Lets hear it those who have 2016-2017 MB / MBP and keyboard issues

[sotorious]

I am really trying to figure out if this is blown out of proportion or if this is really an issue.

I have made a poll so we can see who has a 2017 macbook / macbook pro with issues. I went ahead and added 2016 as well.

I keep reading and reading and i keep getting both sides of the story. I do believe people are having failure rates on the keyboards, but i also feel its people who do not own the machine and are complaining about the issue.

 

[Lastgreen]

I've owned mine 2017 13"3 for the past 6 months no issues. I'm a light user mainly because I'm afraid of the keyboard issue plaguing me :/. My friend has had a 2016 since the release date 13"3 and it has the keyboard issues now
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I've owned mine 2017 13"3 for the past 6 months no issues. I'm a light user mainly because I'm afraid of the keyboard issue plaguing me :/. My friend has had a 2016 since the release date 13"3 and it has the keyboard issues now

It's a real problem it seems and there are now lawsuits

 

[sotorious]

I've owned mine 2017 13"3 for the past 6 months no issues. I'm a light user mainly because I'm afraid of the keyboard issue plaguing me :/. My friend has had a 2016 since the release date 13"3 and it has the keyboard issues now
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It's a real problem it seems and there are now lawsuits

I know that the 2016 were more prone to it. Its hard to gauge online what is a serious problem or not.

 

[chadder1313]

2017 13" MBP ntb and have not had an issue. Not to say its blown out of the water, but i went to numerous best buys and apple stores where they're open 16 hours plus hours a day and never ran across a issue with one. And i do actually get on them and tinker around with them. Its a habit for me.

 

[tubeexperience]

2017 13" MBP ntb and have not had an issue. Not to say its blown out of the water, but i went to numerous best buys and apple stores where they're open 16 hours plus hours a day and never ran across a issue with one. And i do actually get on them and tinker around with them. Its a habit for me.

Of cause they are going to say that they never seen the issue before.

They are not going to admit to the issue when they are trying to sell the product.

 

[chadder1313]

Of cause they are going to say that they never seen the issue before.

They are not going to admit to the issue when they are trying to sell the product.

I’m not saying they don’t have issues. What I’m saying is I haven’t had issues with mine as well as numerous MacBooks I’ve messed with in the stores. I’ve talked to a couple employees at said stores and only one had admitted to seeing issues with the keyboard which he promptly recommended AppleCare. I’ve owned 3 2017s with no issues. 2 15s and 1 13 which I settled for in the end because I just couldn’t justify $2500 plus for a laptop.

 

[throAU]

I know that the 2016 were more prone to it. Its hard to gauge online what is a serious problem or not.

I'm not so sure on that. I suspect the 2016 has just had more use at this point. I have 2 friends (not friends of friends, etc. - direct contacts) who have purchased 2016 and 2017 machines 2016 retina macbook and 2017 retina macbook pro 15 with touch bar) and both have had keyboard issues inside of 3 months. I know one other who has a trouble-free 2017 machine. They're the only people i know personally with butterfly keyboard machines.

So amongst my friends, its a 66% failure rate inside 3 months. That's not statistically significant in the larger scheme of things (sample size way too small), but it's definitely enough to scare me off personally until its fixed.

 

[Naimfan]

Out of the roughly dozen that have come through, every single one has had the keyboard fail. It's most likely due to heat.

For those who have NOT had a problem, download something like BOINC and then run Folding or something similar for a few days, using 25% of your CPU. THEN try the "b" and "n" keys and the spacebar. (With autocorrect off.)

 

[tubeexperience]

I’m not saying they don’t have issues. What I’m saying is I haven’t had issues with mine as well as numerous MacBooks I’ve messed with in the stores. I’ve talked to a couple employees at said stores and only one had admitted to seeing issues with the keyboard which he promptly recommended AppleCare. I’ve owned 3 2017s with no issues. 2 15s and 1 13 which I settled for in the end because I just couldn’t justify $2500 plus for a laptop.

My work actually have five 2017 MacBook Pro.

So far, the the keyboard failed on three of them.

Now, I don't actually know how they are being used.

Faculty members checked them out, then returned them because some keys stop working.

I would investigate further, but students are not allowed to check out these laptops (not even the student workers!).

Since they are still under warranty, we just have Apple fixed them.

We have quite a few older MacBook Pro (some pre-2010) that are supposed to be phased out, but that plan has been put on ice because of the failure rate on these new MacBook Pro.

 

[wchigo]

I have a 2016 13" nTB MBP and the keyboard is mostly working fine, with the exception of the left shift key. It seems to work intermittently, as it is surprisingly working without issue now as I am typing this, but for a good while there it wasn't working if you held it down on the right edge (you basically had to push it down on the centre for it to work).

Not sure what happened to get it working properly again, but I'm not going to complain.

 

[tubeexperience]

I have a 2016 13" nTB MBP and the keyboard is mostly working fine, with the exception of the left shift key. It seems to work intermittently, as it is surprisingly working without issue now as I am typing this, but for a good while there it wasn't working if you held it down on the right edge (you basically had to push it down on the centre for it to work).

Not sure what happened to get it working properly again, but I'm not going to complain.

I would not considered that working.

 

[sotorious]

I remember when i first got the XPS 2015 the space bar would stick and even under warranty and a new laptop i still had that issue, pretty much everyone was having a space bar issue in that year frame. I have barley used that laptop because of that reason. I keep thinking to my self could it be worse? But if there is complete failures of a specific key that would be much more annoying.

 

[animan]

From what I have read... the problem is mainly due to dust or other particles stuck in-between the keyboard contacts. Unfortunately there is no good way of removing the keys for cleaning. A shot of compressed air might help.

Road warriors or people using the MBP under dusty conditions are likely to encounter the issue sooner.

 

[Eason85]

I remember when i first got the XPS 2015 the space bar would stick and even under warranty and a new laptop i still had that issue, pretty much everyone was having a space bar issue in that year frame. I have barley used that laptop because of that reason. I keep thinking to my self could it be worse? But if there is complete failures of a specific key that would be much more annoying.

That one is fixable yourself, though (the ribbon cable wasn't pulled tight enough when the keyboard was installed, causing it to bunch up under the spacebar). And Dell will come to your house and install the new keyboard in 20 minutes if you have warranty.

 

[throAU]

I have a 2016 13" nTB MBP and the keyboard is mostly working fine, with the exception of the left shift key. It seems to work intermittently, as it is surprisingly working without issue now as I am typing this, but for a good while there it wasn't working if you held it down on the right edge (you basically had to push it down on the centre for it to work).

Not sure what happened to get it working properly again, but I'm not going to complain.

As someone else mentioned above: that's a failure. You don't accept random keys not working on a machine this expensive. Apple's previous keyboards have been solid. Great. Some of the best on a portable device...
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From what I have read... the problem is mainly due to dust or other particles stuck in-between the keyboard contacts. Unfortunately there is no good way of removing the keys for cleaning. A shot of compressed air might help.

Road warriors or people using the MBP under dusty conditions are likely to encounter the issue sooner.

I.e., the exact users who want a thin and light machine.... good design there, Apple...


Neither my 2011 or 2015 machines ever needed similar treatment and never had any keys removed.

This is a design fault, there's no real way of sugar coating it. It's pointless having a super thin and light machine if you need to carry a few cans of compressed air around with you, just in case the keyboard loses the plot.

 

[animan]

I.e., the exact users who want a thin and light machine.... good design there, Apple...


Neither my 2011 or 2015 machines ever needed similar treatment and never had any keys removed.

This is a design fault, there's no real way of sugar coating it. It's pointless having a super thin and light machine if you need to carry a few cans of compressed air around with you, just in case the keyboard loses the plot.

Not trying to sugar coat anything, just stating the facts.
But well said... agree with you completely.

 

[sotorious]

That one is fixable yourself, though (the ribbon cable wasn't pulled tight enough when the keyboard was installed, causing it to bunch up under the spacebar). And Dell will come to your house and install the new keyboard in 20 minutes if you have warranty.

Will they still do it out of warranty even if i had to pay them?

 

[JesperA]

I have a couple of issues, i really need to beat the devil out of my X button to get it to register, my B key either it does not work or it register 1 press as 2-3 presses leaving me with either no B or BB-BBB in those words that contains the letter so i will always have to backspace before continuing.

Its a small problem but it is still big thing because it is a real productivity killer when you cant trust your keyboard to write the right thing so i constantly have to verify everytime i write anything containing X or B.

Keyboard has been cleaned by the Apple reseller (certified) but did not solve the issue, they will replace the keyboard within the warranty but i cant give away my computer until i have atleast 1 week of vacation.

4'000 USD machine and the first thing you have to do with it is to throw it back at Apple only for them to open it up and replace a major part, really disappointing.

 

[throAU]

Just as an aside... the only user i know personally amongst my circle of friends who has a butterfly keyboard without issues.... works in an industrial environment.

His machine is the one i would have totally expected to fail first.

He's a smoker (the two friends with failures are not)
He's worked on mines and in Darwin in oil and gas as a sparky - outside, getting covered in dust and other stuff. The two who have had failures are office-bound (one is a coder/engineer, the other a consultant).
His machine has spent a lot of time in a backpack
He's owned it the longest.

Irony: his actually works.

Maybe there's something in it with dust, but i'm beginning to think it's something else...

 

[AgentOSX]

I am really trying to figure out if this is blown out of proportion or if this is really an issue.

I have had my top of my 15" MBP replaced twice. After the second one my battery life is crap. Not very happy with this. And the repair had to be done at a facility, not in-store. At least I have AppleCare but not happy.

 

[leman]

I don't know, the patterns are really confusing. The only data we have (https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/macbook-pro-keyboard-failure-rate-double-older-models/) would suggest that about 1-2% (using most pessimistic estimates possible) units are affected by it. This also is in line with our experiences — so far we had one machine out of ~20 develop a slight keyboard problem. But then again, there are so many people claiming multiple features that I don't know what to think. It is possible that there is also a batch/region effect — maybe it depends on the particular keyboard supplier? Climate? If we had proper data, we could try to find out which factors affect this...

 

[project_2501]

I am really trying to figure out if this is blown out of proportion or if this is really an issue.

I have made a poll so we can see who has a 2017 macbook / macbook pro with issues. I went ahead and added 2016 as well.

I keep reading and reading and i keep getting both sides of the story. I do believe people are having failure rates on the keyboards, but i also feel its people who do not own the machine and are complaining about the issue.

Apple staff have said, to quote "the repair rooms are full of them".

Half-scientific estimates are that 40% of 2017 keyboards will have issues in the 1st year of warranty.

There are now 3 class action lawsuits against apple about the keyboards.

 

[sotorious]

Apple staff have said, to quote "the repair rooms are full of them".

Half-scientific estimates are that 40% of 2017 keyboards will have issues in the 1st year of warranty.

There are now 3 class action lawsuits against apple about the keyboards.

What i think they are going to do with these 16's and 17s MBP is see how they can completely block dirt and dust do a bit more of a redesign and keep the layout / style. They have spent to much and it would be a PR nightmare if they up and change it now.

The only time i think we will see an official keyboard change is when mechanical switches make it to laptop keyboards.

 

[Lastgreen]

What i think they are going to do with these 16's and 17s MBP is see how they can completely block dirt and dust do a bit more of a redesign and keep the layout / style. They have spent to much and it would be a PR nightmare if they up and change it now.

The only time i think we will see an official keyboard change is when mechanical switches make it to laptop keyboards.

Would apple ever repay us for their faulty keyboard though?

 

[Naimfan]

Would apple ever repay us for their faulty keyboard though?

Ha! That is the funniest thing I've read today. Granted, it is still early . . .

But that's not how Apple works when there is a problem with something it sells or sold. Deny, delay, blame the user - those are what Apple do.