I don't think its as bad as the 2011 GPU issue, where nearly every GPU is going to fail.
I don't have an answer as to why these fail for some but not others, but I suspect that the key mechinism is much more delicate then prior generations and is more susceptible to failure.
I know people with the 2011 17" MacBook Pro, one is working just fine. Another did die but the repair cost on something that is way out of even AppleCare warranty is now getting to the point where a new motherboard is beyond economic repair.
The fact that the CPU was Sandy Bridge generation i7 speaks volumes to how good those were in that they aren't miles worse in benchmarks than todays quad cores.
The price of the 2016 MacBook Pro (made worse by the 20% price hike in the aftermath of the Brexit vote) discouraged me from buying one in winter 2016, then later the long-term reviews of these models began showing up the keyboard issues. By the time we reach the 2017 model with Kaby Lake CPU only 9 months later - the CPU I believe that Apple were in fact waiting for in the 2016 but had to settle for the Skylake - AND the less sophisticated battery - due to needing to have a product at market to hit the October 2016 deadline.
I then read that there engineering tweaks for 2017 model keyboards consisting of shims and that people who had warranty work done on their keyboards required an expensive top case replacement which included the battery. That's fine under warranty but imagine the cost of repairing one out of warranty. And I heard about the popping speakers - that's just another bad mark against Apple.
After all that, I've continually noticed some amazing deals for the 2016 model at third party retailers while the 2017 model had been the current model for several months. This is something that has happened with regularity in mainstream retailers in the US. Where do these 3rd dealers get supply (or ability to discount so heavily) without the tacit approval of Apple?
It's perfectly possible for Apple to have swept these issues under the carpet to get the most possible out of the design - a third (2018) generation of the 2016/2017 design would be an obvious move for Apple to have done this year to spread the cost of their investment in the touch bar out but let's bear these facts out:
1. Apple have had 2 years now to correct the battery part that failed a key test and was swept away from the 2016 model. Ironically the 2016 MacBook Pro non touch bar model has been recalled due to swelling battery. I wonder if Apple have fixed the battery issue as the main point with terracing appears to be to carve out more room for battery inside a small case.
2. Keyboard issues are significant and seemingly non-mitigable with 'normal' use in dusty environments or where users eat at their desk. The 2017 models may reduce the effect for dust/crumbs introduced from outside the laptop but with the battery so closely aligned with the top case any swelling or excess heat from being caned by sustained video editing (for example) could also affect the keys too (in a permanent sense).
3. The Touchbar itself has raised the cost of buying the MacBook Pro out of the reach of many. What used to be a £1,999 top SKU 2015 15" MacBook Pro in early October 2016 became a £2,799 top SKU overnight (UK prices include tax) in part due to currency issues but putting an ARM CPU into Macs with the touch bar - essentially an Apple Watch - bumps the price no matter how you skew it. No wonder people who may have bought the higher end 13" models dropped down to the MacBook Air which itself received a price bump in the UK. Keyboard reasoning may also have driven many potential buyers of the 13" downwards while lack of ports with the non touch bar model can't have helped either.
4. Intel's Coffee Lake CPUs offer a raw performance increase for people who have multithreaded work flows. If you take into account that this year's Polaris-based AMD GPUs are going to be rebadges of last years models with only slight speed bumps then Apple probably have to go big on the extra cores where possible.
It's an opportunity for Apple to draw a line under the 2016/17 models and 'hide' the failures of their 13" and 15" behind larger screened 14" and 16" models - perhaps a redesign that has been in the making for a while with Intel's roadmap stretching out into the distance (we won't talk about the ARM CPU in Macs rumours).
a. Super Retina Screen (1600p on 14", 4k on 16" for example).
b. Longer battery life (bigger battery to drive the bigger screen) - or just call it quits with the usual 10 hours on wifi.
c. More cores thanks to Intel Coffee Lake (or if Kaby Lake Refresh G, better battery life!)
d. Touch Bar an option - not mandatory - allowing for cheaper SKUs.
e. Better keyboard and trackpad (no need to mention why they are better)
Behind the scenes the re-engineering might help reduce repair costs too which surely Apple have noticed through AppleCare analysis. 2016 users still have upwards of another year or so before they're on their own.
Phil Schiller doesn't have to talk about how these laptops are thinner year on year - this year at least(!). He's even allowed to say how Apple pack 4-6 cores into the Mac with more battery life than ever before if Apple move the goal posts with higher density Super Retina displays (yes, the name has already been introduced into the iPhone X).
He won't have to mention the keyboard (give it an extra mm of travel in the larger case), the touch bar could become optional, and they can go on about how recycled Aluminium from iPhones is being used now.
The 12" MacBook doesn't currently have Y series Intel CPUs out at the moment but there's been talk of an updated MacBook Air recently. There's still no Iris Graphics powered 15w Intel CPU to go into the non touch bar 13" model which as we know has been hit by battery recall issues recently for the 2016 edition.
The non touch bar model is still a bit of a problem, having just 2 ports, and Apple may even deem the performance of the Iris Graphics 640 series incapable of delivering a decent experience in a super retina display. Perhaps there they would offer a lower density original retina display or 1080p IPS display in a revamped MacBook Air with all the old ports but including Thunderbolt 3?
Coming back on topic right at the end - As this thread is about the keyboard I'll expand a little more on my take. I'm not overly impressed by the feel of the 2016/17 keyboards on the few times I've tried them out in the Apple Store. I'm sure I could have become accustomed to typing on them but what is unforgivable is the apparent design issue which seemingly doesn't account for dust or crumbs from outside and paper thin tolerances of the battery and heat by the system from within.
Aside from the price, this keyboard lottery is something I can't participate in and why I'll keep using my 2013 Retina MacBook Pro and will continue to monitor the situation with headless Macs for desktop. I keep an eye on the MacBook Pro as a modern alternative to a Mac Mini which is a fossil by comparison.
