Apple reportedly giving up on the infamous Butterfly Keyboard

[Chett_Manly]

Now that the last good MBPs batteries are at the point of explosion time to put out a new good one to win everyone back. Also arguably more evidence of the switch to ARM in 2020. Smaller ARM boards will enable a thicker keyboard in the same thin chassis. 

[SenKa]

1 hour ago, rogerwilco91 said:

My work has several 2008 era MBP and C2D era Thinkpads and man, those things are fantastic to type on! Night and day difference in typing experience between these older machines and the current machines that are on offer.

 

If I could upgrade the CPUs on those older machines, I would, just for the sake of typing experience! I don't care that the screens are worse or that the ports are legacy USB 2.0 ports or have VGA ports. 

 

I use those machines from time to time and every time I typed, a burst of serotonin was injected into my body. So fun to type on them - MBP or Thinkpad. Both companies had something special going on in terms of keyboards at least during that time...

You get it

[Salv8 (sam)]

apple during the butterfly keyboard failure gates:

OOF.mp3

[Loote]

6 hours ago, jasonvp said:

If it's true, it'll be the quickest MBP upgrade I've ever done at two years.  Normally I run them for 4-5 years, but I'll jump at the chance for the old scissor switch keys or something like them.  I knew what I was getting into with this late '18 MBP, but it is terrible to type on.

Keyboard replacement should never mean replacing the whole device. I hope there's going to be some Chinese replacement for the old keyboards with the new technology, if it doesn't exist already.

 

Now that I read this thread, the old Thinkpad does feel nice compared to newer laptops I had used.

[kelvinhall05]

11 hours ago, DrMacintosh said:

My wpm has always been 65. Sure I can burst in the 120 range in a typing test but IRL speeds are much lower, more like a few sentences per minute maybe. It's got nothing to do with the keyboard I use though as that wpm has stayed with me since the 5th grade. 

Well, it does make a huge impact for me.

[LeSheen]

Maybe they can finally go back to more travel. I hate how they feel right now, might as well get a laser projected keyboard since it feels the same anyway. 

Loved my macbook 2012 till the gpu died...

[Commodus]

On 7/5/2019 at 3:52 AM, LeSheen said:

Maybe they can finally go back to more travel. I hate how they feel right now, might as well get a laser projected keyboard since it feels the same anyway. 

Loved my macbook 2012 till the gpu died...

Sounds like that's the goal.

 

MacBooks from the 12-inch model onward honestly feel like they were designed for the sake of ideological purity rather than function.  If the leaks/rumors are right, Apple is realizing that it has to strike a balance, that a slimmer laptop means nothing if you don't enjoy using it.  Now, if it can axe the Touch Bar and maybe throw in an SD card slot...

[Chett_Manly]

2 hours ago, Commodus said:

Sounds like that's the goal.

 

MacBooks from the 12-inch model onward honestly feel like they were designed for the sake of ideological purity rather than function.  If the leaks/rumors are right, Apple is realizing that it has to strike a balance, that a slimmer laptop means nothing if you don't enjoy using it.  Now, if it can axe the Touch Bar and maybe throw in an SD card slot...

 

Yeah I don't think they are actually having that epiphany of function over form, but rather just utilizing the space provided by the switch ARM that has long been talked about. Intel knows they are losing their Mac sales by 2020. https://www.tomshardware.com/news/apple-mac-arm-cpus-2020-intel,38668.html

With ARM chips taking up less space, and engineered completely by Apple, they can better fit in a decent keyboard in the same size or smaller chassis. 

[LeSheen]

On 7/6/2019 at 3:40 PM, Commodus said:

Sounds like that's the goal.

 

MacBooks from the 12-inch model onward honestly feel like they were designed for the sake of ideological purity rather than function.  If the leaks/rumors are right, Apple is realizing that it has to strike a balance, that a slimmer laptop means nothing if you don't enjoy using it.  Now, if it can axe the Touch Bar and maybe throw in an SD card slot...

I don't really mind the touchbar. However the missing function keys made me furious when trying to set up linux for a colleague.

[captain_to_fire]

On 7/6/2019 at 9:40 PM, Commodus said:

Sounds like that's the goal.

 

MacBooks from the 12-inch model onward honestly feel like they were designed for the sake of ideological purity rather than function.  If the leaks/rumors are right, Apple is realizing that it has to strike a balance, that a slimmer laptop means nothing if you don't enjoy using it.  Now, if it can axe the Touch Bar and maybe throw in an SD card slot...

I think Apple should just axe the entire MacBook line as it simply doesn’t make sense from a price to performance point of view. For $1300, you can get a ntb- MacBook Pro 13” with a U-series core i5 than a meager core m3 from the MacBook. 

 

If I were Apple, I’d bring back the 2009 polycarbonate MacBook design minus the optical drive, Firewire 800, ethernet port, USB A and throw in a M.2 SATA SSD (not NVME) and at least two USB C ports. 

[79wjd]

1 hour ago, comander said:

I have an older macbook... 

I prefer USB-C on my laptops. I can use it with my battery bank, I can use pretty much ANY cable for it, my headphones and my phones... 

Ohh, and I don't need to worry about cleaning the contacts periodically. The MagSafe design gets dirty easily. 

Not once in 13 years of owning a Mac has the charging port gotten too dirty to work. Do you literally live in a zoo?

 

I still prefer USB-C for the versatility as you mentioned, but there are a ton of ways to have both. Namely, keeping magsafe while also allowing charging over USB-C. Or even simply including a magsafe to USB-C adapter (https://www.amazon.com/Magnetic-Macbook-Basevs-Devices-6-6FT-Sliver/dp/B07863DZ4D/ref=asc_df_B07863DZ4D/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=309777534894&hvpos=1o2&hvnetw=g&hvrand=18322197331675765352&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9003534&hvtargid=pla-570480397890&psc=1&tag=&ref=&adgrpid=58425267301&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvadid=309777534894&hvpos=1o2&hvnetw=g&hvrand=18322197331675765352&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9003534&hvtargid=pla-570480397890).

[mr moose]

I just wish laptop manufacturers would go back to offering solid designs.  Not these flimsy, bendy, breaky pieces of broken shit.  not everyone wants it to be as thin as a hair, some of us actually need robust products so we don't break them every second year.

 

For reference I am typing this on a 2011 i5 aspire, I upgraded the hdd to SSD and thing performs as solidly and faster than the day it shipped form the factory. 

 

 

[79wjd]

 

52 minutes ago, captain_to_fire said:

If I were Apple, I’d bring back the 2009 polycarbonate MacBook design minus the optical drive, Firewire 800, ethernet port, USB A and throw in a M.2 SATA SSD (not NVME) and at least two USB C ports. 

That piece of shit should never come back into existence.

[captain_to_fire]

17 minutes ago, 79wjd said:

-snip-

You can't deny the fact that of all the MacBooks Apple made, it's the most serviceable. It was also the time when Apple would give you $100 iTunes gift card for buying a Mac if you're an eligible student.

[Nowak]

1 hour ago, comander said:

I have an older macbook... 

I prefer USB-C on my laptops. I can use it with my battery bank, I can use pretty much ANY cable for it, my headphones and my phones... 

Ohh, and I don't need to worry about cleaning the contacts periodically. The MagSafe design gets dirty easily. 

Nothing saying you can't have a laptop with both USB-A and USB-C. Plenty of laptops out there with those.

[Commodus]

2 hours ago, captain_to_fire said:

I think Apple should just axe the entire MacBook line as it simply doesn’t make sense from a price to performance point of view. For $1300, you can get a ntb- MacBook Pro 13” with a U-series core i5 than a meager core m3 from the MacBook. 

 

If I were Apple, I’d bring back the 2009 polycarbonate MacBook design minus the optical drive, Firewire 800, ethernet port, USB A and throw in a M.2 SATA SSD (not NVME) and at least two USB C ports. 

Ick, no thanks!  I still remember that design.  I have a soft spot for it to some degree, but it also had issues with trim flaking off (not widespread, but it happened) and discolouration.  I'd really just like Apple to address the keyboard, cooling and expansion.

 

I do agree that the current lineup is a bit of a mishmash though.  It feels like Apple should simply cut the 12-inch MacBook outright, make the Air (preferably with a price cut) the entry point and simplify the MacBook Pro lineup a bit.

[suicidalfranco]

4 hours ago, Commodus said:

I do agree that the current lineup is a bit of a mishmash though.  It feels like Apple should simply cut the 12-inch MacBook outright, make the Air (preferably with a price cut) the entry point and simplify the MacBook Pro lineup a bit.

or just put the 12" macbook as the 12" macbook air entry point, keep the macbook air as is, set the 13" macbook pro as the macbook, make the 15" macbook pro the base in the pro line with better cooling than what it has in it's current form, bring back the 17" form factor for the top of the line in the pro line and call it a day

[xtroria]

I’m hoping the new gen keyboard is going to have the same stable feeling with the current butterfly switch

[captain_to_fire]

2 hours ago, suicidalfranco said:

bring back the 17" form factor for the top of the line in the pro line and call it a day

Rumor has it that Apple will bring a 16” Pro laptop https://9to5mac.com/2019/06/24/new-16-inch-macbook-pro-rumored-to-launch-in-fall/ 

2 hours ago, suicidalfranco said:

or just put the 12" macbook as the 12" macbook air entry point, keep the macbook air as is, set the 13" macbook pro as the macbook

I like the current form factor of the MacBook Air but hopefully with 4c/8t option. Some OEMs managed to do it in a similar form factor, I’m sure they can. 

[Video Beagle]

I like the keyboard on my 2007 MBP.

[Commodus]

Well, the butterfly keyboard isn't quite dead yet: Apple updated the MacBook Air and starter 13-inch MacBook Pro today.  Still the same keys, but they're at least more compelling (including quad-core on the base MBP, finally).  And the 12-inch MacBook is gone.