4 ms·

> key travel 2019 1mm vs. 2015 1.3mm The comparative overall height of the keyboard modules is more than 0.3mm different, and the new computers are dramaticall

> key travel 2019 1mm vs. 2015 1.3mm The comparative overall height of the keyboard modules is more than 0.3mm different, and the new computers are dramatically thinner and lighter than the previous ones. The overall effect is a substantial improvement. I don't use the touchbar too much, but it is a moderate improvement over F keys for me (I appreciate the return of a physical escape key). Subjectively these two keyboards are pretty similar (I slightly prefer the previous ones). Scissor switches are all pretty mediocre; the shape to fit in a laptop just forces very sharp compromises on the design. I also think making the key tops larger was a mistake, but it is also a relatively marginal difference in practice. Part of the goal may have been to increase the space available for international legends. (That's why IBM and every other vendor increased desktop-keyboard keytop size and switched from a spherical to cylindrical shape in the 1980s.) In terms of typing experience alone, I like the Apple laptop keyboards from circa 2002 better than any of the laptop keyboards since. And the Mac Portable keyboard from 1989 is way better. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_Portable https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_Portable * * * Edit: in response to: > TrackPad, being too large in Post 2015 models causing much higher false positives Let me highly recommend getting a Japanese language keyboard, which looks like this: http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com/#/gists/da70b0140c8a29b34cad7c28ef8b3f95 http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com/#/gists/da70b0140c8a29... ... and then remapping the letter keys to be wider separated, along the lines of: http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com/#/gists/a578960e19e2c95654e4f79b9bbe6501 http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com/#/gists/a578960e19e2c9... Moving your left hand slightly left and your right hand substantially to the right relative to a typical US-ANSI keyboard will keep you from accidentally palm-swiping the trackpad.

funcDropShadow 6y ago
For someone who has worked as a travelling consultant for almost ten years, I couldn't care less about thinness. Obviously I don't want to carry any bricks around. But the thickness of 2013 models was totally fine for me. It allows for even more battery packs and room for cooling, as well as an Ethernet port. Shocking. There used to be laptops that actually included Ethernet ports, without any Thunderbolt dongles, that become finicky if you plug and unplug them everyday. /sarcasm off
- jacobolus 6y ago
  Personally I think the versions with 4 USB type-C ports are great and can't wait for peripheral devices to catch up; several versatile ports is much better overall than the mishmash of different types of special-purpose ports for peripherals, displays, networking, charging. Anything that needs a particular legacy port can be done just fine via dongle. It is unfortunate that some laptops have only 2 USB type-C ports though. The batteries are bottlenecked on FAA limits, not laptop thickness. And in future Mac laptops with ARM chips, cooling is no issue.
  - smartbit 6y ago
    > The batteries are bottlenecked on FAA limits passengers may also carry up to two spare larger lithium ion batteries (101-160 Wh) https://www.faa.gov/hazmat/packsafe/more_info/?hazmat=7 https://www.faa.gov/hazmat/packsafe/more_info/?hazmat=7 100Wh internal battery like the 16” MBPB + 2x160Wh, I don’t see an issue with FAA rules.
    - ksec 6y ago
      >100Wh internal battery like the 16” MBPB Which is what the parents meant. We dont need thicker laptop for bigger battery because we already hit that limit. And with lots of battery improvement coming in the next 5 years they could have made the same 100Whr battery smaller without sacrificing other features.
  - funcDropShadow 6y ago
    When everything is connected via USB type-C you have to trust way more. Currently, I don't have to trust the outlet in the wall, since it only has two or three connectable lines, and I plugin my vacuum cleaner, I am pretty sure it will only transfer energy, no data. But in a speculative future with USB type-C connected vacuum cleaners and USB ports installed in the house, I'll always wonder whether there is some backdoor somewhere in the house, that infects the firmware of my vacuum cleaner. I know this sounds like paranoia, it is not. I used to know that a sd-card connected to the sd-card reader doesn't send key strokes to my computer or uses my network to phone home. In a world where everything is connected via USB type-C those kinds of assumptions are pure speculation. And don't get me started on the different kinds of cables for USB type-C.

funcDropShadow 6y ago

For someone who has worked as a travelling consultant for almost ten years, I couldn't care less about thinness. Obviously I don't want to carry any bricks around. But the thickness of 2013 models was totally fine for me. It allows for even more battery packs and room for cooling, as well as an Ethernet port. Shocking. There used to be laptops that actually included Ethernet ports, without any Thunderbolt dongles, that become finicky if you plug and unplug them everyday. /sarcasm off

jacobolus 6y ago
Personally I think the versions with 4 USB type-C ports are great and can't wait for peripheral devices to catch up; several versatile ports is much better overall than the mishmash of different types of special-purpose ports for peripherals, displays, networking, charging. Anything that needs a particular legacy port can be done just fine via dongle. It is unfortunate that some laptops have only 2 USB type-C ports though. The batteries are bottlenecked on FAA limits, not laptop thickness. And in future Mac laptops with ARM chips, cooling is no issue.
- smartbit 6y ago
  > The batteries are bottlenecked on FAA limits passengers may also carry up to two spare larger lithium ion batteries (101-160 Wh) https://www.faa.gov/hazmat/packsafe/more_info/?hazmat=7 https://www.faa.gov/hazmat/packsafe/more_info/?hazmat=7 100Wh internal battery like the 16” MBPB + 2x160Wh, I don’t see an issue with FAA rules.
  - ksec 6y ago
    >100Wh internal battery like the 16” MBPB Which is what the parents meant. We dont need thicker laptop for bigger battery because we already hit that limit. And with lots of battery improvement coming in the next 5 years they could have made the same 100Whr battery smaller without sacrificing other features.
- funcDropShadow 6y ago
  When everything is connected via USB type-C you have to trust way more. Currently, I don't have to trust the outlet in the wall, since it only has two or three connectable lines, and I plugin my vacuum cleaner, I am pretty sure it will only transfer energy, no data. But in a speculative future with USB type-C connected vacuum cleaners and USB ports installed in the house, I'll always wonder whether there is some backdoor somewhere in the house, that infects the firmware of my vacuum cleaner. I know this sounds like paranoia, it is not. I used to know that a sd-card connected to the sd-card reader doesn't send key strokes to my computer or uses my network to phone home. In a world where everything is connected via USB type-C those kinds of assumptions are pure speculation. And don't get me started on the different kinds of cables for USB type-C.