henrybay

GeorgeBMac asked the KEY question here, which is "Would you buy a MacBook if it was running Windows 10 instead of MacOS and part of Apple's ecosystem?"

The answer for most people is probably NO. This is why we should be circumspect about the relatively buoyant sales figures for MacBooks, which are boosted by the fact people are locked into the Apple ecosystem.

In fact, this ecosystem advantage has enabled Apple to get away with some terrible design decision (including the atrocious ultra shallow butterfly keyboards). 

Worst of all, the successful ecosystem has blinded Apple executives to weaknesses of their hardware. They assume, ‘Wow, look at the sales - people must love our hardware!’ When the reality is that software innovation has been driving Apple for years now. 

Yes, Apple does offer more choices of MacBook now. But the trouble is, they all have the same horrible keyboard with hardly any travel. 

What's really weird is that Apple keeps promoting their new butterfly keyboards as '4 times more stable' than the older versions.

Yet, in all my years of using MacBooks - and working with other MacBook users - I have never once heard anyone complain about keyboard stability.

In fact, what is keyboard stability? Is there really such a thing? All I know is that the older MacBook keyboards are extremely easy and enjoyable to use - and very accurate.

I suspect that Apple just wanted to make their keyboards as thin as possible - and then retrofitted 'stability' as a rationale for doing so.   

MauiMac5341 said:

from henrybay:

I have tested the keyboards (but don't own one yet - still happy with my 4 yo MBP), and they seem fine, any new keyboard takes a bit to get used to, but that takes a few days, then you are over it.  and your wrong - the best keyboard is the apple magic keyboard!

Agreed, the Apple Magic Keyboard is very good - but that's because it has a sufficient amount of key travel. The new butterfly keyboards have barely any. They feel like typing on an iPad.

Regarding your point about Apple's consumer testing - Steve Jobs was famous for saying he didn't trust it because 'It's really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don't know what they want until you show it to them.' I suspect that Apple believes that consumers will eventually get used to its ultra shallow keyboards - in the same way that airlines hope that passengers will get used to less legroom. The passengers just don't realise they really want less legroom because they haven't appreciated the importance of feeling snug.

This whole keyboard problem could be avoided if Apple increased the key travel by just a few millimetres. it's not rocket science.

How can the new MacBook keyboard be better than the old one? Give me a break. There is virtually zero key travel! The old MacBook Air had one of the best keyboards ever - millions of users around the world didn’t just like it - they loved it.

The only reason Apple persists with this ridiculously shallow butterfly keyboard is because they have invested so much money into the project and are too proud to admit they made a mistake. 

Watch the numerous youtube video reviews of the new MacBook Air and notice how lukewarm the reviewers are towards its keyboard. None of them rave about it - they just tolerate it. Hardly a glowing endorsement. 

Apple designers your new butterfly keyboard is too S H A L L O W. It needs more key T R A V E L. No amount of silicon glue will fix this problem - it needs to be redesigned.