cars. They're good looking, but expect a lot of maintenance. They operate best if kept in a garage and are not driven at all. New Macbooks are very nice, and keyboard will last forever. If you use an external keyboard.


In my experience it is much, much closer to 90% than to "isolated cases".
 
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SDColorado said:
Yeah, Apples decision to go with a riveted in design is just looney for a keyboard that is as prone to failure as these seem to be. You would have though that by Gen 3, rather than just adding a little silicone barrier, they would have also made them more serviceable.

They keyboard on the Lenovo X1 Extreme is very nice. Great travel, good pitch, good feedback. A very nice keyboard for sure.

Everything is easy to service on the X1 Extreme as well, not just the keyboard. RAM and SSD can be accessed by just loosing a few of those safety screws (that don’t come all the way out) and popping off the back plate. No pentalobe
screws, no weird clips, all pretty straight forward
Click to expand...

And sadly, this is the reason I bought the X1 extreme. Too many issues with apples notebooks. And why would I spend over $1000 more on just about the same specked out Apple MacBook Pro with the newest GPU over the extreme. Doesn’t make any sense. Some just have to jump on the bandwagon for Apple not looking at the big picture, which is bleak for those that purchase the MacBook Pro.
 
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iMacedonian said:
Is this the case for +90% of the units or it's only isolated cases?
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You can’t really tell anything from reading MacRumors. I have a 2016. It’s a flawed machine, but still easily the best laptop I’ve ever owned. My keyboard has one annoying real glitch. The up and down arrows sometimes require extra pressure to activate. It had some temporary repeating issues too, but those were short lived and lately I’ve been treating it harsher than my normal not so gentle ways and it shows no signs of giving in. (I have one more year of AppleCare, so if anything is going to happen I want it to happen soon.)

I don’t live in a clean room and don’t clean off my keyboard often enough. There are plenty of people who say they breathe on their MBP and their keyboard falls apart. There are also plenty of people like me that you’ll never hear from.

I’m a recovering keyboard fanatic so I’ve seen just about every keyboard issue you can think of. I’d wager that in the vast majority of failures they’d happen in the first year either because you got a bad copy or there’s something about you or your environment that’s particularly incompatible with the keyboard. If you’re fine after a year, you’ll probably be fine. I’d definitely get AppleCare.

There are flaws in the design, but it’s not anywhere close to the utter disaster that people make it out to be.
 
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smirking said:
You can’t really tell anything from reading MacRumors..
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exactly this.

I would guess that the total of Macrumors members using the Macbook Pro with the 3rd gen keyboard, are about 0.004% of the global/worldwide users.

Funny thing is when you read this thread, there about 20 to 30 members who are constantly replying in this thread, they would represent about 0.00000000000002% of the global users ;)

Not saying the 3rd gen keyboard is perfect at all, the 2015 keyboard is still King.
 
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Geert76 said:
exactly this.

I would guess that the total of Macrumors members using the Macbook Pro with the 3rd gen keyboard, are about 0.004% of the global/worldwide users.

Funny thing is when you read this thread, there about 20 to 30 members who are constantly replying in this thread, they would represent about 0.00000000000002% of the global users ;)

Not saying the 3rd gen keyboard is perfect at all, the 2015 keyboard is still King.
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Gives a false representation of the factual condition and misleads some people (me) :D I'll still wait for the 2019 model hoping the keyboard will be improved even more just so that I don't regret paying a fortune just to experience keyboard issues.
 
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Geert76 said:
exactly this.

I would guess that the total of Macrumors members using the Macbook Pro with the 3rd gen keyboard, are about 0.004% of the global/worldwide users.

Funny thing is when you read this thread, there about 20 to 30 members who are constantly replying in this thread, they would represent about 0.00000000000002% of the global users ;)

Not saying the 3rd gen keyboard is perfect at all, the 2015 keyboard is still King.
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I agree that sample isn't that big. Still you have to consider that inside this sample there are many users, who didn't have their keyboards replaced once, but multiple times. In terms of probability this is another ballpark.
Imagine a car online forum. You have some users reporting their brakes failing all of the sudden. It happens, just some random defects, yet these people are more reluctant to post about their problems online. Company doesn't repair the brakes, but replaces the entire car. Yet the new car still starts showing same problems as the old one in a fairly large percentage of people who had problems in the beginning. A bit suspicious, right? Of course as with any distribution there are also people, who are problem free so far.

On top of that you have multiple credible websites (like iFixIt) publishing in-depth disassemblies, which show the nature of faulty design and how a well positioned piece of dust can render a keyboard inoperable.

And if this isn't enough, you have Apple admitting the problem to some extent and extending the warranty for pre-2018 models. The new 2018 keyboards have the same design, but with some more environmental sealing.


So saying that the problem is overblown and that people posting about keyboard problems on Macrumors are actually the only people in the entire world that have problems - is simply put - flawed logic in my opinion.
 
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Geert76 said:
exactly this.

I would guess that the total of Macrumors members using the Macbook Pro with the 3rd gen keyboard, are about 0.004% of the global/worldwide users.

Funny thing is when you read this thread, there about 20 to 30 members who are constantly replying in this thread, they would represent about 0.00000000000002% of the global users ;)

Not saying the 3rd gen keyboard is perfect at all, the 2015 keyboard is still King.
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You are right, there doesn't seem to be any problem with keyboard at all. A negligible percentage of forum posters is a non-representative sample that can safely be ignored. :):):):):)
 
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okay, that's it...after reading the last few posts I am throwing my 2018 Macbook Pro 15 inch out of the window :p

(if anyone wants grab my Mac, it's now drowning here in one of the canals in Amsterdam...so hurry!)
 
Geert76 said:
okay, that's it...after reading the last few posts I am throwing my 2018 Macbook Pro 15 inch out of the window :p

(if anyone wants grab my Mac, it's now drowning here in one of the canals in Amsterdam...so hurry!)
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*dives into the canal and uses his newly acquired swimming techniques to reach for the precious goodie*
 
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