Kuo: Apple to Use New Scissor Switch Keyboard in Future MacBooks, Starting With 2019 MacBook Air Refresh

[ghostface147]

Big news if true. I wonder if Ive leaving will lead Apple to be more open. What I mean is, more standard ports, less obsession with thinness, and less frayed lightning cables! Personally, I am very happy with my 2018 MB Pro keyboard and overall power. It is a bit loud, but reliable after almost a year of use. I don't mind the key travel, but the arrow keys (up and down) are bit small.

 

[ssgbryan]

People hate on something they have no idea what use it could be. Most of these people don’t own the machine they just hate because it’s not physical keys and can’t see the benefit of it. They want old ports. Old keyboards. Old startup chime. Old light up Apple logo. Old trackpads. Even if the new technology is better these people won’t want to admit it is.

What "benefit" - that I can run DOOM on it?

It is more along the lines that some of us actually know how to touch type (i.e. we type fast) - we don't have to constantly look down at the keyboard when we need to hit a function key.

 

[apolloa]

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.

I didn’t know he had an engineering degree, but what experience has he had with consumer electronic product development at IBM and Apple?

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?

No, you claim Ive cannot have been solely responsible for the keyboard design, then in the comment above TOTALLY contradict your argument by claiming others would not have signed off on the design because Ive said so, make your mind up what your argument is as it makes no sense..

 

[ThunderSkunk]

Scissor keyboard
16.5” display
MagSafe III; this time it’s personal
A USB-A and a USB-C TB3 port
A tapered body like the MacBook Air, slanted toward the user for ergo
Space inside to properly cool an 8core i9

Bang! Knock it out of the park.

 

[Shadar]

What a time to be alive. Might upgrade my 2015 MBP when these puppies are released!

Yeah... the change to a decent (and proven) keyboard would allow me to update to a new Mac as well. I stocked up on mid-2015 Macbook Pro 15" machines to get through the drought, but have always feared that my machines would get too old and slow before Apple fixed this.

But if this report is correct, then maybe in 2020 I'll be a new Macbook Pro customer. Here's hoping.

 

[radiology]

Jony Ive’s arrogance and obsession with thinness has cost Apple a ton of money and reputation. I’m glad he is leaving the company later this year, primarily because his editor and curator is no longer there.

This is the BEST comment ever written in this ****ing website. Ive is an average designer (at best) without Jobs.

 

[myrtlebee]

Thank God. We've been waiting long enough. I will buy one on day one (or I will want to buy one on day one at least. Might wait 6 months just to be safe. A shame, but at this point I cannot trust 100% that they will release a total fix). Tell me again how there is no problem with the butterfly mechanism. They wouldn't have went through 4 iterations of it and now be switching if there wasn't.
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So I guess the updated design in the 2019 MacBook Pros haven't fixed it completely then.

Nope. Which is why I cautioned people to wait and see for 6 months to a year.

 

[sgtaylor5]

What year was that? The reason I mentioned Microsoft is this is what everybody is doing now. Because it’s what the majority of the public wants. The hobbyists and tinkerers might not be happy but they’re a very small percentage of computer buyers. Everyone else just wants to buy something and not have to think about replacing or upgrading anything.

Better be really careful and not drop that Surface (or Lenovo Yoga, or...); can't replace that screen, and can't find the LCD screen FRU. You'd have to buy a new computer entirely. OTOH, anything Lenovo and not ThinkPad means you have to get the case parts from China, and a one month wait, at least.

 

[Emanuel Rodriguez]

Who knew it would take 3 years and 3 generations to figure out it wasn't working well.

But hey ho, onwards and upwards!

That's probably about how long it takes for things to filter through the product pipeline. They may have already planned to do this three years ago.

 

[sgtaylor5]

and I'll just leave this here, for funny:

Two Keyboards at a Bar – Rands in Repose

 

[Naaaaak]

we all knew Apple would be going back to the standard that’s worked for keyboards for years, because it can’t keep repairing new computers failing every 5 minutes...

They will be as long as the 2015 to 2019 models are in circulation.
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So you all believe this, but you're giving him a pass for the complete whiff on the 16" MBP?

Kuo is like the weatherman... if he screws up, no one holds him accountable. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Where was the 16” confirmed for this year?

Kuo is more accurate than a weatherman, and much more accurate than a changer.

 

[Naaaaak]

Drop the prices while you're at it.

Apple will raise prices, if anything:

• They will charge customers for the extra development cost incurred undoing the butterfly effect.
• They need to raise prices so current customers can pay out the inevitable 2015 to 2019 butterfly class action.
• They’ll cite tariffs, yet somehow their margins will get higher.

 

[project_2501]

NO...

please Apple.. don't "innovate".

Really, we don't want you to.

Just use the tried and trusted design of a good quality keyboard that companies (including yourself for the 2015 models) has been using for decades!

Innovation from apple means more expense, less reliability, less ergonomics.

Apple in a nutshell.

 

[shadowmatt]

I think my Pro will be my last Apple. Too much nonsense over the years, always telling the customers they are wrong yet eventually admitting it was their fault.

 

[Rogifan]

I didn’t know he had an engineering degree, but what experience has he had with consumer electronic product development at IBM and Apple?



No, you claim Ive cannot have been solely responsible for the keyboard design, then in the comment above TOTALLY contradict your argument by claiming others would not have signed off on the design because Ive said so, make your mind up what your argument is as it makes no sense..

Huh? I’m saying the idea that anyone at Apple would intentionally have signed off on shipping a defective keyboard is absurd. As are all these takes that Ive forced this keyboard on the company (either not knowing it was problematic or not caring) and everyone else just said yes sir, Mr. Ive, whatever you say. To believe that you have to assume everyone else in the company is perfectly fine shipping shipping something they know to be problematic to please one guy. Sorry it’s absurd.

 

[c3pa]

GOD DAMN stupid ****** idea of improving nothing thanks to that butterfly whatever that asked NO ONE EVER.

Right now my "E" double-types "ee" like half of the times, while the "N" key 8/10 times is not registered.

This has been impairing my work more often than any sane person can handle.

Thankfully this trashbook belongs to my company so I do not feel scammed out of what it cost.

Then again I have a personal MacBook 15 of the exact type that is potentially exploding here and there.
My serial number says non-affected by the battery issue, but how exactly will I know?

My iPhone X (thankfully also company property) is a thing of beauty, YET PERFORMS LIKE **** FOR CALLS which accidentally is what a damn phone is for to begin with. All thanks to worthless Intel crappola penny-pinched modems stemming from the Qualcomm disagreement.

Timmy g-pride has his priorities I guess.

 

[cryptonator]

Praise the Lord if this is true!!

Going the butterfly keyboard route was the worst decision by Apple ever!

 

[MacHiavelli]

Like Catalyst, this is a sign that the Mac is being put out to grass while all the innovation will go into iPad and a clamshell ARM laptop.

With stuff like this and the modular Macs Pros, Apple is building a set of old-school tools for old-school users and developers, while the real consumer effort is going to head off into a new dawn.

 

[dogslobber]

Removable battery, upgradable RAM and changeable SSD are next? All post-Ive Apple. A coinky dink?

 

[jlc1978]

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.

Perhaps, but even as an IE he would have a basic grasp of the technology and certainly the smarts to learn more as he moved through the ranks. he doesn't need to know how to design them, just what questions to ask when making decisions and being able to detect BS. Also, IE often do learn about usability, or at least they used to.

 

[BigBoy2018]

Well according to Apple themselves you can claim Ive and Dan Riccio decide what goes into the Mac as that’s their jobs! They both report directly to Cook so unless your claiming Cook has gone over their advice, a man without the technical qualifications, like the report in the WSJ states, then your blaming one man instead of the three it is.

http://www.apple.com/uk/leadership/jonathan-ive/

http://www.apple.com/uk/leadership/dan-riccio/

So you either claim others have the final say, or you just blame Ive for everything, so which is it? You can’t have both as that literally would make no sense in the argument.

I was suggesting that Ive, who once had an iron grip on all things design, may have lost some of his power in recent years to the pro design team. So it may not be as black and white as you think.

 

[nexusrule]

They may have worked on it DESPITE him. Your assumption that Ive had iron fisted control over all aspects of design may be flawed, especially in this past hear or so when his stock inside apple may have finally been dropping.
Maybe partly why he left is because he was losing his power over all design decisions.

So maybe he fought for the butterfly but was overruled by the pro design team.

Yes it sounds totally realistic and not the delusional idea of someone that wants to assign Ive full responsibility no matter what... Also, have you read my comment? I was replying to people that said Ive was contained by Jobs reminding them of the mouse designed under Jobs that would systematically stop to work because of dirt, exactly like the keyboard, and kept being the only mouse from Apple from 7-8 years. Actually, there is a difference between the products, almost ALL mouse were subject to that destiny not a small fractio.

 

[cult hero]

I hope this addresses other issues, like the total lack of travel on the keys. I'm also feeling like it was good idea to avoid upgrading my machine this year. For all the griping about the 2016+ MBPs, I've really enjoyed this machine despite the warts like the keyboard. (On the flip side, they make fixing the keyboard such a pain I ended up with a free battery when they fixed mine.) Thunderbolt 3 has been so excellent to use.

With that said, Apple's return to the display business and the new Pros give me some hope that the next redesign of the MBP is going to be a welcome change.

 

[jlc1978]

Scissor keyboard
16.5” display
MagSafe III; this time it’s personal
A USB-A and a USB-C TB3 port
A tapered body like the MacBook Air, slanted toward the user for ergo
Space inside to properly cool an 8core i9

Bang! Knock it out of the park.

Interesting. I'd ditch the USB-A for a microSD card and stick with a 15" screen. 16 is too big, IMHO, to carry around and the extra weight would be a pain.

Tapered body and space to cool are at odds unless you make it thicker than the current designs.

YMMV
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I didn’t know he had an engineering degree, but what experience has he had with consumer electronic product development at IBM and Apple?

I would wager his role in the supply chain at Apple got him intimately involved with the design and manufacturing teams at Apple, given its importance to Apple's success. You really don't need to be a designer or developer to make good decisions about design or development; in fact sometimes the ability to say no to an idea is more important than coming up with ideas.

 

[mi7chy]

Wistron was spun off from Acer so considered low end. On the other hand, Sunrex makes keyboards for the Lenovo Thinkpads so it should be a nice upgrade.