When it comes to MacBook keyboards, it’s been a hit or miss for Apple. The infamous butterfly keyboard is one of the most controversial keyboards MacBooks has ever featured. Many people reported problems with this keyboard because the keys didn’t work properly or got stuck.
Anyone with a 2015 or newer MacBook or MacBook Pro may be able to take their keyboard frustrations out on the man itself. The man, in this case, is Apple.
What’s going on? In 2015, Apple switched from the scissor switch key to a butterfly switch. These keys offered minimal travel and were meant to speed up the typing process. They did, but they also break far more often than those with the older scissor-switch design,
Fortunately for a lot of us, that was a minority of cases, still, it took a while for Apple to change to another keyboard.
If you have a fairly new MacBook, you probably don’t have the butterfly keyboard, if you do, you want to make sure you’re in the clear, read on to learn which Mac notebooks have the butterfly keyboard.
The butterfly keyboard refers to a type of mechanism. The butterfly keyboard’s mechanism consists of a small switch with components that work together like butterfly wings. This would, in theory, make the keys work as well as the older scissor-switch keyboard, while making the whole keyboard thinner.
Basically, it’s called a butterfly key because it looks a bit like a butterfly’s wings. While the scissor switch has two crossing supports, the butterfly key has a hinge in the middle. The scissor switch has an ‘X’ shape, while the butterfly key is closer to a wide ‘V.’
Apple started using the butterfly keyboard in 2015, and it didn’t change until the end of 2019. If your MacBook is on this list below, then i'm afriad you will be using a butterfly keyboard.
As you can see, any model made in 2020 or later no longer comes with a butterfly keyboard. This is because Apple decided to finally get rid of the butterfly keyboard and started using a new scissor-switch design similar to that used in MacBooks prior to 2015. So if you have an Apple Silicon MacBook, you don’t have to worry about the butterfly keyboard problems, even though I personally had to send in my 16 Inch MacBook for repair due to a sticking shift key? fortunately I purchased mine thru my local John Lewis store in the UK and they by default come with a 2 year warranty on all electronic goods, otherwise this would be a costly as it requires the whole top case to be replaced because "Typical Apple" they decided to pot rivet the keyboard to the case.
Because of the large number of people who had problems with their butterfly keyboard MacBooks, Apple created a “Keyboard Services Program for MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro.“
Basically, suppose you’re having problems with the keyboard on one of the models listed above, including sticky keys or letters and characters not appearing or repeating unexpectedly. In that case, you can get a service for your MacBook.
This service will be free of charge, but bare in mind that it only covers your Mac for the first four years after the first retail sale of your unit. so if in doubt get it checked ASAP.
