Oliver Haslam on July 15, 2018, 6:04 am

Teardown Reveals Why MacBook Pro 2018 Keyboard Is More Reliable, Quieter

When Apple refreshed its MacBook Pro notebooks a few days ago, there was plenty to catch the eye from a raw performance point of view, but one thing that had many people concerned was the report direct from Apple that the keyboard used in these new machines was merely an updated version of the existing butterfly keyboard.

That’s the same keyboard that has come in for some pretty heavy criticism over the last couple of years and the fact Apple apparently refused to fix the issue this time around was mind-boggling.

However, things may be a little more promising than first feared. While Apple itself has not said anything about fixing its keyboard beyond the fact that the third-generation keyboard is quieter than those that came before it, repair specialist iFixit has torn down one of the new computers and confirmed there there is a new silicone membrane in place on each key.

That will likely mean that the new keyboards will not be broken by something as simple as a speck of dust. Why Apple did not make a bigger deal out of this is unknown, but given the current legal issues the previous keyboards have landed Apple with, it’s likely the lack of information was more a legal decision than a public relations one.

Regardless, it would appear that the new membranes will make things much more reliable moving forward – something that will need to be confirmed in the coming weeks and months.

Apple’s claims that the new keyboard is quieter than previous generations are actually accurate, as proven by a video posted by TechCrunch. It’s clear that there is an audible difference between a 2018 MacBook Pro and an older model, although iFixit believes this is likely a byproduct of the addition of the aforementioned membrane rather than any specific work having been done to quieten keypresses.

No matter how it’s happened, we think it’s safe to say that the big news here is that the 2018 MacBook Pro notebooks may actually survive longer than their predecessors without being felled by a speck of dust.

(Sources: iFixit, TechCrunch [YouTube])