As iFixit found (and Apple’s presumably related patent claims), that layer serves to protect the switches from crumbs and maybe even pushes those crumbs out of the assembly. Here’s what Apple did: it put a thin layer of silicone in between the keys and the butterfly switches.

Apple only claims that this “third-generation” butterfly keyboard is quieter, not that it’s more reliable. Its other response was apparently to redesign this MacBook Pro’s keyboard to mitigate the problem and then refuse to admit that’s why it was redesigned. The keyboard appears to be redesigned for reliability, even though Apple won’t say soĪpple’s response was to announce a repair program that covers every butterfly switch keyboard MacBook for four years. So this review of the top-tier 15-inch MacBook Pro isn’t about blame or benchmarks. Nevertheless, it’s a solid computer that’s fast and powerful. That’s all too much for one simple spec-bumped laptop to handle alone, so it’s no surprise that this MacBook Pro hasn’t arrived as the savior for professionals looking for the ur-machine. On the other, you have a polarizing (or worse) keyboard design, dongles, and a sort of vague distrust that Apple really cares about the Mac at all in the age of the iPhone.

On one hand, they’re thinner, lighter, and more powerful. The switch over to these new designs two years ago came with what feels like an equal number of benefits and compromises. The heat (pun intended) around those controversies is at a higher temperature than usual because there has been more angst in the Mac universe than normal in the past few years. One: was this keyboard really designed to be quieter (as Apple claims publicly) or to address the problem of dust and grit breaking them? Two: a software bug caused these laptops to throttle their speed down in intense thermal conditions, eliciting a software update and an apology from Apple. With the new MacBook Pros, it walked into two. It seems like Apple can’t launch a laptop these days without walking face-first into at least one controversy.

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