Given Cook has an engineering degree and has experience across Apple and IBM, I would say one thing he does not lack is technical qualifications needed to make a final decision.
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Kuo: Apple to Use New Scissor Switch Keyboard in Future MacBooks, Starting With 2019 MacBook Air Refresh
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Given Cook has an engineering degree and has experience across Apple and IBM, I would say one thing he does not lack is technical qualifications needed to make a final decision.
sucks for those who beta tested the buggy keyboard. gonna have to shell out another $1k+ to "replace" it with a new laptop.
Ok, I stand corrected on the fact that he did not do a video. He obviously did, but only as a small part of the product video and not standalone as a in previous years.
I still stand by my assertion that he was overruled on the design and did not like it. I'm sure he was told he had to support it. Why can I say this without any other knowledge, because the new Mac Pro is not the Trash Can Mac Pro and puts function over form. Something we know Ive is not good at.
You forgot Jeff Williams who runs operations. He’s responsible for ensuring these products can be made at scale. Are we supposed to believe both Dan Riccio and Jeff Williams knew this keyboard would be defective but signed off on it because Ive said this is the way it has to be? Because Ive is perfectly happy shipping defective products?
I re-read the article a couple of times because of this. Kuo mentions 2020 in the article.
Stand by it if you want but it’s not based on fact. It’s based on your opinion that Ive puts form over function. Anyway there are lots of Apple product videos over the years that have featured more than Ive. And some like iPad 3 and iPhone 4s that didn’t feature him at all.
Finally someone with good thinking and not just spitting out nonsense. I agree with what you said. A lot has gone into it. We still don’t know if the 2019’s will have issues or if the new parts fixed what was causing it. I still think the 2019’s are the safest buy for this generation. We’ll see what happens with the new keyboards in the new machines. I don’t expect any new MacBook Pro model this year either.
Cooks degree is in Industrial Engineering, that is not related to usability, technology, software, printed circuit boards, electrical design, or chips. It is related to production processes, quality, and cost. One can see that in how he makes decisions.
No big deal to me because I have no problem with the butterfly-type keyboard at all. None. Do I like using it as much as the old-style scissors keyboard? No. But I have no problem whatsoever in using the new style.
This is exactly why I am waiting on the 2021 MacBook Pro instead. Thank goodness I never bought any from this generation. Looks like things are going back to normal, but it’s a shame users who bought this generation had to be beta testers.
Of all the extra stuff the tb-MBP carries compared to the nontb-MBP, the touchbar is the one I'd want the least.
Better thermals yes, faster components yes, touch Id yes, more ports yes. Touchbar? Nah.
Not saying it's useless for everyone, but for me and likely for 90% of use cases.
Well, I actually love my butterfly keyboard. So far, I haven't faced any reliability issues (knock on wood) and I honestly prefer typing on it over any other keyboard. I hope the feel isn't too different on the new keyboards.
dont do it...
the OLED strip are the only keys that work on a MBP
There is not a single report of keyboard failure for 2019 versions. I'll take this over a first gen product if you don't mind the keyboard feel.
Nice to see Apple finally decided to start with a new design. I wonder if we will ever get the whole story of what the issue or issues were fully -- I wonder if they even entirely figured it out, as they seemed to keep trying different things. Maybe the class-action lawsuits will reveal the actual failure rates.
AppleInsider's coverage of this mentions that the cost of the keyboard was high because it had a higher than average failure rate during manufacturing. Watching that video tear-down of the design, it did seem like it would be difficult to assemble. Maybe Quality Assurance let a lot of iffy assemblies through because of the low-turnout. The article also said Apple went with a new company for assembly.
Having used my 2016 MBP daily for over 30 months, I have to say, I hope I don't have to go back to mushy-feel of the old keyboards... I find the low-travel to be quite productive once I adjusted to it. But it will be nice to put this issue to bed... assuming the new designs are fine...
AppleInsider's coverage of this mentions that the cost of the keyboard was high because it had a higher than average failure rate during manufacturing. Watching that video tear-down of the design, it did seem like it would be difficult to assemble. Maybe Quality Assurance let a lot of iffy assemblies through because of the low-turnout. The article also said Apple went with a new company for assembly.
Having used my 2016 MBP daily for over 30 months, I have to say, I hope I don't have to go back to mushy-feel of the old keyboards... I find the low-travel to be quite productive once I adjusted to it. But it will be nice to put this issue to bed... assuming the new designs are fine...
Back in the day I would have said voice and VR were the future.
Now that I'm in the future I'm thinking we go retro, back to cherry keyboards and matte finish lcd panels.
It was so nice.
Now that I'm in the future I'm thinking we go retro, back to cherry keyboards and matte finish lcd panels.
It was so nice.
My initial reaction was elation and that I would buy this new Air, top configuration, on Day 1.
But here’s the problem.
Apple destroyed a lot of trust. Brand eroding trust. Too many years denying it was a problem. Only ‘Impacting a small number of users and most users loved it.’ Too many years claiming to have fixed the problem, even while denying it was a problem.And yet, year after year, they clearly did not fix the problem and kept shipping defective designs at a significant cost premium..
Apple behaved like Zuck and Samberg, knowing one thing, saying another. Even the last releases, where they only spoke on background on keyboard improvements—again, while publicly claiming it was a minor issue and customers loved it—was right out of the Facebook playbook.
This is not Tim Cook’s Apple. He may not be a product guy, but he is one of the few in Silicon Valley with a strong moral compass. He leads Apple with this compass.
But back to lost trust. How do we know this new design is better? Won’t fail? How can we trust Apple’s claims after they were so deceptive for years and years? These are tools we need to make a living. And for students to do schoolwork.
No, I can’t buy a new MacBook on Day 1. Because of Apple’s actions, the loss of brand equity and trust, I will wait a year just to be safe.
(And yes, here’s hoping The touchbar is dead too. Glad Apple tried, but it simply is a terrible idea in practice.)
But here’s the problem.
Apple destroyed a lot of trust. Brand eroding trust. Too many years denying it was a problem. Only ‘Impacting a small number of users and most users loved it.’ Too many years claiming to have fixed the problem, even while denying it was a problem.And yet, year after year, they clearly did not fix the problem and kept shipping defective designs at a significant cost premium..
Apple behaved like Zuck and Samberg, knowing one thing, saying another. Even the last releases, where they only spoke on background on keyboard improvements—again, while publicly claiming it was a minor issue and customers loved it—was right out of the Facebook playbook.
This is not Tim Cook’s Apple. He may not be a product guy, but he is one of the few in Silicon Valley with a strong moral compass. He leads Apple with this compass.
But back to lost trust. How do we know this new design is better? Won’t fail? How can we trust Apple’s claims after they were so deceptive for years and years? These are tools we need to make a living. And for students to do schoolwork.
No, I can’t buy a new MacBook on Day 1. Because of Apple’s actions, the loss of brand equity and trust, I will wait a year just to be safe.
(And yes, here’s hoping The touchbar is dead too. Glad Apple tried, but it simply is a terrible idea in practice.)
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I did thanks and it doesn't say that at all. It says it is believed it will "benefit Apple's profits".
Of course not having to replace top case after top case on thousands of MacBook and MacBook Pro machines has the chance of improving profit.
Least hypothesis: they tried to make the keyboard thinner and cheaper - they should have picked one (or, preferably, neither) - very short travel needs very tight tolerances, durable materials that won't distort/wear with heat or regular use and aggressive protection against dust. They've had 3 goes at fixing it, so the design (which can't really be separated from the cost of manufacture) is probably fundamentally flawed.