Last year, an article by Casey Johnston over at The Outline highlighted how the new MacBook Pro keyboard ruined her life, and how she ended up having the entire top half of her out-of-warranty notebook replaced by Apple for $330.
Following up on her piece, Johnston has now revealed that she started getting temporarily dead keys on her MacBook Pro keyboard yet again “for seemingly no reason” only a couple of months after the replacement, which is why she strongly recommends potential buyers to stay away from the new MacBook Pros even on sale (via SixColors).
Here’s what she writes:
“I still had my 2013 MacBook Pro around, so I sold my 2016 MacBook Pro back to Apple’s refurb program, and now I just use the 2013 as my laptop. This old MacBook Pro is still fine, and most importantly, all the keyboard keys work. The new MacBook Pro is gone. When I started working at The Outline, I was offered a choice of a new MacBook Pro or a MacBook Air for my work computer, and I chose the MacBook Air, with its good keyboard that doesn’t break from dust. I’m fully committed to this bit.”
In her follow up article, Johnston also shares a bunch of Tweets from people who’ve dealt with the same issue.
what am i supposed to do when the space bar stops working. WHAT WERE THEY THINKING WITH THIS F??CKING KEYBOARD pic.twitter.com/tFHsLYT49T
— Casey Neistat (@CaseyNeistat)
after much consideration, it’s clear that the new MacBook Pros are bad and should be stopped at all costs https://t.co/sfEji9duhG
— Casey Johnston (@caseyjohnston)
Unfortunately, Apple has not yet issued any statement regarding the issue, and if the problem is remotely as common as it appears to be, it’s about time the Cupertino company recalled the product.
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Apple admit a design flaw? That would ruin Jony! Not going to happen.
You’re using it wrong.
I have an early 2015 13″ MacBook Pro and have been pining for an upgrade. Unfortunately there is no incentive to upgrade to the current model, so I’m going to wait until they come up with a new design.
Maybe I am lucky (knock on wood), but I have only had a good experience with these keyboards ????
I am with you! The new MacBook Pro as been excellent. I have absolutely no desire to downgrade. For those who do not prefer the new model with touch bar that’s fine, but for me the touch bar and touch id were worth the extra cost.
Why do people keep saying there is no “esc key”.
I was offered a new MacBook Pro for work – I asked to get a new 15-inch, Mid 2015 MacBook Pro instead. So happy! Love the keyboard. Love the ports. Even prefer the size of the trackpad – there is such a thing as TOO big. Also love having the “luxury” of a physical esc key! Such a great machine. If it had a touchscreen it would be darn-near perfect.
LOL I keep forgetting the new MacBook doesn’t have an escape key. What a joke! And I say this as a huge Apple fan.
Is it possible this problem is limited to Caseys?
I also know people with these computers with no problems.
I am appreciative of these public reviews because, like the TrashCanPro, Apple will take this into account for the next iteration.
Also side note, I thought the TrashCanPro was a cool computer and would’ve bought one if I had a ton of disposable $$$.
I’m hearing different opinions about it. One half is telling me that even a speck of dust/debris/crumb gets under a key, that key will become useless (i.e. stop working). One person said some of the keys stopped working with him like the internals (butterfly mechanism) broke. I’d like to know how hard he was pressing those keys.
And then there’s the other half saying it works wonders or “no complaints so far”
Personally I like the idea of having a tightly design where crumbs and debris are virtually impossible to get into the keyboard. I tried using it at the Apple Store and it seemed okay. Too soft for my liking though. Very minimal feedback, which is a bit of a shame as I like the feedback on my 2012 MacBook Pro.
Okay, Casey Johnston has less than 40k followers on Twitter and less than 4k on Instagram. She also has a new MacBook Pro with a keyboard problem, which she is proclaiming to be a defect. Now, iPhoneInCanada is helping push the the story.
This is a great example of how meaningless social media can be.
Listen, BenBen the cat has nearly 200,000 followers on Instagram and he has no trouble with the new MacBook. So, who are going to believe, Casey or BenBen the cat?
I had some issues with the keyboard my MacBook (12 in Retina, 2016) but it was quickly resolved with a compressed air can, following the Apple support article that addresses that issue. I assume the MBP keyboard issues are similar.
My keyboard works great as I type this.
A guy at my work had his ‘B’ key stop working on his MBP Pro. This was within a year of purchase. So, I would say this is certainly an issue.
That keyboard really sucks… Their solution is to either blow air (Which doesn’t work) or have them “fix” the problem for 200$…
The real issue here is the 330$ cost to repair it. That’s one quarter the cost of the machine. That’s like charging 5000$ to replace the buttons on a car.
The new keyboard is horrible engineering. People are also complaining of sore joint in the fingers, which makes this keyboard a health issue. Because the keys bottom out, there is nothing to cushion the shock. Outside of this, the reliability is bad. We have sent several in for repair.