The new 16-inch MacBook Pro notebook finally ditches the much-maligned butterfly keyboard mechanism and introduces a replacement Apple says is inspired by the Magic Keyboard it ships with desktop Macs.
Now we know just how inspired – it’s practically identical. A teardown conducted by the masters at iFixit revealed the two keyboards are so similar that the key caps are interchangeable. The teardown specialists found that the scissor motion present in the very popular Magic Keyboard is also present here.
In even better news, this also means the keyboards will be easier to repair and to clean than the butterfly keyboards, which have suffered from issues with sticking and unresponsive keys, despite Apple putting them through multiple iterations.
The site called it a “throwback in the best possible way,” calling it “almost an apology” to Apple fans affected by the butterfly issues. Effectively, it’s Apple admitting there was nothing wrong with the pre-butterfly keyboards in the first place.
iFixit says replacing the broken switch will still involve taking the MacBook Pro apart, but called it a practical move. The caps themselves are easy enough to remove, so that means cleaning the keys will be much easier than on the butterfly keyboard.
Related: Best MacBook 2019
In its assessment, iFixit says the MacBook Pro “has a functioning keyboard, and isn’t functionally much thicker or heavier than those that didn’t. You can tell the difference if you compare them side-by-side, carefully; otherwise, it feels like a sleek, slim MacBook.”
Elsewhere, the MacBook Pro 2019 has a 2.6GHz 6-core 9th Gen Intel Core i7 processor, an AMD Radeon Pro 5300M graphics, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, a 16-inch Retina Display with True Tone, a Touch Bar and Touch ID and Four Thunderbolt 3 ports.
It’s available now and it starts at £2,399, but it can be specced all the way up to a whopping price of £5,769 with a model that includes 8TB of SSD storage.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.