The other day, Apple announced an update to its MacBook Pro lineup where they will feature new Intel processors, but in addition to that, it seems that Apple has also announced that they have improved on the butterfly keyboard mechanism that has plagued so many MacBook owners ever since its introduction.
Apple was not specific with what kind of changes were made, but thanks to the folks at iFixit, they managed to get their hands on the latest 15-inch MacBook Pro model and did a teardown where they found some of the changes that Apple made to the keyboard of the laptop. According to their findings, there are several changes that have been made.
One of those changes is to the cover material of the keyboard, where the new version is clear and smooth to the touch, versus the previous iteration which was opaque. It is not just for aesthetics because by using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, iFixit has confirmed that they are different materials.
The teardown of the keyboard has also led to speculation that the dome switch could have been changed, where maybe it has been made sturdier so as to prevent it from cracking or deforming, which could have been one of the reasons why some MacBook Pro users were experiencing erratic typing.
As iFixit points out, all these changes still do not answer the question of what exactly were the problems before that led to all these keyboard issues. Will these changes be enough to solve Apple’s keyboard woes? We suppose we’ll have to wait and find out. In the meantime, Apple will be offering free keyboard repairs to all MacBooks that use the butterfly keyboard switches.
Filed in . Read more about Laptops and Macbook Pro. Source: ifixit