“The basic flaw,” wrote Kyle Wiens, “is that these ultra-thin keys are easily paralyzed by particulate matter. We detailed how and why they had engineered their own downfall. Johnston’s issue was the spacebar, which almost nobody, not even Apple’s own techs, could remove without breaking.Īpple made their replacement policy official in June 2018, with a four-year extension on keyboard warranties. Apple’s “fix” was to take her MacBook for days at a time and return it with a new keyboard. In October 2017, Casey Johnston wrote about needing her keyboard fixed three times in one year. An editor I worked with at the time compared it to typing on a pizza box. People who used these MacBooks instead of taking them apart often complained that typing on them was loud and felt crunchy. The Retina MacBook of June 2017 was much the same, but this time spotted a switch with “a new, slightly thinner frame.” Enter the butterfly In our teardown (of the model that still had function keys), we noted that the second version of butterfly keys had a dome switch that “appears to be heftier and better mated to the keycap” than the MacBook.
October 2016 brought the 13-inch MacBook Pro. The butterfly key switch on the 2015 Retina MacBook.īutterfly keys with 0.7 mm travel first showed up in the Retina MacBook of March 2015. We had some reservations about the plastic hinge fatiguing, but were cautiously optimistic that fewer moving parts meant fewer breakdowns. Scissor key mechanism on a desktop (wireless) Magic Keyboard.Īpple’s patent for “Low-Travel Key Mechanisms Using Butterfly Hinges” states that “it is often desirable to reduce the size of electronic devices,” but keyboards “may occupy relatively large portions of the available interior space.” In other words, all that comfortable key travel takes up vertical room that would be better used as … nothing. By Schiller’s own admission, this keyboard was a fan favorite for years, but was Apple satisfied? Of course not.
It evolved into a Magic Keyboard in October 2015. Before there was a “Magic” keyboard, actually, Apple simply called their own take on a scissor-switch input device the Apple Wireless Keyboard. When we lost the Magic A pre-Butterfly-era 2015 MacBook with its keycap removed, and scissor-style switch exposed.īefore there were butterflies, there was Magic. But we have to wonder if a similar outcry could make Apple reconsider making other parts of their esteemed laptop more simple and repairable. Meanwhile, the company has only barely admitted to “some quality issues.” Don’t get us wrong adding function at the expense of negligible size and weight increases is a step in the right direction.
BEST KEYBOARDS FOR MACBOOK PRO FULL
Early reviews are full of Stockholm Syndrome swoon, with high praise for keys that don’t feel or sound bad. Their four-year keyboard hostage negotiation with MacBook buyers seems to have paid off handsomely. Replacing a broken switch mechanism still involves disassembling the whole device, and will likely be painful, but, still: this is a practical move, and one we could not have expected until recently.Īpple’s not exactly surrendering, though. Customers, press, and those of us who care about device longevity have scored a win. These new keys, which are essentially the old keys, have deeper travel, softer sound, and a more robust design.
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