This is NOT a big issue for consumers. Apple is great at keeping customers happy, their 4 year warranty extension for replacing the keyboard shows this.
This IS a business issue. It has a quantifiable effect on profit margins for Apple's macbook, and I would look at it as an investor and see if it effects Apple's valuation in the short and long run.
The Note 7 is a fantastic comparison - the complete recall did not have to happen but did because of design choices from Samsung engineers. It could have been a $200 million dollar issue instead of a $5 billion dollar one.
Similarly, these keyboards did not have to be that expensive to repair or be so prone to damage, but being that way has a snowball effect on repair/maintenance/warranty.
It's also a design decision that they're kind of stuck with. They are not going to go back to their original keyboards (unless they release a mac book pro classic, which I would personally be estatic about) - and so the increase repair costs cutting into their margins is a challenge for them to solve going forward (especially since the brittle-ness is because of the thin design).
Not mentioned in this article is how many people also dislike the feel of the keyboard. Add that to risking an out of commission work machine and it’s a big deal for consumers.
Thanks for mentioning this. I much prefer the older style keyboard.
I used to split my work time coding at my desk and at a "comfortable" location (couch, chair, etc), but the thought of using the new MBP keyboard has me working almost exclusively at my desk with external keyboard.
> Not mentioned in this article is how many people also dislike the feel of the keyboard
Do you have any statistics on that? Anecdotally, almost everyone I've spoken to prefers the new keyboard over the old one, ignoring the key stuck issue.
I didn't have problem with MacBook Pro 2017 keyboard regarding dust. My major problem is, it is noisy. Using it in library is a huge hassle. It totally disturbs everyone around me.
Warranty and free repairs do not mean that it doesn't take time and effort to actually get done. Consumers would very much prefer to not have problems than to constantly get them fixed, even if free.
They’d get a lot less cynicism and a lot more kudos if they didn’t outright deny the problem exists until PR is so against them that they have no choice. They did it with the classic iPhone 4 antenna issue, they did it with the battery throttling, they did it with the keyboards. It’s a pattern by now.
I'm not sure how much a longer warranty will help with keeping customers happy if they have to replace the keyboard every year and be out of service for a week or so while it happens. Heck, I was annoyed enough when my iPhone's battery started swelling and I had to spend two hours at the Apple Store to work through the replacement process. If I had to go without it entirely for a week, I'd have been nuclear angry and the fact that the repair was free would not have been too comforting.
This IS a business issue. It has a quantifiable effect on profit margins for Apple's macbook, and I would look at it as an investor and see if it effects Apple's valuation in the short and long run.
The Note 7 is a fantastic comparison - the complete recall did not have to happen but did because of design choices from Samsung engineers. It could have been a $200 million dollar issue instead of a $5 billion dollar one.
Similarly, these keyboards did not have to be that expensive to repair or be so prone to damage, but being that way has a snowball effect on repair/maintenance/warranty.
It's also a design decision that they're kind of stuck with. They are not going to go back to their original keyboards (unless they release a mac book pro classic, which I would personally be estatic about) - and so the increase repair costs cutting into their margins is a challenge for them to solve going forward (especially since the brittle-ness is because of the thin design).