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The absolute WORST keyboard EVER

P

prism

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Dec 6, 2006
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Just a note to express my absolute frustration with my 2016 mbp which has what is arguably the absolute WORST keyboard I have ever typed on, and believe me, I have experienced more than a few keyboards over the last 30 odd years.
...and now the friggin space bar doesn't click anymore and more than occasionally doesn't record my input, this is really unacceptable, complete trash. I know that now they offer to repair it for free after I guess realizing how bad it is but for that to happen they might have to keep your laptop for a week or more, are you kidding me??? I am unfortunately tied into the Apple ecosystem, im saying this because if it wasn't the case I would switch to something else in a heartbeat.
Sorry, I just had to vent about this!
 
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That is very annoying for sure. Just be aware that all products have their faults- and customers tend to discover them at some stage. The grass isn’t necessarily greener when buying from a different manufacturer- their customers might be fewer and you might have read less due to the fact.

Fingers crossed that you find a good solution!
 
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You are certainly right but at this price point I do expect much better than this. This is what happens when you start sacrificing quality and comfort for the sake of design, as the obnoxious Mr. Ive seems to be doing.
 
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prism said:
Just a note to express my absolute frustration with my 2016 mbp which has what is arguably the absolute WORST keyboard I have ever typed on, and believe me, I have experienced more than a few keyboards over the last 30 odd years.
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Well, did you ever experience the Sinclair ZX81 or Atari 400, with their membrane keyboards? Most likely beat these recent Macbooks as the worst ever computer keyboard. :) They were super stiff/uncomfortable to type on, and hella unreliable as well. Plus, the plastic film fatigued/tore/cracked easily.

Also, the Sinclair Spectrum with the silicone rubber keys (which are squishier than an eraser in softness) is probably a strong runner-up...
 
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Lennyvalentin said:
Well, did you ever experience the Sinclair ZX81 or Atari 400, with their membrane keyboards? Most likely beat these recent Macbooks as the worst ever computer keyboard. :) They were super stiff/uncomfortable to type on, and hella unreliable as well. Plus, the plastic film fatigued/tore/cracked easily.

Also, the Sinclair Spectrum with the silicone rubber keys (which are squishier than an eraser in softness) is probably a strong runner-up...
Click to expand...

Yes I did and they were admittedly worse but also at a very different price point.
 
prism said:
Yes I did and they were admittedly worse but also at a very different price point.
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Very different only when looking back... Old-style computers were actually very very expensive at the time by and large; not so much the ZX81 because it was designed to be offered at a rock bottom price, but other 8/16-bit computers were quite costly. Not to mention PCs; ugh lol.

The Atari 400 launched in '79 at nearly US$550, that'd be about $1900 today, according to an inflation calculator I found on the interwebs. That's more than what Apple charges for all its baseline 13" models; the top of the range 3.1GHz Core i5 offering with 8GB RAM, touchbar and 256GB SSD is a hundred bucks cheaper than the 1.8MHz MOS 6502 CPU, 8kB RAM and no storage Atari from nearly 40 years ago. ;)

The much simpler and more primitive ZX81 launched in '81 in the U.S. it seems, costing a doghair under $150. That'd be $415 today, so not exactly Macbook territory. Of course, it only had 1kB RAM, monochrome low-res graphics, and as I recall, running code on the CPU also blanked out the display. :p
 
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Lennyvalentin said:
Well, did you ever experience the Sinclair ZX81 or Atari 400, with their membrane keyboards? Most likely beat these recent Macbooks as the worst ever computer keyboard. :) They were super stiff/uncomfortable to type on, and hella unreliable as well. Plus, the plastic film fatigued/tore/cracked easily.

Also, the Sinclair Spectrum with the silicone rubber keys (which are squishier than an eraser in softness) is probably a strong runner-up...
Click to expand...

I'd take the ZX81 keyboard over the latest Mac Laptop keyboards any day!! Actually I wouldn't, I'd just buy a thinkpad
 
It's not just people unfortunate enough to own them that think so, either.

In my neck of the woods, even among people who don't typically use or pay much attention to Macs, the 2016/2017 MacBook Pro is "that laptop with the crappy keyboard" or "that laptop you can't plug anything into."

I had a much harder time selling my like-new 2017 MacBook Pro than any of the MacBook Pros I owned before it, and I can only surmise that it's due to the poor reputation of these machines, the keyboard being the primary offender.
 
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Glad I skipped this gen's mbp. Every time I see people complaining about their keyboards and how expensive their laptops are, I am reminded that my decision to wait at least 2 years was wise every time. Are there anyone here with 2016 mbp that never had the keyboard issues and still going strong? Some people claim their keyboard fiasco is blown out of proportion but I wonder if it really is.
 
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prism said:
Yes I did and they were admittedly worse but also at a very different price point.
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Not so sure about that price point difference. If I remember correctly Candy was quite expensive. Of course that was what my dad said, I was 9 years old and learning basic. Candy did not last very long as my TI/99 took my heart and many hours of my time. Ahhh, such a great summer.
 
prism said:
Probably, but my aim was not to get my personal venting drowned in someone else's venting thread.
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Your honesty is refreshing. :D

I had a repeating/unresponsive spacebar myself for a couple of days last year on my 2016 MBP. The keyboard issues I've had resolved on their own. A couple of times I grit my teeth and lived with it and it went away in a couple of days. Other times I did the jiggle move. You press the key down and jiggle it clockwise presumably to crush or knock loose any debris that might be impeding the switch.

The odd thing with my keyboard is that it jammed on me numerous times the first year I had it. In year 2, it's been trouble free so I don't know if the usual advice of rushing to get it replaced immediately is such a great idea.
 
Apple should lend MBP keyboard sufferers MacBooks PRO until they fix this problem.
They should, tell yeee
 
smirking said:
Your honesty is refreshing. :D

I had a repeating/unresponsive spacebar myself for a couple of days last year on my 2016 MBP. The keyboard issues I've had resolved on their own. A couple of times I grit my teeth and lived with it and it went away in a couple of days. Other times I did the jiggle move. You press the key down and jiggle it clockwise presumably to crush or knock loose any debris that might be impeding the switch.

The odd thing with my keyboard is that it jammed on me numerous times the first year I had it. In year 2, it's been trouble free so I don't know if the usual advice of rushing to get it replaced immediately is such a great idea.
Click to expand...

I'm in the same situation! I've lots of trouble but just recently it's working just fine... I'm just waiting for a key to start failing so I can take into a shop.
 
vaugha said:
Are there anyone here with 2016 mbp that never had the keyboard issues and still going strong?
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Yes, me. Pre-ordered 2016 MacBook Pro 15" Touchbar model. Have been using the built-in keyboard probably 50 hours a week since I bought it. No keyboard problems.

Remember the repair rate of the keyboards is reported to be about 12%. Reading these forums, you would think it is was 90%.
 
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poorcody said:
Yes, me. Pre-ordered 2016 MacBook Pro 15" Touchbar model. Have been using the built-in keyboard probably 50 hours a week since I bought it. No keyboard problems.

Remember the repair rate of the keyboards is reported to be about 12%. Reading these forums, you would think it is was 90%.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure how much of the story the repair rate really tells. I have a client with an office full of MacBook Pros. Several of their employees have reported keyboard issues, but none have sought repairs, both because they can't afford downtime, and because the nearest Apple store is 1.5 hours away.
 
poorcody said:
Remember the repair rate of the keyboards is reported to be about 12%.
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If that number is correct, a 12% issue rate is a huge number as far as failure rates go. It underscores the seriousness of the issue, but if you cite that 12% number, most of the mouth breathers are going to flame you for being an Apple fanboi apologist. Yeah, lots of people here seem to think the failure rate is north of 50%.

Even more annoying is that the most vocal and opinionated posters don't even own one of the affected laptops.
 
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throAU said:
... because of the chronic keyboard issues.

How dare we do our homework prior to purchase.
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Shame on you for not running to the nearest Apple Store on the day of release, card in hand :p What's actually annoying is people pretending there is no issue or underplaying it for whatever motive.

Reality is the failure rate of the 2016/2017 Mac's is excessive resulting in court action and Apple forced launch an extended warranty program, non of which is done without good reason. Going forward how Apple actually deals with the keyboard's time will tell...

Q-6
 
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