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Macbook Air 15 inch - Trackpad texture

thadoggfather said:
The other ones were too tight, this is too loose?

So there are arguably three different kinds of keyboard builds you've come across (one that is right in the middle not too loose or tight)? Geez!

which of the extremes is better to your fingers?
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This one is loose as in it takes very little effort to press down on a key, but the previous one I had was stiffer which I really preferred. I found myself making way less mistakes on the stiffer one.

edit: I think I'm just going to hold onto this one because at least the trackpad is OK. I'm getting fed up of this. When the M3 comes out next year I'll sell it and upgrade. Hoping I win the Apple lottery next year...
 
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helloapple1 said:
I got a new 15" Midnight base model last night and the trackpad is NOT coarse, but the keyboard feels loose and really not enjoyable to type on. I keep making mistakes when I'm typing on it.
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Congrats on your smooth trackpad!

Sounds like you have the ideal machine there for me, with a loose keyboard and smooth trackpad. I like loose keyboards since on my desktop I use a Steelseries Apex Pro with ~34g actuation force. Too bad it's the base model otherwise I would literally buy it from you (I need the 16GB / 1TB).

helloapple1 said:
edit: I think I'm just going to hold onto this one because at least the trackpad is OK. I'm getting fed up of this. When the M3 comes out next year I'll sell it and upgrade. Hoping I win the Apple lottery next year...
Click to expand...

I think you're making the right call. The smooth trackpads seem hard to find right now. I returned my smooth trackpad because the keyboard was stiff, and ended up with a coarse trackpad instead. The trackpad is more important I'd say.

It's all so ridiculous to me that they used to have the best and most consistent scissor switch keyboard manufacturing back in 2013, and now after all that butterfly fiasco, they seem to have completely forgotten how to make good keyboards and trackpads. I mean what's the point of even buying a MacBook at this point? The trackpad especially has always been one of the main selling points.

Let's hope Apple gets its act together and fixes these manufacturing inconsistencies before the M3 comes out.
 
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out of curiosity if I get a battery replacement down the road, they just replace the battery not the entire bottom case like butterfly keyboard models right?
 
thadoggfather said:
out of curiosity if I get a battery replacement down the road, they just replace the battery not the entire bottom case like butterfly keyboard models right?
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I was curious too so I checked the repair manual (https://support.apple.com/manuals/maclaptops). The battery is glued in but the glue strips are removable so the battery can be replaced without having to replace the entire bottom case. Whether the Apple repair team actually takes advantage of that, or just swaps the bottom case out for convenience when replacing the battery, I don't know.
 
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for science ill try to check out a few demo units at the store, curious what this feel is like and some unit to unit variation but im counting my blessings on the one I got and the price I got it at.

HODL.
 
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CloudsNeverDie said:
Congrats on your smooth trackpad!

Sounds like you have the ideal machine there for me, with a loose keyboard and smooth trackpad. I like loose keyboards since on my desktop I use a Steelseries Apex Pro with ~34g actuation force. Too bad it's the base model otherwise I would literally buy it from you (I need the 16GB / 1TB).



I think you're making the right call. The smooth trackpads seem hard to find right now. I returned my smooth trackpad because the keyboard was stiff, and ended up with a coarse trackpad instead. The trackpad is more important I'd say.

It's all so ridiculous to me that they used to have the best and most consistent scissor switch keyboard manufacturing back in 2013, and now after all that butterfly fiasco, they seem to have completely forgotten how to make good keyboards and trackpads. I mean what's the point of even buying a MacBook at this point? The trackpad especially has always been one of the main selling points.

Let's hope Apple gets its act together and fixes these manufacturing inconsistencies before the M3 comes out.
Click to expand...
Well said. I just can’t believe this is such a situation. I was at another Apple Store location, and the keyboards to be great, but the trackpad to be coarse. I feel like someone in Apple quality control is playing games or something.
 
so I checked out three units

Silver and Space Black were loose keyboards AND grainy trackpads
The starlight had a tight keyboard AND smooth trackpad

My silver is definitely is like the latter on both accounts.

They'd probably both irritate me to be honest, but I think of the grainy trackpad more a defect and keyboard more down to personal preference

I also felt some M2 13" MBA and they too were grainy so this is not unique to the 15" model
 
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CloudsNeverDie said:
I was curious too so I checked the repair manual (https://support.apple.com/manuals/maclaptops). The battery is glued in but the glue strips are removable so the battery can be replaced without having to replace the entire bottom case. Whether the Apple repair team actually takes advantage of that, or just swaps the bottom case out for convenience when replacing the battery, I don't know.
Click to expand...
I think they might just swap entire bottom.
 
I’m wondering if it’s worth putting in a repair request for my loose keyboard on my 15” M2 MBA…. Would they even fix it lol.
 
I checked some trackpads out in the Apple Store today too. There was a wide range of feels across the Air and Pro line and it didn't seem to matter what color the laptops were. The smoothest I tried was a 16" MBP in Space Grey, and the coarsest was a 15" MBA in Midnight, but there were plenty of other 15" MBA colors similarly coarse including Silver, Space Grey, and Starlight, and a 14" MBP in Space Grey that was also coarse. It just seemed kind of random.
 
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good open box excellent prices are back @ Best Buy in case you all are looking for a cheaper 15" Air

space grey and midnight are $903.99
starlight $901.99

unfortunately $991.99 for Silver
 
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Got me thinking, it's the coating on the trackpad which is coarse. It's probably some kind of spray coating like paint. Could it be polished with something? Isopropyl alcohol and a magic eraser, for example.
 
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CloudsNeverDie said:
Got me thinking, it's the coating on the trackpad which is coarse. It's probably some kind of spray coating like paint. Could it be polished with something? Isopropyl alcohol and a magic eraser, for example.
Click to expand...

You got me thinking now…. Or wondering if scrubbing really hard with water would do it.
 
I looked around at skins and screen protectors to cut down to size - it seems like a good idea but hard to know whether the surface is actually better without buying... I tried a piece of paper and it was worse, but the trackpad still worked.
 
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