Apple finally acknowledges its new MacBook keyboards suck

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MacBook butterfly keyboard
A new petition accuses the MacBook 'butterfly' keyboard of failing when a single speck gets in the wrong place.
Photo: Apple

The butterfly keyboards on the new MacBook and MacBook Pro are officially defective.

After months of outcry from angry customers, Apple has finally acknowledged that the new keyboards have some serious problems. The company says the issues are limited to a small percentage of MacBooks, but its offering free repairs.

In a new support article posted today, Apple discovered the following issues:

Apple has determined that a small percentage of the keyboards in certain MacBook and MacBook Pro models may exhibit one or more of the following behaviors:
* Letters or characters repeat unexpectedly
* Letters or characters do not appear
* Key(s) feel “sticky” or do not respond in a consistent manner

If you already paid for your keyboard to get repaired Apple will give you a refund. The repair program doesn’t extend the warranty of the repaired MacBook.

Here’s which models are effected:

* MacBook (Retina, 12-­inch, Early 2015)
* MacBook (Retina, 12­-inch, Early 2016)
* MacBook (Retina, 12-­inch, 2017)
* MacBook Pro (13­-inch, 2016, Two Thunderbolt 3 Ports)
* MacBook Pro (13-­inch, 2017, Two Thunderbolt 3 Ports)
* MacBook Pro (13-­inch, 2016, Four Thunderbolt 3 Ports)
* MacBook Pro (13-­inch, 2017, Four Thunderbolt 3 Ports)
* MacBook Pro (15-­inch, 2016)
* MacBook Pro (15-­inch, 2017)

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