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Discussion on: Which is the best macbook for programming?

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Madeline Cowie

I've been using a 2016 MPB (non-Touchbar) since that model launched and I'm about fed up with it. Mostly with the keyboard. The extremely shallow travel is uncomfortable and (for me at least) very typo-prone. Another issue is the new arrow-key shape; the left and right keys are now full-height, which looks nice in pictures but in practice makes it harder to feel out what key you're on when you move your hand over there. Which, again, is exacerbated by the shallow keys, because they barely stick out from the base to begin with. Finally, the keys themselves are very brittle, with tiny clips, and are likely to break if you try and take them off, so don't let any dust or other detritus near it. The keyboard is fused to base in such a way to make any repairs nearly impossible without replacing most of the computer. Thankfully it hasn't come to that, but I've lost confidence that it will hold up as long as my other Apple laptops have.

I will definitely not purchase another laptop that has this keyboard, and I'm more and more tempted to jump the Mac ship entirely. It's that bad.