The Great Apple Keyboard Cover-Up

by shriteshon 7/14/2018, 1:01:32 AM with 15 comments
  • by userbinatoron 7/14/2018, 1:58:33 AM

    The fact that the membrane is still vented (labeled 321 in the diagram) suggests that this will only delay, and not fix the dust ingress problem. Indeed, it could make things worse by creating a tiny pump[1] that draws particles in on each keystroke.

    I don't know why they didn't vent from the bottom instead, but that's how completely sealed (i.e. waterproof) keypads are vented.

    [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diaphragm_pump

    Edit: wow, downvotes? Care to explain...?

  • by corey_moncureon 7/14/2018, 3:22:57 AM

    Was the old keyboard engineering so bad? I feel like Apple has been fixing what wasn't broken since about 2010, regarding the MBP at least.

    Literally all they needed to do was retina screen, upgrade the internals, and add a few USB-C ports. Was anyone ever legitimately inconvenienced by the thickness of the 2010 MBP? I know I was directly inconvenienced by the loss of MagSafe, ethernet, SD card and USB-A, the loss of the FN key row, and loss of serviceability.

    So much so that my 2010 MBP will very likely be my last Apple purchase ever.

  • by lancewiggson 7/14/2018, 1:38:20 AM

    They fixed the keyboard, increased the max memory to 32GB and stuck to their guns on the touch bar - and that all seems reasonable to me. (I’m far more annoyed by Microsoft removing ESC as the dbox cancel key for errors in Excel than the disappearance of the ESC key)

  • by madeofpalkon 7/14/2018, 1:42:34 AM

    This is in-line with the the 'under promise and over deliver" mantra I was taught at Apple Retail. Don't make any promises you can't keep, and silently start to fix issues like this.

    Apple having a hardware fix for their keyboard disasters in this revision is also inline with their repair program they just issued.

  • by phil248on 7/14/2018, 1:47:01 AM

    I'm sorry, but are people actually more concerned with the sound of the keyboard than the arrow keys?

    It took me a week to get used to the sound. Six months in and I still can't reliably hit the arrow keys. It's as if they're designed to be as difficult as possible.

  • by sillysaurus3on 7/14/2018, 1:36:11 AM

    My too-expensive 2015 MBP has a nonfunctional keyboard. I have to type using external keyboards, which is quite "fun". Apple wants $500.

    Dragging an old $10 USB keyboard around with you makes you look like you really like mechanical keyboards.

    It's been about a year and a half now. I guess you get used to it.

  • by tcoff91on 7/14/2018, 1:28:04 AM

    I’m curious to know if the membrane improves the feel of the keys. I hate how the butterfly switches feel.

  • by phlyingpenguinon 7/14/2018, 1:37:51 AM

    I’m confused. Are we supposed to be bandwagon mad that Apple took steps to fix their busted keyboard?

  • by dingo_baton 7/14/2018, 1:41:42 AM

    Reading the comment under TFA it seems macbook keyboards have no water resistance? Seems a bit weird for such an expensive device.

  • by smsm42on 7/14/2018, 9:10:37 PM

    I am not sure what they did, but not only on my new 2016 laptop keyboard felt worse, it also broke around half a year in service (shift key just refused to work. Good think there's two of them, but majorly annoying still). I temporarily went back to a 2013 one and my first thought was "man, the old keyboard feels so much nicer"...

  • by bogomipzon 7/14/2018, 2:35:46 PM

    I wonder if the keyboard replacement program Apple announced recently[1] for affected keyboards is replacing them with this newer design?

    [1] https://www.apple.com/support/keyboard-service-program-for-m...

  • by darth_mastahon 7/14/2018, 6:42:13 PM

    Apple cast away Steve Jobs and then came begging for him to come back. He did and steered the company from the verge of collapse to a massive worldwide success. Since SJ passed away, Apple is getting worse each year. I guess this might be Jobs' spirit fading away and people thinking they could do better than him. Clearly, they fall short.

  • by basicplus2on 7/14/2018, 2:20:34 AM

    <Apple has a patent for this exact tech designed to “prevent and/or alleviate contaminant ingress.”>

    This is a pretty sad day that sonething like this can be patented..

    Anything wrapped in a cover can “prevent and/or alleviate contaminant ingress”

    Does any patent office in the world really think nobody has thought of this before?

  • by OnlyRepliesToBSon 7/14/2018, 2:24:36 PM

    How much was this ad?

  • by calimacon 7/14/2018, 3:16:01 AM

    This is SOP for apple across their product lines.