The Price For One Keyboard Key

"Tripper" (tripe46) 07/02/2018 at 13:45 • Filed to: None

0

35

Having owned a few German cars, I am no stranger to overpriced pieces of plastic. However, I have have hit a new high (or low). The delete key on my M acbook 12 went dead. It worked, but had no feedback. I popped it off to find that part of the key’s sidewall had cracked. I removed the piece that cracked, and put they key back on and it works perfectly.

Since I have to have everything perfect, I decided to source a replacement. I found a site that sells the keys individually, and I bought one “delete key”. It is a terribly flimsy tiny piece of painted plastic. It was $10 + shipping.

I guess it’s the price I pay for being an aggressive typer.

E90M3 > Tripper 07/02/2018 at 13:57

1

I broke the enter key on my work lap top back when I was in the oilfield. Apparently I type a little too hard. Also, you know how much you use the enter key? A lot. 

Nibby > Tripper 07/02/2018 at 13:57

5

pff

serves you right for buying crapple

For Sweden > Tripper 07/02/2018 at 13:59

6

Dear Apple

Delete your company

Tripper > E90M3 07/02/2018 at 14:02

1

I actually considered getting an enter key as well just in case.

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > Tripper 07/02/2018 at 14:03

0

My 13 MBA had a dead shift for a while and I didn't bother to fix it. Now the other is dead and so are the function keys. 

Luke's Dad Sold His 2000TL To Get a Sienna > Tripper 07/02/2018 at 14:04

0

WAit wait WAIt

hold up.

They’re offering free repairs on all MacBooks with the butterfly keyboards cause they fucked up.

Tripper > Nibby 07/02/2018 at 14:05

1

All about the form factor and UI for me. The M acbook is just at terminal to access all of the windows/linux machines I need to work with every day. The battery lasts forever, Apple’s touch pad is the only usable one, and it fit’s in my camelbak bag.

Spanfeller is a twat > Tripper 07/02/2018 at 14:05

0

I’m an angry typer too; I once had the whole classroom stare at me when I was typing with my headphones on and it looked as if I was pounding my laptop into  submission. 

Tripper > Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap 07/02/2018 at 14:06

0

https://www.replacementlaptopkeys.com/

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > Tripper 07/02/2018 at 14:07

1

You’re incredibly lucky that’s all that was broken about it. Keyboard replacements on these things are something to the order of $600 due to having to replace a large portion of the chassis and the battery pack due to their construction.

Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) > Tripper 07/02/2018 at 14:08

0

My Toshiba laptop’s fan died after 7 years, so I bought a new fan on Amazon for $10 with free Prime shipping.

Tripper > Luke's Dad Sold His 2000TL To Get a Sienna 07/02/2018 at 14:09

0

Thanks for the info! Honestly, $10 just this once is better than making an appointment with the “geniuses” and handing over my laptop. If another breaks I will have them fix it.

Tripper > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 07/02/2018 at 14:11

0

Luke’s Dad Sold His 2000TL To Get a Sienna, just told me that it’s free!

https://www.macrumors.com/2018/06/22/apple-macbook-pro-keyboard-repair-program/

Tripper > Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) 07/02/2018 at 14:12

0

Sounds like were even up in the end.

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > Tripper 07/02/2018 at 14:13

1

A replacement key on my HP laptop was like $2.00 awhile back.

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > Tripper 07/02/2018 at 14:15

0

Thanks for the link, however I dont believe swapping key caps will fix it. 

Tripper > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars 07/02/2018 at 14:15

1

Sounds about right. I replace the entire keyboard for $15 on our Dell 7000 latitudes at work. and it takes <10 minutes.

Tripper > Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap 07/02/2018 at 14:17

0

Oh gotcha, it’s a huge pain in the dick to replace that keyboard. I did it once for my best friend. I wouldn’t do it again for anyone including myself.

Tripper > For Sweden 07/02/2018 at 14:20

1

LOREM IPSUM > Tripper 07/02/2018 at 14:31

0

What was the last year that the MBP offered quality construction, comparatively speaking?

Tripper > LOREM IPSUM 07/02/2018 at 14:41

1

I’m a bad person to ask, but I generally have no beef with the construction even currently . The Air’s seem to be really durable. Colleagues drop off their kid’s Macs all the time. Most of them look really beat but work fine. I generally just have to remove the 19 “coupon” apps that were installed when they tried to download something that should cost money for free.

I prefer to use Mac’s at home/personally  because they’re less “computery”. I’m in IT so I’m Windows/Linux all day everyday. I’ve got a Mac mini (early 2012) that has been flawless, and my MacBook 12 has also been fine except for this one key. I have heard that most people hate the shallow keyboard, but I don’t mind it.

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > Tripper 07/02/2018 at 14:45

2

After the “we’ll fix the GPU issue that makes our macbooks not boot but only if they will boot up and run our diagnostic software” debacle a couple years back I can imagine Apple finding quite a few excuses to weasel out of this one. What immediately comes to mind is if they find crumbs or something that broke the butterfly mechanism denying it calling it intentional damage, despite it being their fault for making a fragile poorly designed mechanism that is unreasonably difficult and expensive to replace.

Tristan > Tripper 07/02/2018 at 14:49

5

That’s nothing. The flimsy plastic handle on the door of my Maytag dryer is $40. It broke 4 months after I bought it, and a zip tie has replaced it. It was a $300 dryer... Why does a plastic handle cost 13% of the whole dryer?!

LOREM IPSUM > Tripper 07/02/2018 at 14:58

0

I don’t really want one, but for DJ purposes they’re highly recommend as the devs don’t much care about Windows, so I’ve been kinda eyeballing Craigslist lately for a deal too good to refuse. Heard the more recent ones were less durable, but probably not in the market for anything newer than 2011 anyway. 15-17" i7 with an ssd and 8gb ram should do though, if I can find one for a few hundred .

Haven’t touched a mac since the 90's, in the HS computer lab.

Tripper > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 07/02/2018 at 15:00

1

I’ve had pretty good luck with their products and support, but I’m a big time DIY person. I buy em broken off of my local Facebook “yardsale” fix em, and flip em. iPads are the only things I won’t touch.

I’d sooner pay for a part and fix it myself than waste time at the Apple store. Also my laptop, I can expense. So if my keyboard took a shit on what is my main computer I’d just get a new one and fix the old one at my leisure.

Tripper > Tristan 07/02/2018 at 15:02

3

Hah damn! I forgot about appliances. They are the worst. A piece of plastic broke off of the corner of my double oven, you can only replace it by replacing the entire door, ($400). I glued it.

Tripper > LOREM IPSUM 07/02/2018 at 15:05

1

I fix and flip 2008-2012 models often. I prefer the 2012 ones, but only because they have proven to be the easiest to fix, and the batteries are usually still good. Even still fix what’s wrong throw an SSD & ram in there and you’re good to go.

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > Tripper 07/02/2018 at 15:11

1

I'm just living with it until I get something new and then ill just put it on a stand and run a display off of it. 

Urambo Tauro > Tripper 07/02/2018 at 15:56

0

Buy in bulk!

TheTurbochargedSquirrel > Tripper 07/02/2018 at 17:45

0

The failures are caused by an inherent design flaw in the keyboard so that free replacement is just going to fail again in a few years.

TheTurbochargedSquirrel > Luke's Dad Sold His 2000TL To Get a Sienna 07/02/2018 at 17:47

0

Replacing them with the same flawed parts. Just limping you out of the warranty so they can tell you to GTFAC or pay $600+ to replace most of the chassis just to fix a keyboard.

Luke's Dad Sold His 2000TL To Get a Sienna > TheTurbochargedSquirrel 07/02/2018 at 19:16

0

Oh no it’s actually dumber than that on Apple’s end. Like they have to take it almost entirely apart from what I’ve read to replace the keyboard (for problems with non-responsive keys), and that’s the main thing they’re doing for free.

Luke's Dad Sold His 2000TL To Get a Sienna > Tripper 07/02/2018 at 19:19

0

Above all this though, I’m wondering, how has the 12" Macbook been treating you? I have a 15" MBP right now (I love it, but I never take it outside, it’s my indoor laptop) and I’ve wanted a 12" Macbook for taking with me on jobs for a while now. How’s the battery life on it? Has it been reasonable to live with its one port? Cause it looks SO DAMN GOOD, other than that one port thing I worry about.

Tripper > Luke's Dad Sold His 2000TL To Get a Sienna 07/02/2018 at 20:36

0

I love mine I can get multiple days ( of work)   out of the battery. I charge it once or twice per week at home. I’ve got the anker battery that can charge it also, I don’t even bring the power cord with me when I travel for work.

I only use the port for charging. All of my peripherals are bluetooth/wifi. I remote into all of the windows/Linux machines I use daily. I’ve got a dock at home but it’s usb-c. I’ve got the adapter that gives you one standard USB, hdmi and USB-c but I've never used it. I have one of those cable organizer zip pouches with anything I might need but I rarely use it. I use the headphone jack more than anything, which is separate. It fits perfectly in the tiny camelbak backpack that I use which admittedly is the real reason I bought the small one haha 

MiniGTI - now with XJ6 > Tripper 07/02/2018 at 23:40

1

Years ago my cat broke one of the F-keys on my 2008 MBP. Walked into an apple store and the tech just went out back where they had a bin full of old  keys and handed me a couple spares. Still have that and use it almost every day.