Your long butterfly keyboard nightmare is over. The new Magic Keyboard in the 16-inch MacBook Pro has an almost identical look and feel to much older Apple devices—so close, in fact, that you can swap in old Magic Keyboard keycaps. It feels like a do-over, a throwback, almost an apology.
Customers, press, and those of us who care about device longevity have scored a win. These new keys, which are essentially the old keys, have deeper travel, softer sound, and a more robust design. Replacing a broken switch mechanism still involves disassembling the whole device, and will likely be painful, but, still: this is a practical move, and one we could not have expected until recently.
Apple’s not exactly surrendering, though. Their four-year keyboard hostage negotiation with MacBook buyers seems to have paid off handsomely. Early reviews are full of Stockholm Syndrome swoon, with high praise for keys that don’t feel or sound bad. Meanwhile, the company has only barely admitted to “some quality issues.” Don’t get us wrong; adding function at the expense of negligible size and weight increases is a step in the right direction. But we have to wonder if a similar outcry could make Apple reconsider making other parts of their esteemed laptop more simple and repairable.
Read more at iFixit.com