David Hanak After months of complaints from owners and several class action lawsuits, something is finally starting to happen. It appeared on Apple's website over the weekend official announcement, in which the company acknowledges that a "small percentage" of MacBooks may suffer from keyboard problems, and those who have these problems can now have them resolved with free service intervention, which Apple is now offering through its official stores or through a network of certified services.
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Patrik Siwek Apple's press release says that there is a "small percentage" of users who are having problems with the keyboards on their new MacBooks. These users can therefore turn to the official support of Apple, which will direct them to an adequate service. Basically, it is now possible to have a MacBook with a damaged keyboard repaired for free. However, there are several conditions attached to this promotion that owners must meet in order to be eligible for the free service.
First and foremost, they must own a MacBook that is covered by this service event. Simply put, this is all MacBooks that have the 2nd generation Butterfly keyboard. You can see the complete list of such devices in the list below:
- MacBook (Retina, 12-inch, Early 2015)
- MacBook (Retina, 12-inch, Early 2016)
- MacBook (Retina, 12-inch, 2017)
- MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2016, Two Thunderbolt 3 Ports)
- MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2017, Two Thunderbolt 3 Ports)
- MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2016, Four Thunderbolt 3 Ports)
- MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2017, Four Thunderbolt 3 Ports)
- MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2016)
- MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2017)
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Amaya Toman If you have one of the machines mentioned above, you can request a free keyboard repair/replacement. However, your MacBook must be completely fine (except for the keyboard, of course). Once Apple detects any damage that prevents replacement, it will first address that (but not covered by the free service) before repairing the keyboard. The repair can take the form of replacing individual keys or the entire keyboard part, which in the case of new MacBook Pros is almost the entire upper chassis together with the batteries that are stuck to it.
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If you have already contacted the service with this problem and paid for an expensive post-warranty replacement, contact Apple as well, as it is possible that they will reimburse you in full. That is, only if the repair took place at an authorized service center. The keyboard replacement service will last for a period of four years from the initial sale of the MacBook in question. It will end this way first in the case of the 12″ MacBook from 2015, i.e. around next spring. All those who have a problem with the functionality of the keys, whether it is their jamming or the complete impossibility of pressing, are entitled to the service. With this step, Apple is obviously responding to the growing waves of dissatisfaction regarding the new keyboards. Users complain a lot that a tiny amount of dirt is enough and the keys are unusable. Cleaning or even repairs at home are almost impossible due to the delicacy of the keyboard mechanism.
Has anyone filed a class action lawsuit against that hellish piece of shit called a touchbar yet? And the scary keyboard below it? So that Apple would finally think about it and calmly offer a laptop without that horror as a fat extra, but with a normal F1-F12 keyboard and with thumbsticks with a normal stroke and spaces, so that it can be controlled blindly, as with the successful previous models...