MacBooks still have keyboard problems? I went to two Apple stores to find out

It is very good that Apple wants its customers to take advantage of its brilliant new services, but perhaps not substantial.

Cupertino's equipment, however, has increasingly irritated customers for its unreliability.

This was first the butterfly keyboard of the MacBook. He left more dust under his keys than me under my couch. Everything was supposed to be solved with the new MacBook Air.

Unfortunately, this does not seem to be the case. You know, when Apple apologizes, the situation is serious.

Last week, it was the turn of the iPad Pro to suffer the lamentations of its customers. Some iPad Pro screens have apparently become erratic.

I was wondering if the stores had noticed an increase in the number of complaints expressed in decibels. I was wondering what they would say to reassure the customers.

Are geniuses inundated with machines that introduce unwanted double spaces into the great works of artists? Have they stung more than iPad screens that react by sticking their noses in the air and doing what they want?

So I went to an Apple Store in the Macedonian Bay area, browsed the laptops, until a salesgirl offered her help.

"I hear people complaining that these keyboards are not working very well," I said. "Have not there been any dust problems?"

"It's the opposite," she replied.

Naturally, I felt relieved. Joanna Stern's reading of the Wall Street Journal tapping her horror MacBook Air with misspelled words had made me a headache.

Wait, what did the saleswoman mean by "it's the opposite"?

"There is no way that dust can enter the room because they put an extra layer of plastic to prevent this from happening," says the saleswoman.

"So you do not see customers having problems?"

"Well, they have problems with keyboards being so thin, if you know what I mean," she says.

I tried to see. "Do you mean that the keys do not come down as low as before?"

"Yes, but you're just used to it."

"But you do not bring people here all the time with MacBook problems?"

"We have some, but it's not like if every second MacBook has a problem."

Ah, oh.

We talked a bit about the pros and cons of the MacBook and the iPad Pro with regards to typing. She opted for the 15-inch MacBook, but said some people really preferred the more compact nature of the Pro's keyboard.

Well, try to put some dust under these keys.

"It depends on what you like," she says. I like machines that do not break down and I've been very lucky with Apple products over the years because that just did not happen.

This is why issues such as those recently reported are so disturbing.

So I got back in the car and took my trouble in a second Apple Store.

The perfect answer to sales?

I started: "I hear people complaining that these keyboards are clogging up and start playing."

"Not mine," says the saleswoman.

I've heard about rap sales during my years. It was a new level of disarmament.

"Ah, well … Well, I read that some people say that their keys behave erratically."

"I did not hear that," she replied.

This flagrant stalemate choice was interesting.

"So you did not have any customers coming here to say that their MacBooks had to be repaired?"

"No," she said, before slipping away to explain the difference between the second-generation MacBook Air keyboard and the third-generation MacBook Pro keyboard.

"The third generation is calmer, but they both work very well."

I dared to say that Stern's experience had seemed particularly painful.

"I guess I'll have to catch up on my reading," said the saleswoman. "But as I said, I have not heard of these problems."

I stayed silent for a moment, then thanked her for her help.

"Maybe one or two customers arrived with MacBook problems, but nothing unusual," she suddenly conceded. "In any case, there is a one year warranty and you can still benefit from Apple's assistance."

However, it is unusual to hear of so many complaints even after Apple says it has solved the problem of dust.

How many customers does it take for a hardware problem to become a real hardware problem? Is it by tens, by hundreds or by thousands?

How can customers know if their problem is rare or more widespread?

Apple has sometimes been slow to process reports and even slower to do something about them.

It's not as if the plaintiffs were holding their MacBook on the right track. They complain about something fundamental.

You could expect Apple sales staff to be ready to answer your questions about this. If it's a big concern, that's it.

When leaving the second Apple store, I remembered to ask questions to the salesgirl on the screen of the iPad Pro.

"Is it true that some iPad Pro screens are a little defective?"

"Mine is not," she replied. "And I did not hear anything like that."