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What's everyone's thoughts on the new MacBook Pro keyboard?
- Thread starter TSE
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I loved the butterfly keyboard feel. I felt more 'connected' when typing - but only for short stints. Long sessions with that keyboard introduced fatigue in my hands. I have not had that with the replacement design at all so I think it was a good thing that they made the change. However, I will say that the 2020 M1 Air/Pro keyboard feel slightly more 'tighter' than in the 2021 M1 Pro's but at the end of the day no significant difference.
I've noticed that the alpha keys are have a more dampened sound while the non alpha keys, and in particular the shift keys, are very rattle-ly sounding. I checked out a few display models and they all showed similar behavior to different degrees. Very odd.
After a few weeks of usage on my 16" M1M, I have to say I absolutely love this keyboard. A big step up from the butterfly keyboard. I have a 2014 15" (the unibody and retina era appear to be sainted by most users) and occasionally have had to use it recently. I must say, that keyboard now feels a lot mushier to me compared to the new one. I think this new magic keyboard is a nice blend and really a treat to use.
There's a difference between the new MBP keyboards and the recent 'magic keyboard' - as on the 2020 pros/airs.
If you rest your fingers on the 2020 M1 Air 'magic keyboard' and try to wiggle the keys without actually pressing a key, there's a very slight but perceptible 'wiggle'.
if you do the same think on the 2021 MBP - that feeling is not there. It 'feels' more solid.
Does anyone else feel/notice that?
If you rest your fingers on the 2020 M1 Air 'magic keyboard' and try to wiggle the keys without actually pressing a key, there's a very slight but perceptible 'wiggle'.
if you do the same think on the 2021 MBP - that feeling is not there. It 'feels' more solid.
Does anyone else feel/notice that?
It doesn't seem to me that way, a lot of keys wiggle, and then there is this issue with some keys confirmed by a lot of users:
New MacPro 14 inch Keyboard Issue
I'm wondering if anyone else is experiencing this issue and/or if this is normal. In addition to having the keyboard backlight issue that appears to be common, where some keys have some light leakage from the bottom in an uneven way, I'm also having an issue where some keys click or sound...
forums.macrumors.com
MBP 14" defective keyboard?
Has someone noticed some strange noises when gently touching, without actually pressing, certain keyboard keys on the new MBP 14" keyboard? On mine I have this strange noise on 50% of the keyboard's keys. On some of them it is more evident. It's not that easy to explain, it is as if the key has...
forums.macrumors.com
I myself love the keyboard. At first I thought it might be a bit loud, but got used to it. But then again, a friend of mine was working with me and said he was a bit bothered with the loudness of this keyboard, so might not be to everyone's taste. But to me it feels great (I prefer it to my 2015 MBP or to the standalone magic keyboard) and it looks very pretty!
It's perhaps very slightly better than my Intel 16" but I'd have to chmpare them side by side. Good enough, nothing special.
I've used a lot of MacBook (Pro/Air) keyboards over the years and I have to say that the 14" keyboard is the best I've ever used.
I appreciate Apple's willingness to take risks with the 2016 - 2019 MacBook Pros - I think a lot of what they learned from it allowed them to pull back on some of the decisions and made the current MacBook Pros the perfect balance between lifestyle, design, and functionality.
1. Slimmed it down to insane levels like the OG 15" being 4.0 pounds - if thermals allowed for it, nobody would be complaining about lighter devices. But I'm glad Apple has made the MacBook Pros as small as possible without throttling.
2. The Touchbar (in theory a blank canvas for software that developers just never put the effort in to take advantage of).
3. USB-C only (still would prefer this route for this, honestly)
4. And most of all, the butterfly keyboard - PERFECT for short bursts of typing - it flew through short messages to family & friends but the engineering was flawed, and if you typed longer than short bursts, the typing experience was actually inferior and quite annoying. It was a feeling I couldn't describe unless I used it again.
My current 14" MacBook Pro keyboard is the perfect balance between the butterfly "clickiness" and the traditional depth and tactile feel of previous laptop keyboards.
Failed as in the 14" MBP thinks that the 'Function' key and 'Option' key are pressed (engaged). Bassicly the key board is useless under these conditions. Apple repair removed the key and confirmed there was not liquid damage. Just a faulty key board.
I went through this with a 2017 butterfly key board on an 13 Mac Pro. Shocked that I am back in this position again.
Not to be obvious - but did you try the option in: System Preferences - Keyboard - On the keyboard tab: "Use F1, F2, etc keys as standard function keys"?
I'm pretty flexible with my typing experience. I really liked the pre butterfly the most until this. I had to get used to the butterfly when I had it, I was never in love with it, but I didn't hate it either. The last generation keyboard was better than the butterfly, I think I prefer this one the most personally mainly because it is quiet, yet just as tactile as previous versions. The travel seems ideal, and I really do like the black background. It is different than the previous MacBook pros and really gives me a feeling of new I haven't had in awhile.
Nobody seems to realize this, but there are big variations between keyboards within the same MacBook model. I tried 3 different 14" MBPs, and their keyboards all felt very different. And I already noticed this 10 years ago when I bought my former MBP.
The first 14" MBP I tried was soft/mushy. The second was totally lifeless, dead like a sponge (and even more so on the right half of the keyboard). The 3rd is harder, not clicky, but it's better.
The first 14" MBP I tried was soft/mushy. The second was totally lifeless, dead like a sponge (and even more so on the right half of the keyboard). The 3rd is harder, not clicky, but it's better.
Just to document it, this is what a lot of people are referring to regarding different keyboard feelings. It goes from perfect keyboards to faulty ones, such as the one in the video:
You can see that multiple keys have a click noise when gently pressed on their upper corner, that's different from the noise when actually pressed. Some of them are wobbly, others too but without the click noise, others are neither wobbly nor noisy. The wobbliness is harder to document in video.
You can see that multiple keys have a click noise when gently pressed on their upper corner, that's different from the noise when actually pressed. Some of them are wobbly, others too but without the click noise, others are neither wobbly nor noisy. The wobbliness is harder to document in video.
My keyboard does not make this noise. It makes a more muted clack/ thack but certainly not a click like the ones in the video. Would you kindly let me know what exactly is a normal keyboard that we are expecting?
I cannot talk about sponginess.. what I feel is that the keyboard works reliably without typos (as opposed to the 2016 kyboardd).
Just to be clear. If all keys made the same noise I wouldn't be here pointing it out. Maybe the video is not that clear, but all keys behave differently, some making more noise, other less, and around 20% without any "strange" noise at all.
The inconsistency between different keys makes the typing experience bad since very often you aren't sure if the key was actually pressed or the noise you heard was just the "strange" one you hear when gently touching the key. So it's not a "perfectionist" complaint, it is an actual usability issue. Then for sure, from what I've seen on different display units and feedbacks from this forum and on the internet, every keyboard shows a different grade of this issue, while other don't have it at all. I just hope Apple acknowledges it as a first batches production quality issue asap.