Apple will not say if the new MacBook Pro laptops solve the keyboard problem

Apple released new high-end notebooks earlier this week.

The new MacBook Pro models have faster chips, improved displays and the option of adding more storage and RAM.

But there is still a big question: has Apple repaired the MacBook Pro's keyboard that has spawned thousands of complaints, a mea culpa repair program and several class action combinations?

We do not know.

Apple did make changes to the keyboard, but described them in just 10 words:

"Additional updates include … a third generation enhanced keyboard for a more typed silent. "

A difficult choice

This makes the purchase of a new MacBook Pro a more difficult choice for consumers. The 2016 and 2017 models have suffered from a very bad default: dust or dirt could get stuck in the "butterfly" mechanisms of the keyboard and make them unreliable and "sticky".

As Kyle Weins, founder of the independent repair guide iFixit, wrote:

"The fundamental flaw is that these ultra-thin keys are easily paralyzed by particles, dust can prevent the button from squeezing it. Switch or disable the return mechanism. "

This is a real problem!

Earlier this month, Apple recognized the problem by extending the free service for the issue to virtually every MacBook with the "butterfly" keyboard for four years.

Here are the symptoms, according to Apple:

• Letters or characters repeat unexpectedly
• Letters or characters do not appear
• Keys feel "sticky" or do not respond not in a consistent way [19659021] These are pretty boring problems! Personally, I've encountered the problem of "sticky key" on my personal MacBook Pro, and while it's not a problem for me, it's still maddening.

  The new keyboard still uses a butterfly mechanism, and Apple representatives have stated that the new "third-generation keyboard" was not "designed to solve these problems," according to reporters who have had time with the new laptops. before the announcement. Apple says that the sticky key problem only affects a "small" number of laptops.

  But it is quite possible that Apple has quietly corrected or improved the problem with the new design. He has engineers working on patents to prevent dust or crumbs to improve keyboard reliability. And when iFixit bought one of the new laptops and disassembled it, he found a change to the design that included a plastic film that protects the dust or crumbs from the key.

  This could solve the problem. Or maybe not. We probably will not know for sure for a while, or until enough laptops come out in the wild to assemble anecdotal data.

  It would be in the financial interest of Apple to improve the keyboard – it costs money to Apple when it needs to repair one of these keyboards under warranty because it has to replace the battery, trackpad and speakers stuck together, according to iFixit.

  But we still do not know if the new keyboard has corrected the "sticky keys". Apple does not say – it has not returned a request for comment on whether the new MacBook Pro models are covered by the service program.

  All Apple notebooks have a one-year warranty, so it will take a year before Apple makes a decision on the service program, and it can likely rely on repair data for the guide.

  Why Apple can not say anything

  
  Rafi Letzter / Tech Insider
  

  Even though Apple has improved keyboards to solve the "sticky" problem, there are many reasons why it may not tell users, according to trendy blogger John Gruber.

  He writes that it's not in Apple's best interest to say that the keyboards he's still selling have problems. (The low-end MacBook Pro without the touch bar has not been updated this week.)

  But the biggest problem is that admitting an error could give more ammunition to lawyers who file class actions.

  Gruber writes:

  "Marketing-wise, I do not think that they would admit a reliability problem in existing butterfly keyboards (all the more so as they always sell keyboards of second generation in all non-Touch Bar models), and legal (since they face multiple lawsuits regarding the reliability of the keyboard), I do not think that they should admit it .If they tried to solve the reliability issues with noise or not, I think they'd say exactly the same thing today: only that they've made the keyboards quieter, I I do not have any dope yet (but?), but for me, the reason for the optimism is that they call these "Generation" keyboards, not just a quieter version of them. second generation butterfly keyboards. "

  
  Apple
  

  But if silence can be a good thing for Apple, it punishes customers who want to buy a new MacBook Pro. These are not cheap machines – the 13-inch version starts at $ 1799 and the 15-inch model costs between $ 2,399 and $ 6,669 – and for most people who buy them, it's a major purchase that happens only once every few years.

  So, if you are thinking of buying a MacBook Pro now, or you need it, you are facing a scary possibility: If Apple has not improved the overall reliability of the keyboard, this in a year, you can have a keyboard that does not type some letters, and having it repaired could cost a lot of money.

  This is a question that consumers should not have before having spent $ 2,000 on a new laptop, and that is a question that Apple should be able to answer.