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MBA2020 owners - was it worth for you to upgrade for the keyboard?
- Thread starter thadoggfather
- Start date
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I'm curious how others feel about the new Air keyboard. I have a 2019 13" Pro and the keyboard on my 2017 13" Air is way better. My wife is using my personal 2015 Air now and once IT wakes up and asks me to return the 2017 Air, I'm planning on buying myself a 2020 Air for personal use since the Pro I have is locked down tighter than a drum under the new regime's IT department. I could wait for the new (2020?) 13" MacBook Pro, but unless there are some major unforseen changes, I'd still prefer the Air since it's lighter and doesn't have the Touch Bar.
I actually didn’t mind the butterfly keyboard but the 2020 Air’s keyboard is a lot more like the older keyboard.
I have a 2018 Air and I love the keyboard. But when Costco finally gets 2020 Airs in stock in the store, I'm going to go up there and check it out, see what the difference is.
Well... I haven't got the money yet. I put the MBA on my Card. They are supposed to credit it once the trade in is done. The quote was for $880. (i7 quad, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) That's with it being in great shape and no power adapter. (They only give you $10 for this so I always just keep them.) I'm going to be real mad if they try to give me less. I had taken my 2016 MBP in 3 times for keyboard issues. They were going to give me a new battery in it and the "enhanced" butterfly keyboard, but one the store shut down due to COVID, and the new MBA came out, I decided just to go that route.
I hated that keyboard so much that I have a 2012 MBP 15" and still got rid of the 2016.
I hated that keyboard so much that I have a 2012 MBP 15" and still got rid of the 2016.
I was OK with the butterfly keyboard on my MBP 13 for about 12 months, then it started to flake out.
I was home at Christmas, typing on the MBA 11 that I'd passed on to my mum for web surfing, and the keyboard on that thing was awesome. This is much more like that, it has a decent amount of travel and feels so much more comfortable to type on. Glad I sprung for the new model MBA, might trade my MBP for credit in when the new iPhone comes out.
I was home at Christmas, typing on the MBA 11 that I'd passed on to my mum for web surfing, and the keyboard on that thing was awesome. This is much more like that, it has a decent amount of travel and feels so much more comfortable to type on. Glad I sprung for the new model MBA, might trade my MBP for credit in when the new iPhone comes out.
I'd be fine with the butterfly keyboard if it didn't break all the time. I can't afford to bring my laptop into the Apple Store 3x per year. So yeah, worth it to get a reliable keyboard for me. If you're lucky that you never have issues with the butterfly keyboard then I'd just stick with it.
I think its great, there are definitely some lessons learned from butterfly- keys feel a little flatter and more stable.
Less wobbly than my 2015 13" mbpro with same satisfying tactile feedback.
That being said, I thought the butterfly felt fine on small MacBooks, especially air. Felt weird on full size 15" pro, almost like the body of the computer didn't match with the shallow keyboard. Maybe mental expectations of thin/light vs. actual.
Best of both worlds on the 2020 Air.
Less wobbly than my 2015 13" mbpro with same satisfying tactile feedback.
That being said, I thought the butterfly felt fine on small MacBooks, especially air. Felt weird on full size 15" pro, almost like the body of the computer didn't match with the shallow keyboard. Maybe mental expectations of thin/light vs. actual.
Best of both worlds on the 2020 Air.
coming from a 2015, this keyboard is better than that one was. just. its my favourite Mac keyboard so far.
I'd agree with that, but it also seems more positive with a little bit less travel and a more definitive engagement.
it's very close, but this edges the 2015 / pre butterfly keyboards imho. I've got a 2015, 2011 and an external bluetooth apple keyboard from 2010 here to compare. I prefer the 2020 air. But is pretty close.
I tried the butterfly keyboards a few times in the past 12 months when I was wondering I'd need to just suck it up and roll the dice on reliability on a 2018-2019 13" Pro. Glad I didn't; I don't like the butterfly.
I'd agree with that, but it also seems more positive with a little bit less travel and a more definitive engagement.
it's very close, but this edges the 2015 / pre butterfly keyboards imho. I've got a 2015, 2011 and an external bluetooth apple keyboard from 2010 here to compare. I prefer the 2020 air. But is pretty close.
I tried the butterfly keyboards a few times in the past 12 months when I was wondering I'd need to just suck it up and roll the dice on reliability on a 2018-2019 13" Pro. Glad I didn't; I don't like the butterfly.
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For those of you thinking of “trading in” your old Mac, have you read the threads on Phobio here?! Very bad experiences. Chilling, in fact. Decent quotes up front, then lowballing in actual payback, including assertions of non-existent damage.
Agree with this. Phobio will get your computer and find some kind of invisible flaw with it, and then hit you back with a lowball offer in the hopes that you'll say screw it and just take the offer. Avoid Phobio if at all possible.
When you guys say Phobio, are you referring to trading the laptop back into Apple from the trade-in value apple.com offered? Or a separate service?
And what would you generally be recommended instead, an in-store trade in (if stores were only open which I acknowledge they are not, but in an ideal world)
And what would you generally be recommended instead, an in-store trade in (if stores were only open which I acknowledge they are not, but in an ideal world)
Yes, I have had much better experience just selling Macs outright on Swappa. Phobio lowballed my mother’s 12” MacBook, claiming screen damage. There was none. It was almost flawless except the 4-year old battery had lost half its capacity. They initially quoted her $370 but then came back with $170. I tried to convince her to let me sell it on Swappa, but in the end they just accepted the trade-in (in the grand scheme of things $200 isn’t much for them).
Phobio is the partner that Apple uses for trade ins. I did this last year and it was super easy to do. They sent me a box for my laptop, I dropped it off at fedex, and got a e-giftcard for the the quoted trade in amount.
I could be wrong, but I think you have to do mail in for mac trade ins even when you're at the store. My sister was instructed to do that when she got her 15'' last year
really? that's interesting
is that the same with iPhones too?
havent traded in an iPhone to apple since around XR launch but that would surprise me
I never minded the butterfly keyboard (apart from the reliability issues), but the new keyboard is much more like the pre-2015 Apple keyboards, with the added bonus of the keys being slightly bigger.
