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Does anyone think that they’re intentionally sabotaging their 'MacBook' product line so people move over to iOS?
No. If they sabotage their own products, people might also move to windows or android. That’s just...ridiculous.
 
I bought a 2016 which was finally replaced by Apple with a 2017. My 2017 is essentially worthless now. It has already been repaired twice for the keyboard, but the resale value is probably going to nose dive. Who would buy a used laptop with a keyboard that could go out any day?
Exactly. Even the 2018 will have issues, maybe not immediately, but 2-3 years down the line. If it costs a fortune to fix the keyboard then because it is not easily repairable, we are screwed. And who would buy such a defective second-hand product ? You can definitely expect its resale value to plummet.
 
Remember the iphone 4?

Apples next program to fix the keyboards...

460433539.g_400-w_g.jpg
 
After a grueling experience pulling it apart, which explains why Apple has to replace the entire top case when installing a new keyboard...

But doesn't come to close to explaining why they made it so hard to replace the keyboard in the first place.
 
After a grueling experience pulling it apart, which explains why Apple has to replace the entire top case when installing a new keyboard...

But doesn't come to close to explaining why they made it so hard to replace the keyboard in the first place.
It’s no harder than the last major chassis design, which is to say only now are people using it for low hanging fruit griping because it feeds into the latest “gate” faux outrage.
 
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2020 is about when I would sell my 2017. So, if the warranty is up on the keyboard, who in their right mind would buy it?

How is it ok for Apple to sell me a computer that is useless in 2020.
I would rather have a minor keyboard problem than a gpu problem that most of the previous generations had and took Apple years to issue a replacement warranty.
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After a grueling experience pulling it apart, which explains why Apple has to replace the entire top case when installing a new keyboard...

But doesn't come to close to explaining why they made it so hard to replace the keyboard in the first place.
It’s how they achieve their super thin computer.
 
Put a cover on the keyboard and problem is solved just like putting a case on a smartphone to prevent breakage. As of now I must say that the X1 Carbon Thinkpad has the best keyboard I have typed on for a laptop. Now if only the laptop its self was as stable as the Apple MacBook. If the MacBook Pro had the keypad from the X1 Carbon thinkpad it would be a perfect laptop.
 
Not quite: it's buy one but don't actually use it. In fact, keep it unopened in the original box.

For added protection, keep it in box in the original Apple draw-string bag. Draw the string tightly.

Then upgrade with another collectable in this line about every 2.5 years... not because you need a new one... but because Apple made one. And ideally, pay the highest possible price you can when you buy... even send extra cash as a tip to Apple to vote with your wallet as a sign of love for the company.

All ;)
If all you want to do is spend $2500 on an Apple Store draw-string bag that you'll never open... I can set you up
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What I can't believe that instead of just fixing this keyboard with a normal one they actually re-engineered the crappy design that everybody hates to stick a silicon diaper on it. They actually made the anemic keys thinner. LOL. Someone needs to show them a thinkpad X1 carbon keyboard.

Speaking up as someone who prefers the new keyboards.
 
I’d like iFixit to take apart one of the recent replacement keyboards for a 2016 or 2017 MacBook Pro and see whether it has the same membrane. Are we getting replacements that bring us up-to-date with the current standard of quality or something less?
 
It’s no harder than the last major chassis design, which is to say only now are people using it for low hanging fruit griping because it feeds into the latest “gate” faux outrage.
I can understand that sentiment. I damaged one MBP because of a liquid (wine) spillage over a keyboard last year. I was surprised how small an amount of liquid was required, perhaps it's just the right amount in just the wrong place. Anyway it voided the warranty on the device. Fair enough. But FWIW (and this is not advice!) I dried out the device over a few days and eventually sprayed the keys with lanolin based spray, being careful not to let any ANYWHERE near the screen. That MBP is still going like new. Point though is, for a device that expensive, why can't they specify in their design that some spillage should be tolerated? I bet it isn't because "it's physically impossible".
 
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Since back than iFixit wasn't so focusing to test like they did it now the old keyboards...yea, i bet the same dust thing can stop any other Apple keyboard...even any other Dells keys. But hey, if you show me that ifixit test the old keyboard the same way they did it for this, than you are right

You forgot one little insignificant particular, that other brands keyboards are easy and much cheaper to repair, instead a new Mac keyboard repair may cost half the value of the brand new machine itself. This is absurd! Let's omit the fact that Apple pontificates all the time about how "ecology friendly" they are, the problem here is that NOW a used Mac may face the ZERO RESALE value! I don't know how many dumbs are going to buy a used mac knowing that if one single key brokes the repair may cost much more the value of the machine itself.

Who is talking is a real fanboy, I spent thousands of dollars in Apple hardware, but I realized that a new generation of new super dumb unquestioning fanboys are indeed ruining the, once upon a time, reliability of Apple laptops. Before Tim Cook the deal was the following:

I pay Apple for a pricey machine but in change I have a sort of "peace of mind" knowing that in the full life cycle I would have even saved some money compared to a Windows PC.

Steve was the first saying:

"Our machine are sold at the fairest price possible, but we will never lower ourselves shipping junk"

Now Apple is shipping junk keyboard sold as gold and disposable laptops!
 
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Nope.

The keyboards are backed with a black and white covering between the keyboard assembly, adhered around the edges, to provide even light distribution for the backlit keyboard. But it also means there are no gaps for air to pass through, either in or out.

It's been like this since the introduction of the Unibody in 2008, however even pre-Unibody models had a similar stick-on covering that inhibited airflow through those keyboards too.

It's a myth that someone started, and the community ran with it. if you think about it, the keyboard would make for an awful intake, sucking dust from the surrounding air directly into the key mechanisms and switches.


2010:

View attachment 771608

2013:

View attachment 771609

2017:

View attachment 771607
What is this black and white covering made out of? I have to think that keyboards play at least a minor role in the overall cooling system of a laptop. Even if airflow is restricted in/out, heat would still rise through such coverings and then the key holes easier than it would a solid aluminum top case I would think. Adding the silicone is just one more layer of material that heat has to pass through then. I’m admittedly no hardware designer and am sure Apple knows better than me, but soft top Jeeps have a harder time keeping the heat in than hard top Jeeps in winter, so that’s my weak basis for even questioning this.
 
I just had a look over the neigbor's fence. They have some nice kit at Lenovo, durable and affordable. I think Apple just needs to take a step back and rethink their notebook concept altogether. It does appear that they have lost the sweet spot in terms of design, but wouldn't it be awesome if they came out with a waterproof MacBook?
 
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Does anyone think that they’re intentionally sabotaging their 'MacBook' product line so people move over to iOS?

If their goal is to sell more iPads and less Macs they can stop upgrading rMB and MBA. Eventually their low end laptop could be an iPad with the keyboard, for some customers it wouldn't make much of a difference.
The 'pro' lineup can't be replaced by an iPad anytime soon, so I don't see why they would sabotage the MBP
 
Easy solution, make the macbook pro into two screens. The bottom half is also a screen the size of a keyboard which displays keys. When you press a key, the force touch kicks in. Surely, this is the future? :)
 
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If Apple were to do a survey of their users and ask the question "What's the main feature you would like this iteration of a device to have over the last", how many would reply "I want it to be thinner"

I can't understand this relentless obsession with thinner.... how many actual Apple users care if a laptop/ipad/iphone is 1mm thinner?
 
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Does anyone think that they’re intentionally sabotaging their 'MacBook' product line so people move over to iOS?

I don't think so either. I think the butterfly was a fluke and unintentional. It's also not widespread.

The throttling however caught them off guard, they waited too long for intel instead of developing another solution.
 
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I wonder if this is an interim fix before we see a redesigned chassis & keyboard or if Apple will adopt the internal silicon barrier for all future keyboards.
I suspect simply having a keyboard with actual moving parts is an interim solution as they move towards tablets taking over the portable productivity market completely, thus making actual laptops obsolete. Either that or moving towards zero travel keyboards (for the sake of thinness) by getting people used to less and less key travel.

Then again maybe I'm just a keyboard dinosaur with the way I went with a second hand 2013 MBP over a brand new one much in part due to loathing the keyboard in the new one or how the two times in the last year that I've needed a new keyboard I've gone with the old pre-"Magic" keyboard (found one as old unsold stock and got the other second hand).

I can't understand this relentless obsession with thinner.... how many actual Apple users care if a laptop/ipad/iphone is 1mm thinner?
I don't think the drive to be thinner has been user driven for a very long time. No, the driving force behind wanting to make things thinner and thinner is Jonathan Ive & Co. in the design department who under Tim Cook's management have reportedly received way more control over how products end up.

I'd hate to harp on about how much better Jobs was at running the company, but this is just another example of the failings of Cook's hands-off management style where he lets the different departments run themselves and not complain when they end up stepping on each other's toes. In this example it's pretty clear that the design department is making things thinner than what the engineering department can make work in a satisfactory manner, but can't really push back against the impossible tasks the design department is asking of them.
 
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Apple should just copy Atari from 1979

40 years ago, Atari had a computer launched with a keyboard, even thinner than anything Apple makes now, and was 100% water and dust resistant.....

:)

Just make it a bit better, bring it up to date and this fixes everything....... :)

Atari_400_keyboard.jpg
 
Easy solution, make the macbook pro into two screens. The bottom half is also a screen the size of a keyboard which displays keys. When you press a key, the force touch kicks in. Surely, this is the future? :)

I don't know, but a standard keyboard is restful to my fingers. I don't like typing on my iPad for an extended amount of time, it is ok to reply to an iMessage or to an email but I wouldn't spend my day coding or writing documents without a real keyboard. The haptic feedback is great on the home button of my iPhone and I like it on the Watch as well, but having it on the single key on a virtual keyboard is a whole different story.
 
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