henrybay

GeorgeBMac said:

henrybay said:

The latest MacBook keyboards are quieter and probably more reliable - but they still lack sufficient TRAVEL to type comfortably on. 

In justifying these ultra shallow keyboards, it is amazing how often I read comments like ‘you adapt to them eventually’ or ‘they are not as bad as many people make out’ or ‘they become easier if you persevere with them’.

The contrast with the older MacBook keyboards is stark. People actually enjoyed using them - they made typing a pleasurable experience. We didn’t have to ‘adapt’ to them because they worked so well. I sincerely hope that Apple increases the amount of travel in the fourth generate keyboard. 

I think Apple needs to do more than simply adding travel to the keyboard -- although that would be a biggee...

The MacBooks have gone ultra thin, light and spartan.  And, in doing so they pigeon holed themselves into a niche market that values thin and light (portability) over functionality and incurred a number of compromises that many simply don't want to have to deal with.  

In addition, they have priced many potential MacBook users into cheaper, but more functional Windows machines.

I look forward to Apple putting out a new line of MacBooks targeted at the Mom & Pop user who just wants "a laptop".   Or, another possibility is to give their 2018 iPad a cursor and let it fulfill its promise as a laptop killer.   Or, preferably, they'll do both.  

But, right now $1K+ laptops with crappy keyboards, no ports and many with crappy specs simply aren't appealing to many users.  It's like the MacBook design team are out of touch living in their own little world.  And that was Steve's true genius:   He was able to see both the tech side and the user side and bring them together.  While Apple hasn't lost that ability, their Mac team kinda has...

GeorgeBMac, well summed up! 

The latest MacBook keyboards are quieter and probably more reliable - but they still lack sufficient TRAVEL to type comfortably on. 

In justifying these ultra shallow keyboards, it is amazing how often I read comments like ‘you adapt to them eventually’ or ‘they are not as bad as many people make out’ or ‘they become easier if you persevere with them’.

The contrast with the older MacBook keyboards is stark. People actually enjoyed using them - they made typing a pleasurable experience. We didn’t have to ‘adapt’ to them because they worked so well. I sincerely hope that Apple increases the amount of travel in the fourth generate keyboard. 

If Apple doesn’t increase the travel on its keyboards soon, I will probably move to a product like this Dell. I have been using Apple products for decades, but when they drastically reduced the amount of travel on the keys - the prime interface - I have found the latest MacBooks to be unsuitable for extended typing. 

The other improvements to the MacBook, such as great screen, more power, faster processor, excellent trackpad - are all welcome. But the lack of a decent keyboard is a dealbreaker. 

You forgot to mention that the 2012 MacBook Pro has a fabulous keyboard. The new keyboard is terrible by comparison, with hardly any key travel. 

Thanks Jdw, this is an excellent suggestion. I will certainly be writing to Apple about the shallow keyboard issue. I will also try to write to Tim Cook directly about it - or at least via his secretary. I suspect that he may not be fully aware of MacBook Pro problems because any negative feedback to him would be filtered through layers of bureaucracy (which will tend to put a positive spin on things).