Apple launches Keyboard Service Program for MacBook and MacBook Pro

[Arthur]

This must be in response to the multiple class-action lawsuits regarding their flawed ultra-thin butterfly-switch keyboards.

 

Source: www.apple.com/support/keyboard-service-program-for-macbook-and-macbook-pro

 

Apple has determined that a small percentage of the keyboards in certain MacBook and MacBook Pro models may exhibit one or more of the following behaviours:

 

• Letters or characters repeat unexpectedly
  
• Letters or characters do not appear
  
• Key(s) feel "sticky" or do not respond in a consistent manner
  

Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider will service eligible MacBook and MacBook Pro keyboards, free of charge. The type of service will be determined after the keyboard is examined and may involve the replacement of one or more keys or the whole keyboard.

 

Eligible Models

To identify your computer's model and to see if it is eligible for this program, choose Apple () menu > About This Mac. Eligible models are listed below.

 

• MacBook (Retina, 12-inch, Early 2015)
  
• MacBook (Retina, 12-inch, Early 2016)
  
• MacBook (Retina, 12-inch, 2017)
  
• MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2016, Two Thunderbolt 3 Ports)
  
• MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2017, Two Thunderbolt 3 Ports)
  
• MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2016, Four Thunderbolt 3 Ports)
  
• MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2017, Four Thunderbolt 3 Ports)
  
• MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2016)
  
• MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2017)
  

Note: No other Mac notebook models are part of this program.

[FN-GM]

I used to have this issue. Although it hasn't happened in a while.

[Arthur]

It looks like Apple may have actually fixed the dust issue with the new keyboards in their Mid-2018 MacBook Pros.

 

The Great Apple Keyboard Cover-Up

 

We’re in the middle of tearing down the newest MacBook Pro, but we’re too excited to hold this particular bit of news back:

 

Apple has cocooned their butterfly switches in a thin, silicone barrier.

 

This flexible enclosure is quite obviously an ingress-proofing measure to cover up the mechanism from the daily onslaught of microscopic dust. Not—to our eyes—a silencing measure. In fact, Apple has a patent for this exact tech designed to “prevent and/or alleviate contaminant ingress.”

 

Here’s the really good part: I can tell you it’s there, but I can’t definitively prove it’s a reliability fix. After all, Apple told The Verge that “this new third-generation keyboard wasn’t designed to solve those [dust] issues.”

 

Apple is in the middle of several class-action lawsuits for the failure of their keyboards, so of course they can’t just come out and say, “Hey, we fixed it!” That says there was a problem to begin with. But you’ve heard that clever analysis from John Gruber already. I’m just here to posit: the advertised boost in quietude is a side-effect of this rubbery membrane. The quiet angle is, quite literally, a cover up.

 

Tune in next week as we put this membrane through its dust-proofing paces, tear down the rest of the device, and speculate whether this really is a feature—or a secret bug fix impacting millions of consumers.

 

Here’s our video summary of the story so far.

 

 

[rich_tech]

I don't like the newer keyboards on the touch bar versions of the mac and MacBook, they don't have a nice feel when typing to me compared to the older MBP keyboard which I have

[Arthur]

It looks like Apple may have actually fixed the dust issue with the new keyboards in their Mid-2018 MacBook Pros.

Apparently not.

 

The MacBook keyboard fiasco is way worse than Apple thinks

 

Apple keep insisting that only a “small number of customers have problems” with the MacBook keyboards. That’s . This is a huge issue, it’s getting worse not better, and Apple is missing the forest for the trees.

 

The fact is that many people simply do not contact Apple when their MacBook keyboards fail. They just live with an S key that stutters or a spacebar that intermittently gives double. Or they just start using an external keyboard. Apple never sees these cases, so it never counts in their statistics.

 

So here’s some anecdata for Apple. I sampled the people at Basecamp. Out of the 47 people using MacBooks at the company, a staggering 30% are dealing with keyboard issues right now!! And that’s just the people dealing with current keyboard issues. If you include all the people who used to have issues, but went through a repair or replacement process, the number would be even higher.

 

[Bagpuss66]

Apparently not.

 

The MacBook keyboard fiasco is way worse than Apple thinks

 

 

 

Fingers crossed it hasn't happened to my 2017 13" Macbook pro yet, I've got used to the butterfly keyboard design. Bit of a shock at first I do prefer the old style keys that were on my old 2011" macbook pro.

[ewanc1234]

The new keyboards are rubbish, we have sent back every single one of our new MacBook pro's (over 30 of them) for new keyboards.

 

I have had my new 13" MacBook pro a week and the caps lock key is dodgy already!

Edited April 5, 2019 by elsiegee40
Language

[rich_tech]

I don’t get the need to “fix” something not broken, I have the mid 2013 one here, hate the new keyboard compared to it

[Arthur]

Apple tweaks its troubled MacBook keyboard design yet again, expands repair program

 

Apple is announcing an update to its keyboard repair program today. All MacBooks with the so-called “butterfly mechanism” (that’s pretty much all modern MacBooks) will now be fully eligible for Apple’s Keyboard Service Program. The expansion means that a few newer models that weren’t previously covered will be able to get repairs. Unfortunately, Apple is not extending how long that program lasts — it’s still “4 years after the first retail sale of the unit.”

 

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. It 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.

 

Apple has been put through the wringer over the reliability of its butterfly keyboards for the past few years, and rightly so. Although the company stressed again in a call today that the “vast majority” of customers don’t have a problem, all too many of them have had issues with stuck keys that could cause double letters or no letters at all. It only recently began to apologize for the issue, but has also been trying to characterize it as something minor that doesn’t affect that many customers.

 

The amount of evidence we’re seeing on social media, among writers, and on our own laptops is getting to the point where you can’t call it anecdotal anymore, though. So simply expanding the repair program won’t be enough.