Item — HN Reader

What a rant (and yes, she is VERY late to the party).

Other than the dust issue which I did have once (and got a keyboard replacement for), I am in the extreme minority when I say that I absolutely love the keystroke feel of this thing (MBP 2016). It's just the right amount of "clicky-clacky" and yet just shallow enough to hit a sweet spot for me.

So yes - they deserve flak for the dust issue. But the key travel and clackiness is really personal taste if you ask me...

8 comments

I agree with you, while I've had both first and second (maybe third if we agree there is a third) of the new gen of keyboards and no problems with any of them - I accept that there has been some sort of design issue causing a higher than 'acceptable' level of faults with them. Regardless as someone who considers themselves a pretty hardcore fan of mechanical keyboards - I for some odd reason enjoy typing on the new ultra low profile keyboards.

I can't fully explain it - it just 'feels' right (after an initial bedding in period), I actually type /very/ fast on these keyboards - comparative to my desktop (with a Das series 4 with blue switches) which I personally found quite hard to admit (even to myself).

Obviously my experience is skewed due to not having any problems with recently low profile keyboards, but I am still quite astonished at how well I am typing not just on a laptop keyboard - but an ultra low profile keyboard.

Same here. I like the feel, and type very fast because of the small travel. I cannot speak about the dust issues, since I haven't had the problem.

Thank you for saying in two sentences what I (likely) failed to say in many.

Das 4 with blue switches at _home_ right, not at work? I think I would be shanked if I ever brought mine in again to the office

Blue switches at work - I do check with in those nearby my every 4-8 weeks (truly!) to see if my typing is annoying anyone, so far in (6 years or so on blues or similar) everyone just laughs and says they’ll let me know if it’s a distraction but this far it’s not to them.

Several people have noted to the theme of the fact that typing has quite a rhythm to it, so it’s not like an intermittent or seemingly random noise thus they don’t seem to find it distracting.

By contrast people would be seriously pissed if someone had a desk phone plugged in or a cell phone with an audible ring tone.

Most developers I've worked next to, don't mind it at all, since they focus on their tasks, flow etc. Most non-developers have told me they would prefer I use something quieter. :)

This comment was gray when I saw it. Why was it downvoted?

HN seems to be becoming like Reddit with such drive-by grudge-voting where everyone just wants the narrative they support to rise up and bury everything else.

It's always been trendy to bash Apple's products, call anyone who likes them a "fanboy", rant about the Reality Distortion Field, etc. etc.

Truth is, things that are actually objectively wrong (like flaky first-gen version of this keyboard) get fixed, and the rest is... subjective. I'm on a MBP with touch bar and I don't have a problem with it. I've never particularly liked any laptop keyboard, and at my desk I always plug in a mechanical keyboard, but I just don't get the pure frothing-at-the-mouth hatred for this thing. It's a laptop keyboard. It's not the best one I've ever used, but it's also nowhere near the worst.

My feeling is that this is the latest iteration of people wanting some particular design choice they disagree with to finally be the thing that opens everyone's eyes and proves that their hatred of Apple was perfectly objective and rational all along. But it never actually seems to, y'know, happen. And every year or two they all move on to writing endless articles about some new thing that will finally be the one that destroys Apple once and for all.

For me the frustration is moving from a machine that never once got in my way or stepped on my toes (the 2015) to one that does constantly. The typos, touch-bar brushes, speaker pops and stuck keys, were they on a machine that I had no prior experience with, probably wouldn't be so frustrating. But, coming from years of reliable use with the previous generation of machines, they stand out immensely and cause major annoyance just because they seem so unnecessary. I was conditioned to expect much more from MacBooks

And I don't have any of the problems you're reporting. If you've got a bad keyboard or bad speakers, they'll replace it. The touch bar doesn't bother me, and there are apps where I find it useful, so we're back to "they'll fix the objective stuff, and what's left is subjective".

Yeah I like it too. I'm on a 2017 MBP. I do have to hit it with a can of compressed air every now and again but otherwise it's great. My wife has a 2015 macbook and same thing, just have to hit it with compressed air occasionally.

> I am in the extreme minority when I say that I absolutely love the keystroke feel of this thing

I do as well and I don't think we're in the minority, there are just a lot of loud people on the internet.

I agree. The only thing I don't like is the arrow key layout. I don't have strong feelings on the touch bar one way or another.

I agree about the arrow keys. I actually find the touch bar quite useful (especially when recording music with Logic Pro). I also love being able to unlock my machine using TouchID.

I have one of the new Apple external keyboards, which I believe have the same keys as the new oft-criticised laptops. (If I'm wrong, please correct me!)

And I like typing on it very much. I previously had the preceding Apple external keyboard which had more travel, and considered getting a mechanical keyboard because 1. it's cool and 2. it's supposed to be nicer to type on, but due to circumstances I got this one and I'm actually quite happy with it. Wondering whether it would've been a good idea at all to try a mechanical one.

Don’t think the external keyboards have anywhere near the same keys. At least the magic keyboard 2 doesn’t. They have a bit more travel, and while not really mechanical they’re satisfactory for daily use.

Another vote for the keyboard and the huge trackpad. The arrow keys are a bit annoying, and I don't really see the point in the Touchbar (but then I use Ctrl-C instead of Esc in vim so it doesn't really affect me much).

You are not alone. I feel the same. One of my fav keyboards in terms of usability.

I, too, love the keyboard! <3