[caribousoup]

Same impression with the 2018 15" MBP. Topcase was replaced twice, and a full exchange for the third repair, all within the first year. The screen is now pressure damaged everywhere... by gently wiping with a damp microfiber cloth? I'm certain it's a manufacturing defect, but I can't seem to find similar complaints anywhere.

I've been buying Macs for 20+ years, let's be honest... I'm not rage quitting and moving platforms. The productivity hit would be too much. So now the game becomes: waiting until the next full redesign to see if they fixed everything. The 2015 era was great.

For anyone on the fence, avoid all of these.

[70jS8h5L]

Same issue for me with the screen. It's been meticulously cared for and only ever wiped with a clean damp microfibre and there's small micro scratches, as well as marks from what I assume is it resting on the keys whilst closed. I could tolerate such issues with the old models safe in the knowledge that a replacement glass was fairly cheap - not the case anymore.

And then there's the degradation of reliability software wise. Way more regular crashes, bugs etc. Dodgy Bluetooth issues, WiFi issues, a bricked iMac after a software update, and way more (including the MacBook keyboard issue, which I'll need repairing).

And the support. I've had good experiences with Apple in the past, but a recent issue with my iMac has led to it being repaired twice, and still it's broken. I've been dealing with this since January. I've experienced faulty diagnoses, lies about consumer law rights for replacement (which they've since confirmed was incorrect on multiple occasions), they forgot to put my RAM back in, they scratched my screen, and now it clearly hasn't been assembled correctly as the speaker causes something to reverberate in the case, as if a screw's lose. My most recent interaction with a senior support advisor was the most awful of my life, and I've never dealt with such a confrontational customer support person. After finally getting a replacement machine authorised (for the second time in 2 weeks), it's been cancelled a further 2 times for "unknown reasons", leading to more delays. It's been a real nightmare.

Purely anecdotal of course, but I've had that many negative experiences with my Mac's in general recently, both hardware and software, that I feel it is not coincidental. The MacBook and Mac lineup in general is moving towards being too expensive for the joy and stability it gives me, and I'm very close to moving back to Linux after what has up until relatively recently been a very positive experience for almost a decade for me.

I really hope that the new keyboards are a sign of better things to come, but I'm not holding my breath.

[wusel]

In regard to the display: Yes, those marks come from the keys pressing against the display. Be careful how much you fill in your backpack with the MBP. My display looks very bad around the space bar (that is the 2018 "improved display"). Noticed that way too late. An Apple Genius recommended me to always have a microfiber cloth between display and keyboard when traveling. Not on a $3000 device thanks.

Heating/fan issues, double typing keys, too many "-gates" to count. I never had so much buyers regret.

[caribousoup]

Interesting to see your screen issue.

Mine in particular: bright white splotches. There are 12 of them at random locations. I get a new one every couple of months.

If you were to press your fingernail forcefully into the LCD, to purposely damage it, that's what it looks like. But I obviously don't do that... gentle circular patterns with a clean eyeglasses cloth, dampened with water.

[npalmer76]

Still on a early 2015 13" Mac Book Pro because I have hated everything they have done since then. I even bought one with a touch bar but found it so annoying and I hated the keyboard so I returned it and stuck with my old laptop. At least they fixed the keyboard now, but the touch bar I still don't want.

[caribousoup]

It's exemplary of how out-of-touch Apple has become. Most people either vocally dislike the Touch Bar, or don't care about it, because it offers such little value to overcome the real world inconvenience.

Same with external displays. People have wanted standalone retina displays for what, 5 years? Then 4 years later, we get a $5,000 display made only for a single market. All anyone wanted was the iMac sans computer.

Just, like... why? I don't understand their product choices. On any level.

[whywhywhywhy]

> $5,000 display

Ahh yeah the display that when you criticize the price people cried it was a great deal because it was up to spec with $30,000 screens. Then when tested it can't actually function where you would use one of those because it's not quite up to spec you get told "What do you expect? It's $5000 not $30,000"

So what do we have? Just an overpriced screen that can't be used for the professional work it was claimed to be for for YouTuber tech reviewers to show off with.