Vratislav Holub Information about potential changes regarding MacBook keyboards has begun to appear among Apple users. The newly acquired patent, which Apple applied for registration back in 2017, specifically talks about them. This patent describes possible changes, challenges and disadvantages of the current solution in relatively detail. But it doesn't matter that much in the final. Technological giants literally register one patent after another, while most of them never see their realization.
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Even so, this is quite interesting information. Apple indirectly shows that its experimentation with MacBook keyboards is not over, on the contrary. He would like to take his keyboards to a new level. Although at first glance it looks like positive news, apple growers are, on the contrary, worried and have a rather fundamental reason for this.
Keyboard experiments
If Apple really bet on a change in the form of redesigned keyboards, it wouldn't actually be anything completely new. The first experiments came in 2015, specifically with a 12″ MacBook. That's when the giant from Cupertino came up with a brand new keyboard based on the butterfly mechanism, from which it promised less noise, less stroke and overall much more comfortable typing. Unfortunately, that's how the keyboard presented itself on paper. Its execution was diametrically different. On the contrary, the so-called butterfly keyboard was highly defective and failed on many devices, when either a specific key or the entire keyboard stopped working. Unfortunately, to make matters worse, it couldn't even be easily replaced. During the repair, it had to be replaced and the battery replaced.
Butterfly keyboard
Apple was left with no choice but to launch a free service program that addressed the failure rate of these keyboards. Even so, he believed in them and tried to eliminate its shortcomings in order to make it a common part of Apple laptops. Although the failure rate gradually decreased, the problems continued to persist to a relatively large extent. In 2019, Apple finally brought a proper solution. Rather than constantly improving its "groundbreaking" butterfly keyboard, it went back to its roots, or back to the scissor mechanism found on all portable Macs since then.
It is for these reasons that some apple growers are afraid of any further experimentation. The mentioned patent even takes the idea several levels further. According to him, the keyboard could completely get rid of physical (mechanical) buttons and replace them with fixed buttons. This means that it would not be possible to squeeze them normally. On the contrary, they would work similarly to the trackpad or, for example, the home button from the iPhone SE 3. The Taptic Engine vibration motor would thus take care of the feedback simulating pressing/squeezing. At the same time, it would not be possible to press the keys in any way when the device was completely turned off. On the other hand, it is also possible that this change would remain exclusive only to selected models, probably MacBook Pros.
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Adam Kos Would you welcome such a change, or do you hold the opposite opinion and prefer Apple to stop experimenting and bet on what works? By this we are specifically referring to current keyboards that are based on the scissor key mechanism.
