It took me a couple of days to get used to the Macbook keyboard. I had a similar transition time the last time Apple made a major change in their keyboards.
I'm kind of astonished at how many people turn their noses up at different things based on a first impression, even in groups that you might consider early adopters of tech.
> I'm kind of astonished at how many people turn their noses up at different things based on a first impression, even in groups that you might consider early adopters of tech.
Some early adopters of tech don't enjoy enduring regressions, and can see the regression from a mile and a month away.
I'm especially grumpy when I see absurd, hyperbolic marketing used to sell anti-consumer regressions.
Doesn't this just support his point? You're more or less saying that you wrote off the keyboard as a regression at least a month before having the opportunity to even try it.
I've used the keyboard for a week at this point and at this point have completely adapted to it. It doesn't feel like a regression to me at all.
Maybe keyboards were already à solved problem. People had no desire for change here. I find recent Apple quite off its market. They push markers higher because it was 'apple genius' before, without checking if the crowd still Dreams about that. A bit lazy and Self centered.
This is a terrible attitude for a technologist to have. Cellphones were a "solved problem" before the first iPhone came out. Laptop monitors were a "solved problem" before the first retina MacBook Pro came out. Look where we are now.
Of course, this doesn't mean every change made to an existing technology will be an improvement and/or be embraced right away and by everyone, but I see it as a Good Thing that a major technology player is still experimenting with things that everyone else has written off as "already solved."
Cellphones I can agree, retina display not at all. This was not just about technology but how Apple is approaching its products. Latest MBP felt too much like technology solving non problems: bestest trackpad (too big, "no" palmrest), thinnest keyboard (no tactile feedback, needs to spend 1s on ensuring your fingers are at the right location), dynamic touchbar: too dynamic, forces people to leave the content and focus down. All this surrounded by this feel that what Apple did since the iPod/iPhone, cross coupling all their technological improvements along their product line (ipod helped the iphone, iphone helped the macbook air, etc etc) is now applied blindly because it worked before and Apple has to occupy the terrain and grab the spotlight.
I didn't want to say this, but indeed calling someone with a 2016 smartphone isn't quite an improvement. If I was a genius, I'd retrofit my old Motorola v50 with few sensors and wifi capabilities.
That's reading a lot into my words. I was happy to "get used" to the new keyboard because I thought it was awesome that my laptop had become thinner and lighter... two things that I value more than having a keyboard that might be slightly better.
Thinner and lighter only matter when carrying it around. Keyboards matter when you're using the computer. Most folks who use their computer 8 hours or more a day that I know tend to do more with the keyboard than they ever do lugging it around. So the keyboard really matters, even in small increments.
I'm also going to make what I think is a reasonable assumption and say that a vast majority of folks are going to carry their laptops around in bags. In which case, the 7 ounces saved (for reference sake, this is about the same weight as a 45 watt power brick, minus the extension cord) is nearly meaningless, and the half inch on each dimension will be completely meaningless.
The difference between 13" and 15" for size and weight is much greater than the size and weight savings afforded by the new keyboard. Also, both the 13" and 15" MacBook Pros have the same keyboard.
On a side note, I think that a 13" monitor hits a sweet spot. It fits in a lot of bags, has just enough screen size to be productive without requiring an external monitor, and the performance difference between 13" and 15" computers is usually quite small (if it exists at all).
> The difference between 13" and 15" for size and weight is much greater than the size and weight savings afforded by the new keyboard. Also, both the 13" and 15" MacBook Pros have the same keyboard.
It's a cumulative process. My first Macbook was a white 13.3" polycarb core 2 duo. The new 15" MBP is a pound lighter, almost half as thick, and only half an inch deeper and an inch wider. Samsung has a 15" laptop that's under 3 pounds, making it very palatable even for people used to a 13"-er.
At what point along that evolution should Apple have stopped striving to get smaller?
To me that sounds like you're the target market for what was the Air, or what is now the MacBook. The MacBook Pro is their top of the line and shouldn't be diminishing something as important as the keyboard which people use all day for an extra mm off the thickness. They've crossed the line on form over function.
Actually no. You have to get used to any keyboard that's functionally different from the previous one. It's very common in the mech keyboard communities.
You get a rock out of your shoe and it feels like a relief. But to me, going back to a keyboard with a lot of key travel feels like walking around in deep snow.
I tried switching to the 12" earlier this year. I ended up giving up due to the poor performance of the machine relative to my needs, but I did get used to the keyboard - once I got used to it, was able to pretty fast on it. (Then again, my work and home setups feature Das Keyboard Pros, one brown, one blue switches)
