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What is killing the 2016/2017 MBP Keyboards?

What is killing the 2016/2017 MBP Keyboards?

  • Total voters
    85
Hand_Model said:
I regret buying a MacBook Pro due to the keyboard, and would recommend waiting to purchase a new Apple computer.

A $3,000 computer should have a working keyboard. Poor design.
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I believe this sums up these problems very very well. Stuff happens, things break, computers malfunction. But this kind of keyboard problems on a $3000 machine is simply unacceptable.

After a long time this is the first Apple product which I regret buying. Apple stuff is expensive, but until now I believed I was investing in quality and joy of use. There is no joy just waiting for the keyboard to die all of the sudden, bringing unexpected $700 expenses.
 
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kudos212 said:
THIS thread is ridiculous. This is a perfect example of how overblown this issue is. There is less than 10 people commenting on this one and that's including the 2 moderators. I'm starting to think it comes down to user error.
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We can't rule out some cases of user error or people overreacting to a key occasionally having some issues, but I think there is definitely a problem with the MBP's keyboard. I'm a keyboard enthusiast with over a dozen mechanical keyboards of all types of switches and my average speed on Typeracer puts me in the 99.7% percentile of typists on the site. I know how to type properly and I don't pound my keyboard.

I've had issues too, but thankfully all were short lived ranging from a few hours to a few days. My letter Y started repeating after I wiped down my keyboard. I think I put some excess torque on the keys when wiping them down so I've since been more careful about wiping slowly and applying even pressure when cleaning my keyboard.

I haven't had any keys double on me ever since I changed the way I wipe down my keyboard, but my number 4 did jam without any apparent cause. I was able to fix that by jiggling it and repeatedly pressing it until it unjammed. I was a little worried that I might break the switch, but it came out ok.

I'm guessing dust/debris with some issues with mechanical tolerances as my faulty wiping technique would suggest. In both cases for me, I was able to fix the problems without a keyboard replacement.

While I do think these keyboards are prone to failure, I also think that some people are over dramatizing their issues.
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coolX said:
But doesn't the lack of travel drive you crazy?
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It's not for everyone, but a lot of former haters have found they liked the new keyboard once they got used to it. I'd count myself as one of those. I absolutely abhorred the keyboard when I first got it. I hated it so much, I put an Apple Bluetooth keyboard over the top of it when I wasn't at my desk with my nice mechanical keyboard plugged into it.

Once I started to use it more, I got used to it and I actually like it now. I especially started liking it when I found that I had less hand pain typing on it than on some other keyboards. That really surprised me because I was really worried that the lack of travel would come with a serious RSI penalty for me.
 
My first job after college was working for a large automobile manufacturer. The company would know about poorly designed parts, but blamed customers for abusing the vehicle. Few people had access to the reliability data, but employees could predict after so many miles what parts would fail on the vehicle.

The 2016/2017 MacBook Pro keyboard was not designed properly. Someone in Cupertino must have the data on this...

10% fail within the first 6 months
20% fail within the first 12 months
30% fail within the first 18 months
 
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Well it seems the answer is... Apple if the recent rumours are to be believed. Honestly if they did this just as a sort of transition to a flat touch keyboard, I’m probably saying goodbye to MBPs as that just shows Apple weren’t misguided, but simply don’t care about a good typing experience over gimmicks anymore.
 
rutrack said:
That was the time with best laptop keyboards, that behaved similarly to desktop keyboard, since then all mainstream manufactures moved to island type keyboard and now this ....
Click to expand...
That was the day of the legendary IBM Thinkpad keyboards. Oohhh, I get the chills just thinking of those.
 
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My "b" letter stopped working overnight, literally. I didnt drop or bump the laptop, nor I overheated it.

It just stopped working all of a sudden. No idea why.
 
Koh Phi Phi said:
My "b" letter stopped working overnight, literally. I didnt drop or bump the laptop, nor I overheated it.
Click to expand...

Did it stop working entirely? Is it jammed? I had a few random failures that were intermittent including one key that jammed that I was able to fix by jiggling and pressing repeatedly until it loosened up.
 
smirking said:
Did it stop working entirely? Is it jammed? I had a few random failures that were intermittent including one key that jammed that I was able to fix by jiggling and pressing repeatedly until it loosened up.
Click to expand...

It doesnt seem to be jammed and it hasnt become mushy in any way.

Instead, it simply requires me to punch is much more firmly and dead square in the center for it to register the "click". If I type in a normal fashion, like I would on any other key, it wont print anything on the screen.
 
Koh Phi Phi said:
Instead, it simply requires me to punch is much more firmly and dead square in the center for it to register the "click". If I type in a normal fashion, like I would on any other key, it wont print anything on the screen.
Click to expand...

That’s similar to what happened when I had a jam. Try wiggling it from side to side as you have it firmly held down and then release and press a few more times. Try this several times.
 
rutrack said:
That was the time with best laptop keyboards, that behaved similarly to desktop keyboard, since then all mainstream manufactures moved to island type keyboard and now this ....
Click to expand...

At that time, the Thinkpad's keyboards and the Mac's keyboards were the best! In fact, the very comfortable keyboard was one of the main selling points of the MBP.
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idunn said:
Tim Cook.
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We should have a match with him. If he loses, he resigns and Apple integrates the keyboards, Magsafe and ports that we used to like into new MBP.
 
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hi everyone, it's finally my turn.

while trying too hard to type my thesis, i realised I might have destroyed my space bar. Now one side is stuck but is no longer sticky. Then another few of my keys also very have very strange clicking sounds to them. sigh.

the nearest Genius appointment is on thursday, argh!
 
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Interesting how the poll results were tending more towards "heat" but later "dust" started leading...
I wonder if the 12" MB's have the same issue with dust...
 
Just got back from the Apple Store. They removed and cleaned my keys, which didn't fix the keyboard problems.

I need a new Top Case.

Out of Warranty:
Top Case $399
Labor $79
 
Hand_Model said:
Just got back from the Apple Store. They removed and cleaned my keys, which didn't fix the keyboard problems.

I need a new Top Case.

Out of Warranty:
Top Case $399
Labor $79
Click to expand...

That's pretty low I think, isn't it?

I feel like I've heard $700 thrown around for a top case on a variety of the tech podcasts.
 
Sebastian79 said:
Interesting how the poll results were tending more towards "heat" but later "dust" started leading...
I wonder if the 12" MB's have the same issue with dust...
Click to expand...

I've never bought the "heat" theory.

If it were heat, wouldn't the keys at the top of the keyboard be more affected? That's where the heatsink(s) and heatpipe(s) are located. Particularly the top row letter and number keys.

Instead, we're seeing failures all over the place, even in areas where there is no heat (space bar and b key).

The problem is far more likely a debris/wear issue.
 
My computer is absolutely spotless, the Genius Bar removed my keys and replaced the space bar. No dust or dirt issues, yet my keyboard failed at 15 months.

Out of warranty repair estimate attached.
 
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It's interesting to see all these comments. I had the first gen tbMBP and returned it after a month. The battery died on me and didn't want to deal with repair, etc. I got the second gen in October or November and I have not experienced any issues like the ones everyone mention. It's just OS issues. I love the flatter keyboard by the way - I feel I can type more accurately than before.
 
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