Should I wait with keyboard replacement on my MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2019, Four Thunderbolt 3 ports)

[roman01]

Hello everyone,

I am totally not sure if I should or should not have my keyboard replaced, before the 3 years pass by and the possibility is gone.

Mine is a MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2019, Four Thunderbolt 3 ports), thus the 3rd gen butterfly. I actually grew to love the keyboard! Probably because I'm so protective of the device, I still haven't developed problems, but I am worried if they appear after the replacement period of 3 years. I read that the replacement keyboards installed in Apple Stores are the latest and greatest in terms of fault-tollerance.

Do any of you know more about this or have experience?

Many thanks in advance!

Roman

 

[Christopher Kim]

I had a similar situation with my late-2016 13" MBP (Day 1 of the current design with touchbar/4-TB3 ports). Now, was a bit different in that I had intermittent issues with some stuck keys / missed presses, but it was livable. I also used my laptop 90% in closed clamshell mode with an external keyboard, so it didn't really effect me. I could live with it and hadn't felt it was worth the hassle to get it all arranged and be without the computer for a bit.

But given the outside date for the service program was coming to an end for me, I decided to finally just go through with it and get it replaced while I still could for free (and the turn around was just 24hrs anyways). The kicker of course is that they replace the whole topcase, which includes a brand new battery. Which is a great benefit to get "thrown in".

Now that being said, you'll have to tell the Genius that you're having intermittent problems with it, so it's up to you if you're comfortable with that. But fwiw, they won't try to verify anything with the keyboard (ie. they don't have to see it happening), they'll just inspect your computer for other damage. And generally just put it through. I think Apple knows that they messed up with these keyboards, and so as long as you're respectful / reasonable / nice with the Genius, and don't give them a reason not to help you, it's very likely to be put through. And you "future-proof" yourself for any issues that might come up. And a new battery to boot.

 

[roman01]

Thank you for sharing your experience, Chris. Part of my over-the-top caring style is rarely using the battery, going through a cycle once in two months just to keep it fresh. So no benefit in a new battery, I suppose. Also, I am afraid that any intervention is detrimental.. you know.. they open it up, little wobble here, little wobble there, little twist of a cable, screw tightened a bit too far, and the device is suddenly not the same as when it comes from a factory.

My only reason to have the MacBook touched and the keyboard replaced would be if the new keyboard was more fault tolerant / of different design than what is currently inside. And it may well be a different, improved design which would last far longer, but who knows? Do we have any information on this?

 

[profcutter]

If I’m not mistaken, 2019 was the last year for the butterfly keyboard, it’s rev 3. After that, they moved back to scissor keys, so it’s unlikely there’s a dramatically different new version of the keyboard.

 

[Christopher Kim]

Yes, I agree with @profcutter, pretty sure 2019 was the last revision of the butterfly keyboard. So I think you already have the "newest" version of it already, so the only benefit would be "getting a newer one".

And if you feel your battery is already in good enough shape that the new battery is of minimal value, then I agree may not make sense to go ahead, as there's always a risk that something gets messed up (even slightly) where you could end up being net-negative having done the topcase replacement.

 

[roman01]

Glad you don't judge my fear of getting back a [slightly] messed up device. I actually had such experience with the first unibody MacBook which came back with the top not sitting exactly when closed. Just by a tiny amount, but visible and very aggravating.

I found this on Verge from May 21 2019, which is the date of the release of Apple MacBook Pro 13-Inch "Core i5" 2.4 Touch so I suppose there is no generation 3.1:

Apple is also announcing that it has created yet another iteration of its butterfly keyboard, which will ship on the new MacBook Pros it’s announcing today. Remarkably, the new keyboards will be eligible for the repair program as well. Apple also promises that it will speed up keyboard repair times. You will not be able to just take your MacBook in to have its keyboard replaced if you don’t trust it, of course; it will need to exhibit issues for Apple to fix it.

I am going to the Apple Store Monday with my daughter's MacBook Air 2018 who is now unable to use hers because of the keyboard issues and will ask the staff, though here in Vienna I have never been able to get any info from them other than official statements.

Have any of you guys upgraded since? I wonder what you think of the new scissor switch keyboards? I do like mine better than the old unibody MBP keyboard.

 

[chrfr]

Glad you don't judge my fear of getting back a [slightly] messed up device. I actually had such experience with the first unibody MacBook which came back with the top not sitting exactly when closed. Just by a tiny amount, but visible and very aggravating.

I found this on Verge from May 21 2019, which is the date of the release of Apple MacBook Pro 13-Inch "Core i5" 2.4 Touch so I suppose there is no generation 3.1:

Apple is also announcing that it has created yet another iteration of its butterfly keyboard, which will ship on the new MacBook Pros it’s announcing today. Remarkably, the new keyboards will be eligible for the repair program as well. Apple also promises that it will speed up keyboard repair times. You will not be able to just take your MacBook in to have its keyboard replaced if you don’t trust it, of course; it will need to exhibit issues for Apple to fix it.

I am going to the Apple Store Monday with my daughter's MacBook Air 2018 who is now unable to use hers because of the keyboard issues and will ask the staff, though here in Vienna I have never been able to get any info from them other than official statements.

Have any of you guys upgraded since? I wonder what you think of the new scissor switch keyboards? I do like mine better than the old unibody MBP keyboard.

There's only one revision of the 2019 butterfly keyboard. If you aren't having problems with yours, Apple isn't going to replace it in advance. Supposedly the 2018 MacBook Pros get the 2019 version of the keyboard when they're replaced, but they all have design/manufacturing problems even though the 2019 is supposedly the least unreliable of all of the butterfly keyboards.

 

[me55]

I had the keyboard in my 2018 MBP replaced and the replacement keyboard feels quite different, so I'd believe the rumor that these get a 2019 keyboard.