‘MacBook Pro keyboard from 2016 causes problems relatively often’
The AppleInsider website reports, based on data obtained, that the butterfly keyboard of the 2016 MacBook Pro appears to have more problems than the keyboards of the 2014 and 2015 editions.
If the Touch Bar has stopped functioning, the 2016 MacBook Pro has twice as many keyboard failures in the first year after release compared to the two previous models. The latest MacBook Pro from 2017 is doing better so far, but not by a wide margin, AppleInsider reports.
Apple used a keyboard with the new butterfly system with the MacBook Pro in 2016, so that keys should be less wobbly during use. This keyboard is relatively often a source of problems: in the first year after release, there were 1402 warranty cases for this edition, of which 165 were related to keyboard problems. That is almost 12 percent of the cases.
This percentage was lower with the MacBook Pro released in 2014 and 2015. The Apple laptop, released in 2014, was submitted under warranty 2,120 times, with 118 cases related to keyboard issues, or 5.6 percent. With the MacBook Pro that came out a year later, this amounted to 6 percent in the first year. These two percentages are largely the same, which probably has to do with the fact that the keyboard design on these two laptops was unchanged. So far on the 2017 model, a total of 8.1 percent is due to a failing keyboard. Apple uses a slightly modified keyboard for the 2017 model.
The 2016 model also does worse on the topic of ‘recidivism’. Of the 165 keyboard repairs of the 2016 MacBook Pro, 51 returned for a second repair and 10 required a third round of repairs. The 2014 and 2015 models also outperformed on this point.
The AppleInsider website says it has collected service data for the first year after the release of the 2014, 2015 and 2016 MacBook pros. The data has also been collected from the latest 2017 edition, even though the data for this latest model is not yet complete. a full year. Data comes from Apple Genius Bars in the United States and from Apple-authorized third-party repairers.
The site also points out that the costs of problems with the key switches have increased considerably: in the US they can rise to more than 700 dollars, because repair is not easy. The battery and part of the metal housing must also be replaced for this. A comparable switch repair would cost $400 for the 2014 and 2015 versions. There have been reports for some time that the costs can increase if a single key no longer functions, for example due to crumbs or dust.
On the left traditional MacBook switches, on the right the butterfly variant developed by Apple.