The second generation came with the 2016 MacBook Pro, with a slight update in 2017 to dampen noise.
This is technically the fifth iteration of this keyboard designĪpple’s butterfly keyboards have undergone several revisions since their debut on the MacBook in 2015, but none have managed to fix the underlying reliability issue. A very popular Reddit post from earlier this month lays out the case for the latter. As for what could be breaking those switches on current keyboards, theories run from dust to grit to metal fatigue. So it makes sense that Apple would be iterating on this part and trying to make it as resilient as possible - but it’s also surely true that there’s a limit to how effective that strategy could possibly be. It’s not hard to imagine the world’s tiniest Snapple lid deforming under the kind of stress all laptop keyboards have to endure. They’re just tiny and delicate - they work by popping down and pushing back up “like a really tiny jam lid or Snapple cap,” iFixit notes. What does seem clear, however, is that these metal switches are likely the culprits for many (though probably not all) of the keyboard failures people have been experiencing. Again, it’s a question that Apple could answer at any time.
#New macbook pro keyboard hurts fingers full#
IFixit says that “The difference in surface finish from the 2018 version (left) to the 2019 (right) indicates Apple may be using a revised heat treatment, or alloy, or possibly both.” However, a full analysis of what’s changed will require much more sophisticated equipment than iFixit currently has access to. Apple appears to have made minor changes to these switches in the new keyboard. It’s the thing that makes the electrical contact that registers a keypress. On Apple’s butterfly keyboard, there is a metal dome switch underneath each key.
The second change is even more mysterious. Perhaps it’s better at not allowing dust to get stuck under it? At this point, only Apple really knows for sure. Though why the change might help is anybody’s guess. The newer material is “clearer and smooth to the touch,” according to iFixit. This new material doesn’t change that overall membrane, but instead this is a second kind of polymer that lies underneath it. The company insisted it was there to reduce noise, despite patent filings and service documents confirming that they were intended to protect against debris. Apple began using a silicone membrane inside the keyboard last year. There’s a polymer over the actual keyboard switch that previously was a complex polymer and now appears to essentially plain old nylon, according to an FITR analysis. The first of iFixit’s discoveries is that Apple is, in fact, using a new material inside a component of the key inside the keyboard. The iFixit teardown was necessary to find out what Apple’s design changes were because the company refused to actually explain them beyond telling reporters that it had utilized a “new material.” So the teardown commenced, and the results are subtle enough that it has taken special scientific equipment (and will take even more in the future) to determine the difference. And though it’s much too early to say whether or not those changes will make a difference in improving the keyboard’s reliability, what is clear right now is that Apple is still just tweaking its design instead of overhauling it. The changes seem to amount to a new material underneath the key on the switch cover and a new dome switch that might be more resilient. According to iFixit, Apple made two changes to the new keyboards that are on its just- announced, spec-bumped MacBook Pro.
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