The New MacBook Pro Keyboard


I spent some time typing on the new MacBook Pro keyboard. This keyboard may turn out to be the most controversial decision in this new MacBook Pro design. Apple explains the new keyboard is the “second generation” of the butterfly mechanism that first appeared on the 12” Retina MacBook. These new keys have significantly less travel than the traditional MacBook keyboards. A lot of people hate it. For others it is not a problem. (Interestingly, I’ve never heard of anyone loving the butterfly keyboards.) I’m not very picky about keyboards and I was fine with the MacBook butterfly keyboard.

Anyway, having typed on the new MacBook Pro keyboard I can report that if you are on a scale of one to five with one being the MacBook butterfly keyboard and five being the old MacBook keyboard, I’d put the second generation butterfly keyboard in the new MacBook Pro at a two. It definitely feels like a bit more travel than the MacBook keyboard but if you hated the MacBook keyboard, I suspect you won’t be very excited about this one either.