7 ms·
Posting this from my six month old Macbook Pro 15" on which the spacebar has just started doing double spaces. Going to try and clean it with compressed air, bu
by tomduncalf 9y ago
Posting this from my six month old Macbook Pro 15" on which the spacebar has just started doing double spaces. Going to try and clean it with compressed air, but even if that works, it's unacceptable in my opinion that such a key piece of hardware on such an expensive machine should be so fragile.
The fact that at some point I'll have to take it back to Apple and probably be without it for several days due to the complexity of the repair makes this 10x worse - I am freelance so need this machine for work, so being without it (especially for such a seemingly trivial reason) is unacceptable and absolutely not what I expect when I buy Apple (previous Macbooks have worked for years without a single issue).
If they release a redesign, I'd swap it in a flash (I do actually quite like the keyboard to type on otherwise, but seems like the quest for thinness has gone too far this time!), but if this problem is as widespread as it seems who knows what it will do to resale values.
Would be great to get talk of this spreading as far and wide as possible, as judging by anecdata on Twitter and elsewhere, I am far from the only one with these kind of issues, and to me that implies a fairly major design flaw.
- jaytaylor 9y agoIt's unlikely to take days. A few months ago they replaced a broken key cap for me in about 20 minutes.
- mthoms 9y agoMine took a few days FWIW.
- dzhiurgis 9y agoMine took 3 weeks, but it was Christmas & NY closure.
- shabble 9y agoIf it's just a keycap (and maybe even the butterfly mechanism) that shouldn't be too bad. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KuVvb9DTaU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KuVvb9DTaU (from about 5:20) talks a bit about what's involved in an actual keyboard replacement, if you ignore some of the histrionics. I think from what I've heard that for actual replacements, Apple will swap out the whole 'top case' subassembly, which could be a 4-500$ part if it's not covered under warranty.
- cjarrett 9y agoThat is what happened to me. The entire top case had to be replaced. Luckily under warranty, however.
- cjarrett 9y agoI had a key stick within two weeks. They had to completely replace the keyboard, it took over a week (IIRC). Fairly silly for a single key to cause such a massive repair.
- williamstein 9y agoMy wife's MBP 15" has exactly the same problem. All of my modern Macbook keyboards have stopped working, and I've completely given up on Apple laptops, switching two a Pixelbook with Crouton, which is excellent. I use browserstack for cross platform browser testing.
- sdhgaiojfsa 9y agoI try to keep spares of anything mission critical. I get that computers are expensive, but you owe it to yourself to make sure that your productivity cannot be broken by a single object's destruction or absence. (That doesn't mean you need a spare new macbook pro. An older device that is maintained, and a good environment setup process, is sufficient.)
- tomduncalf 9y agoI do have a spare, but really I shouldn't have to invest time in setting it up over such a seemingly trivial issue.
- car_invasion 9y agoExpensive things can break too, or even arrive DOA which has happened to me.
- NetOpWibby 9y agoI’m experiencing this issue with my B key and it’s annoying af. I use my MBP in clamshell mode with an external keyboard and I dread going mobile.
- tomduncalf 9y agoAny ideas on how to get Apple’s attention on this issue welcome! Was wondering if there is any value on setting up a simple site where people can comment if they’ve had issues, just to help illustrate the scale of the problem...
- NetOpWibby 9y agoI'm sure if one of us creates a site and shares it here it'll gain traction. I like clever domain names, so I just registered mbp.wtf from Gandi. If you have recommendations on a lightweight commenting system, I'd love to hear it! I can crank out a site fairly quickly but I also want it to be as low-maintenance as possible.
- tomduncalf 9y agoHa I like the domain! Will have a little think and get back to you :)
- wilwade 9y agoI had the issue with the doubling with the b key as well. Mine was out of warranty, so I fixed it myself. Failed: compressed air Failed: cleaning under the key. Success (but not recommended) I removed the key, then pulled off the glued membrane. Cleaned all with 90% alcohol. Took a new membrane (but you might be able to use old) and used E6000 and a toothpick to glue it back. Replaced butterfly and key. Not a good solution, but it worked. It looked like the contacts were getting coated and not making good contact? Perhaps heat? Best of luck.
- NetOpWibby 9y agoI am not confident in my ability to do that but it's good to know there is a solution if I get desperate enough. My mechanical keyboard is saving my life right now.
- wyclif 9y agoI'm using a new 2017 MBP w/o the touchbar. So far, no issues with the keyboard. But here's another thing to consider: with earlier MBPs and ThinkPads with better keyboard design, I would occasionally used compressed air to blow out the dust from under the keys. The bad thing about the new design is that I'd hesitate to do this now, because you could actually cause the keys to die by accidentally blowing dust under a key. Apple: you need to go back to the drawing board and redesign the keyboard. Stop chasing thinner/lighter. The keyboard is the primary interface programmers use. It should be sturdy enough, and have enough key travel, to hold up for the life cycle of the laptop.
- steindavidb 9y agoMy SO and I have three MBPs between us. Two have had keyboard failures (one the "8" key, the other the space bar). Both took about a week for Apple to repair.