> Yeah, I had to get the keyboard replaced when some keys failed after a year
As a person who had to replace a microsoft ergonomic keyboard after 14 years and has never had to replace a laptop keyboard I would consider a laptop keyboard that was replaced after a year due to failed keys to qualify as 'barely functional.'
It's the 21st century. keyboards are a solved problem that should never fail. It's abject failure on the part of Apple for releasing a flagship laptop with such a comparatively shitty keyboard.
No keyboard should be failing at this point. Keyboards are a mature technology.
The new keyboard design was meant to solve problems that keyboards have not specifically addressed before. It was a failed design, absolutely. But 99% of the time the keyboard works to my satisfaction, so I do not understand how you can label it "barely functional". "Barely functional" means "it rarely functions as intended", which is so obviously not true in any case.
Does it fail more than the average keyboard? Yes. Am I pleased about its failure rate? Absolutely not. Would I rather have a different keyboard? Uhhh probably? I like the way the keys feel, such as the fact that they don't wobble in place like the previous generation, and I find that I do not type any slower or make more mistakes than I did previously. Probably this keyboard was designed for somebody who types like I do, and perhaps this is not the way most people type. (I say this because most people complain about the reduced travel, about the keys not registering presses all the time, and other issues.)
So my point is: the keyboard is bad as measured by multiple metrics, and Apple should feel bad about it, but there is no conceivable definition of "barely functional" that applies to this keyboard. Most of the time I have not had to worry about its failure rate because it does not affect me on a daily basis, even though I use it for typing everyday.
As a person who had to replace a microsoft ergonomic keyboard after 14 years and has never had to replace a laptop keyboard I would consider a laptop keyboard that was replaced after a year due to failed keys to qualify as 'barely functional.'
It's the 21st century. keyboards are a solved problem that should never fail. It's abject failure on the part of Apple for releasing a flagship laptop with such a comparatively shitty keyboard.
No keyboard should be failing at this point. Keyboards are a mature technology.