javacowboy

DED and many other Apple pundits have blinders on when dismissing just how much of a debacle the various iterations of butterfly switch keyboard have been.

Just to be clear, aside from a few initial instances of errand keypresses (ex:  asssess instead of assess), I've had no issues with actual defects with my late 2016 MacBook Pro keyboard.

However, the experience has been absolutely dreadful while every keypress for years has registered correctly.

I own two mechanical keyboards with Cherry MX Clear switches.  Going back between my external and internal keyboard has been absolutely jarring.

There's a massive difference between half a millimetre of key travel and probably several millimetres of key travel on a mechanical keyboard.  I find typing on this thing so incredibly unpleasant that I can't use it for more than a few forum posts or quick emails.

Once the latest model is available at the Apple Store I'll try out the keyboard.  I really hope they fixed it for good this time!

Not commenting on the original poster but as much as I've been critical of many of Apple's design decisions going all Thunderbolt 3 was a smart move:

a) Adapters are now cheap.  On amazon.ca (which in many cases is *way* more expensive than amazon.com) I can find lots of USB-A to C adapters for $10 CAD.

b) Thunderbolt 3 ports are polymorphic.  This means I can use any given port as either a charger, USB-C, ethernet, DisplayPort, HDMI, or plug into USB-C hubs that I can get for as little as $50 CAD.   This is an impressive degree of flexibility that would be unavailable to me were my laptop wasting space on ports I don't care for, like HDMI.

c) The PC industry is catching up to Apple (receiving far less criticism than Apple did, of course).  For example, the XPS 13 has no USB-A ports, only Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C.

Apple's obsession with thinness is causing them endless problems.

Do pro laptop users (as opposed to consumers) care about thinness?  Well, put it this way:  My work laptop (my employer's property) is a Dell Lattitude running Linux.   It is significantly thicker but the keyboard is amazing.  Yeah, the trackpad isn't nearly as good, but that has nothing to do with thinness.  I'm pretty sure Apple has lost a lot of server-side developers to Linux.

These keyboard experiments have been fraught with hazards.  The best you can say about the butterfly keyboard is that it's "controversial" or "polarizing".