Has anyone had no issues with their 2017/18/19 butterfly keyboards?

[NewBench]

I'm looking to buy a used MBP after Apple raised the price of 16GB RAM for the base 2020 MBP and priced me out of a brand new machine.

Everywhere I read about the last gen butterfly keyboard MBPs it just seems to be people complaining about it, that if I buy even a 2019 machine I'll regret it etc

Surely the later laptops (mid-18, mid-19) have more reliable keyboards right? The low travel of the keys is not a problem to me, but reliability is. I had a mid-19 13" for a couple of months and had no problems.

Even for those that had issues - after Apple replaced the keyboard did it still have faults?

I'm not talking about if you simply didn't like it, I'm talking real faults as in keys stopped working, sticking keys, the whole keyboard not responding etc.

I just can't believe, especially for the newer ones, its as widespread a problem as it appears to be on here. Maybe I'm wrong.

Damn you Apple for raising your prices, but I just can't settle for 8GB of memory.

 

[chabig]

Anyone here NOT have a problem with the butterfly keyboard?

And by that I mean no malfunctioning or mushy keys, and this after more than a year of use? I count myself as one of the lucky ones that hasn't had a problem with it at all (it's been about a year and 7 months now). But... I use one of the silicone keyboard covers. They look so ugly though...

forums.macrumors.com

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...I just can't settle for 8GB of memory.

If you can't articulate why you need 16GB, chances are you'll be fine with 8GB. Most people who think they need lots of RAM have outdated ideas on how memory is used. Modern operating systems manage this resource a lot better than most people realize.

 

[NewBench]

Anyone here NOT have a problem with the butterfly keyboard?

And by that I mean no malfunctioning or mushy keys, and this after more than a year of use? I count myself as one of the lucky ones that hasn't had a problem with it at all (it's been about a year and 7 months now). But... I use one of the silicone keyboard covers. They look so ugly though...

forums.macrumors.com

[automerge]1591120756[/automerge]

If you can't articulate why you need 16GB, chances are you'll be fine with 8GB. Most people who think they need lots of RAM have outdated ideas on how memory is used. Modern operating systems manage this resource a lot better than most people realize.

You may well be right, but these are expensive machines and I want to futureproof for the next 3 or so years.

My typical usage would be 2-3 tabs open in Safari, one tab would have Discord running, whilst also using a word processor (Word or Final Draft). I don't do any kind of video/photo editing or gaming. The 2019 13" with 8GB I had ran fine.

 

[Alex W.]

Call into Apple, explain that you had the recently upped price version in your cart, they will help you out if you explain clearly

 

[chabig]

I think you'd be fine with 8GB. Others will weigh in. I understand your desire to "future proof" because we all have that desire. But consider that tech gets better every year, so it's often not economical to buy today what you might need tomorrow. Second, there is nothing on the near horizon that looks like software demand on hardware is going to increase much. If a machine suits your needs today, I'm sure it will still suit your needs in three years.

 

[NewBench]

Call into Apple, explain that you had the recently upped price version in your cart, they will help you out if you explain clearly

I would but here in the UK 'non-essential' retail isn't due to open until the 15th and for work reasons I need to buy before the weekend.
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I think you'd be fine with 8GB. Others will weigh in. I understand your desire to "future proof" because we all have that desire. But consider that tech gets better every year, so it's often not economical to buy today what you might need tomorrow. Second, there is nothing on the near horizon that looks like software demand on hardware is going to increase much. If a machine suits your needs today, I'm sure it will still suit your needs in three years.

Appreciate the input, I'm 50/50 on it really. As you say, if the last gen was capable enough, it shouldn't become insufficient in the space of a few years.

 

[Alex W.]

I would but here in the UK 'non-essential' retail isn't due to open until the 15th and for work reasons I need to buy before the weekend.
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Appreciate the input, I'm 50/50 on it really. As you say, if the last gen was capable enough, it shouldn't become insufficient in the space of a few years.

call The USA phone line, they Will help you out. Great company

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

My opinion only follows.

The WORST computer-buying decision you could EVER make would be to buy a butterfly-keyboard MBP vis-a-vis the new scissors keyboard MBP.

Either pay for the RAM upgrade, or live with a little less.