at least this year the last one was a
little bit underwhelming for people this
is a surprise we didn't think we were
gonna get it this year and and here it
is and I am super excited because I I
have refused to buy MacBooks for the
last several years for a number of
reasons but the keyboard is is the big
one for most people yeah so the keyboard
debacle has been going on for what like
a half the last the last kid keyboard
was in 2015 yeah and then they switch to
the butterfly keyboard and all of us
have been suffering with other ourselves
Jim good morning everybody I'm KK I'm
Kyle and today we are going to give you
a little sneak peek of Apple's new magic
keyboard that they put in the 2019 16
inch MacBook Pro so we're not gonna do a
full teardown that's gonna come on
Monday because tear downs take what
hours hours day I mean it is a huge
amount of engineering effort our entire
engineering team is working out with and
and we want to take the time to really
understand the nuances of the device yep
so today we're going to pop up a few
keys we have quite a few different
keyboards that we've brought here to
compare and so we're gonna get started
here shortly a few things first if you
have any questions or comments or if you
just want to give us a virtual high five
go ahead and drop that in the comments
we've high five that's a non-virtual yes
so go ahead and drop that into the
comments I'll do my best to answer them
but sometimes they come really fast so
please don't hold it against me so let's
get started okay so this computer at
first glance it is almost identical in
size of the previous one it is
three-quarters of a millimeter thicker
it's a little bit wider it feels to me
about the same weight yeah I know a lot
of people say these computers are too
heavy they'd rather use an air ok
reasonable for me I don't mind I don't
mind the weight at all and it feels so I
use a I use a 2012 MacBook Pro which is
the last really repairable laptop that
Apple made and the way it feels pretty
comparable to me
I have a 2012 MacBook Pro let's see yep
13 I have the 13 so that's gonna be
lighter than this so you a few things
that are new and different Apple saying
the speakers are better they're saying
that they redesigned keyboard and it's
got the same processor it's got the same
specs but you can build order buy more
RAM more storage heck 10 more storage a
heck ton more storage if you have a heck
ton of money yes I think the fully
tricked-out model is like six thousand
dollars like 6100 and I was looking at
it and there's no way to upgrade the RAM
or the SSD yourself so if you buy some
of the other machines and like the new
upcoming Mac Pro if you buy it with low
respect RAM and SSD you should be able
to upgrade that yourself but with this
you're stuck in paying Apple prices long
ago I did that and but a really low spec
MacBook Air and it's pretty much useless
now
so that's before I started working it I
fix it and you better yes if you're
going to get this thing you really have
to be thinking how long am I gonna have
the computer is it gonna be five years
okay how much RAM are you gonna need in
the computer five years from now how
much RAM do you need today and and show
up for that up front because it's not
upgradeable unfortunately so diving in
let's let's look at the speakers first
cuz I think this is the the thing that
has been blowing people away yeah we've
been having a little too much fun
playing with the speakers it's really
impressive so go for it I'm gonna play a
sound clip
the bass is just phenomenal and the
volume this is far and away the best
speakers I've ever heard in the laptop I
think all of you early reviewers are
saying the same thing it's really
magical and and one interesting thing
they're doing is to minimize vibration
on the keyboard because it is such a
loud speaker you know you have you have
a sound is generated by a plane
vibrating moving air that's going those
vibrations are going to transmit through
the whole device so they have subs on
top and bottom and as they vibrate they
cancel each other out a little bit is
that new to this that's this one when we
get inside we'll find out so I speakers
absolutely amazing I mean I use my
headphones most of the time but I mean
you could almost like replace your
kitchen speakers with your computer yeah
we compared this to my 2012 MacBook Pro
that I'm still using earlier and it
sounded so 10 years 10 years ok so
moving on the keyboard
so this keyboard and and as I as I type
on it it just feels fantastic it feels
like a keyboard should and it's really
interesting to think about like why is a
keyboard in innovation I mean Apple is
getting so much amazing press this week
people are saying they're they're
thrilled there they were just really
excited to have a keyboard I think wait
a second why I mean we've been saying
this all the way through the keyboard
song like why are we congratulating
Apple for putting in a basic feature and
that we're not complaining about the the
keyboards in any other computer makers
right that makes good keyboards HP makes
good keyboards apples the only one that
doesn't make good key words I had almost
forgotten thought that maybe Apple just
forgot how to make a good keyboard but
that's not quite true because they have
their magic keyboard so this is the
current wireless keyboard and this one
yeah it's got a reasonable amount of key
travel it's it's reasonably quiet
it sounds pretty and and it's perfectly
usable everybody likes this and and
removing a key cap if you get dust
underneath it is pretty darn straight
forward so I can just go in here with
we'll see if I can do this while
everybody is watching but you want to
get under the bottom and and but that
doesn't hurt them in its it's just
plastic snapped in there and then we've
got we've got this this butterfly
mechanism and I already area Pokemon so
I can show you so the butterfly key
mechanism this is how every laptop
keyboard in the world except apples
previous keyboard worked and so you've
got this scissor mechanism this is the
scissor mechanism where you have a
spring at the center of the key and and
so that spring you know provides the the
travel up and then this mechanism and
the key thing with this Meccans with a
few things one you know it's it's a
reasonable amount of travel but it's
it's self clearing and so if you get if
you get crumbs or gunk or anything
underneath there the act of the scissor
mechanism actuated is going to push
debris out of there but also if you get
something in there that is completely
jammed it is modular we talked a lot
about repairability repairability means
modularity and i can remove any of these
individual key caps you can even replace
the scissor mechanism you can replace
the key where what Apple went to in the
in the 20 well with the with the
butterfly keyboard if you don't grab me
that computer keyboard yeah this is this
is the point so this is the one that
came out and in the spring and we've
gone ahead and removed a couple of the
keys from this which destroyed the
keyboard in the process of doing it but
for the sake of science we destroy a
hardware for you and you can see this is
where the the butterfly mechanism was
and and because they were so concerned
about about debris getting in they've
created all kinds of these so the
protective this is the that's that's
just trying to keep debris out of here
and they we just never really figured it
out I mean they went through three and a
half generations of this they kept
saying they changed things Apple you
know this summer they said oh we changed
the material and so then we went on our
wild goose chase off to the material
design
but the university ran it through all
kinds of material you know materials
analysis spectrographs they identify and
it turns out yes they did change the
type of plastic they were using for this
member it was really just what silkier
and like more clear is that what I
remember yeah they went to a material
that was a little bit stiffer a little
bit more rugged but also had better
thermal properties and one theory is
that it was the e the R keys keys kind
of above the processor that we're
failing more often some of the others
yeah so I'm not sure if you guys checked
out Joanna strands post huge Joanna
Stern fan girl she put a post on the
Wall Street Journal with all of the ease
and ours missing from when she had this
experience on her Mac yeah so you know
you go to failure analysis and there
could be a thousand reasons that's
failing apples trying to track it down
that they Apple kept telling everyone
that they had in relatively low failure
rates and yet yeah what we saw these
informal surveys where huge percentages
of people that with these machines I
mean I haven't really talked with anyone
that owns one of these computers that
didn't have a keyboard problem yeah so
finally Apple Apple's management must
have decided to override the design and
the engineering team and said no more
we're switching well they also had the
keyboard replacement program that they
launched in 2018 so they extended the
warranty for four years for all of the
keyboards with the butterfly keyboard
which have been so expensive because
correct me you can't just replace keys
or even the keyboard like walk me
through how you you have to I mean
because this thing is not modular
because you've got you to your
individual keys that are right
completely integrated and isolated if a
single key fails if you get the dust a
piece of dust that makes its way past
the membrane or if if the plastic is
deformed and now you get these long key
press or the keys are repeating you have
to replace half the laptop it's it's
it's abysmal it's awful and it's a good
example of a it's like it what it works
when everything is perfect but the
moment that you get one little problem
it's not resilient and I think if you
think about the the mechanical item that
we are interacting with the most and the
computer it needs to be resilient and I
mean this is why we've been on our
repairability high horse for so long as
repair ability means resiliency
means resiliency if you get a key
mechanism and this guy that fails you
can swap it out and replace it on this
computer you have to replace half the
computer yeah I read that before they
launched their keyboard repair program
it was seven hundred dollars to fix it
out of warranty which is absolutely
insane and it reminds me of the note 7
which was what a five billion dollar
design mistake that could have easily
been fixed if they made a more powerful
thing in and that's I mean the the
designers are designing themselves in a
corner where everything has to work
perfectly if you build in some repair
ability you give yourself a little bit
of breathing room and apples apples ego
was such that they said no we're going
to make it we can mass-produce these
things with all the individual
mechanical components and let's see we
can make it work and it turns out that
they just come quite to it yeah so
here's the other thing is let's ignore
durability let's ignore reliability and
repair ability this keyboard sucks it is
like you're tapping it it feels like
tapping on an iPad like there is so
little key travel it's like it's garbage
and everyone that I never heard someone
say oh yeah I actually prefer the the
you know an arrowy travel I spend all
day every day typing and so the feel of
that typing experience really matters to
me as a matter of fact a lot of our
folks on the engineering side have these
guys so this is a this is your classic
mechanical keyboard so this is a razer
mechanical keyboard with the fancy
cherry switches and everything and you
can really hear right
but that satisfying experience when
you're working right a lot of people
really enjoy I'm not saying they should
include something like this in a laptop
but the key travel the feel the
experience attack though I was so nuts
working next to you with that I I agree
and I don't so so I don't work next to
Kyle well but that's where we get into
something like this where this thing
right it's got a reasonable sound and
it's got a reasonable travel and if you
figure that this is how we are
interacting with computers most of the
time it's typing this this this kind of
feel is just far superior and you won't
annoy your neighbors that much so Apple
said they took the best aspects of this
magic keyboard and they have put
the new new MacBook so let's let's take
a look at this keyboard again so so many
keyboards to play with so I was I was
watching dieter bonds review of the
MacBook on the verge and he described
this as more of a thunk and a clunk
versus a spring in a snap and so I want
kylene's take on yeah what does this
sound well I would say it's it's a thunk
it there isn't the loud kind of clicky
there you get which is which is kind of
distracting so if I'm in you know bed
typing and my wife is asleep I think
this would be feel pretty reasonable
yeah this it's reasonably quiet it's got
a respectable amount of key job I don't
think I would want less key travel than
this but I also don't think that you
necessarily need more okay so let's
let's go ahead and pop one of these keys
off of this new guy and I'll show you
what repairability looks like in a
keyboard so I'm just gonna go in
underneath the command key and there's
two tabs on either side they kind of
latch in and there it goes so now I've
got this this key cap off and I tried
this earlier so uh well let's let's this
is the key cap from the magic keyboard
and you can just snap it right on that
works and it's it's very slightly taller
than this key key but but it totally
works
I can't wait to see all these modern
keyboards soon yeah say yeah if you
wanted to take in and have the cool you
could you could change them out you can
do a zebra pattern you could swap all
the keys over I guess you can't the one
of the problems that people don't like
about the the magic keyboard is the very
large you're very large left-right keys
and that's something that Apple did
right with it with the new one is that
we've got we've got reasonable
left-right keys with the space in
between them that's the other thing is
there's a little bit more space
increased between the keys to help you
your hand is here is your touch typing
so dramatically better keyboard let's
let's take this this new key off again
so I think it's easier to pry from the
top that's what I don't think cuz cuz
the this it's it slots in there so your
ear look here you've got these are what
what snap-on and then these just slot
underneath so you kind of you set it
down this way and then you rock down and
push it down and and so now let's let's
go ahead and take this this isn't
mechanism out and I want to compare the
scissor mechanism to what we're seeing
on the on the magic keyboard it's gonna
take me a month to take this off okay
there we go so this is the new butterfly
mechanism you're probably flying scissor
mechanism anti butterfly and you can see
that and to compare it to the the
mechanism this is the mechanism from the
magic keyboard this is the mechanism
from the 2019 and the the you can see
there they're effectively identical this
guy is just the old one is just a little
bit thicker and maybe a little bit more
robust but I imagine that Apple's guys
using using a pretty resilient plastic
so they took exactly the mechanical
design pro from that keyboard and
they've gotta here and then if you want
to focus in on on the backlight here I
think this is pretty slick but there's
actually a dot pattern for the back way
underneath here so what is explained so
you'd imagine if you have a LED and you
want to backlight the keys one way to do
it would be they have a single LED and
then have a diffusing membrane across
there that would be the cheap way to do
it Apple doesn't do anything the cheap
way and so they've created some kind of
light pipes and so and and this is this
is not new with this machine but it's
the attention to detail that Apple has
where you've got these individual pins
of light that are you know presumably
shining the light straight up and then
there's this this gasket this black
gasket around the edge that I think it's
just for for light ingress just to keep
the edges of the keys from glowing they
don't want the edges to glow they want
the glow out through the leather on top
reasonably slick and cool overall I mean
if you imagine getting getting dirt or
dust in this thing if you did neither's
you know Dorito trick you're going to
get crap inside these keys but then you
can just pop the keys off and clean it
out
and that's something that anybody you
don't need to go to a repair shop you
can you come pop these keys off yourself
so marquee Travel is good and it lets
you get in there and clean out any
debris yeah cool and it's just a
tried-and-true mechanism right we know
that these scissor mechanisms work yeah
I would say it's got a little bit less
travel than the magic keyboard but the
volume we'll be using in this pretty
similar think use a little smaller keys
are no they're the same size cool all
right not a lot of questions coming in
from the chat but people do want to see
the bottom of it so all right so let's
let's take a look underneath it and see
what else they've changed I've gone
ahead and already removed the bottom
case to make this easy
haha so here is this whole thing opened
up and Apple's obsession with black
continues but the fans are still spend
every oh they're gonna they're gonna
slow down so you dramatically improve
thermal management is what Apple says
it's good we're gonna have to dive into
that a little deeper in the full
teardown oh I don't know everything that
they changed but you see the overall
layout of this is pretty darn similar to
the previous one you have you know we
bought because we're taking this apart
for you we bought the cheaper one so
this is the $2,400 one and you'll see
things like pens on the board that don't
have chips on them that's that's where
they're going to put either RAM or
storage on the
in models so you get fans and then and
then your Intel processor and your
graphic stripper underneath we've got a
question as to why the board's always
black why is it black
you know Steve Jobs always talked about
what is the back of the cabinet looks
like that was a cabinet maker and you
take pride in the entire thing and so
Apple is always really pushed for fit
and finish inside but I can say it's
like they're these these plastic there
are these black covers over the top of
the heatsinks or like this guy here is a
black sticker that's set over that and
as far as we can tell that's purely
aesthetic there is no functional value
to that sticker whatsoever it's not this
doesn't look thermally conductive to me
it's just because they thought that this
you can imagine the aesthetic balance of
you've got this black connector and then
over here you'd have a kind of shiny
gray thing and so they put the sticker
over it my favorite is when they started
coming out with rose gold screws
pentalobe screws from the bottom that is
some attention to detail we've got a
question if the battery is the battery
is absolutely glued down this this thing
looks like it's going to get the same
repair ability score as the previous one
which is going to be very very low this
is not a computer that I'm necessarily
going to recommend you buy as much as I
I'm thrilled the keyboard is good and
the speakers are fantastic if you have
any little thing that goes wrong with it
like stage light effect is the problem
where the the cable on the
display would break over time and that's
a very expensive repair so this is going
to be a very very expensive commuter to
buy it's going to be very expensive to
have a maintain and it's not going to
last as long as say a 2012 machine did
because they're not upgradeable so you
have to fork out all your money for all
the upgrades up front so one of the
things that I thought was funny so in
the last generation keyboard before it
even went on sale they automatically put
it into their warranty program this one
isn't on there this one isn't thank you
super confident that they got it right I
think they're super comfort they got it
right because they didn't do anything
new same as this one and so I would have
a reasonable amount of confidence that
this keyboard is going to work so one
other thing that's interesting about
this battery you see the battery takes
up you know most of space so this is a
larger better than the previous one it
says right here that it is a ninety nine
point eight watt hour battery
okay so that means read the weathering
on here but you got right there okay so
why didn't they go to a hundred well
there is a FAA restriction on taking
batteries at a hundred kill or 100 watt
hours or larger on airplanes you can't
do it so this is the largest size of
Apple could put a battery and a laptop
and and still allowed on the plane
what's interesting to me about that is
if you look at this this design you have
quite a bit of empty space around here
around the edge of the bit the battery
you know they need they need some extra
space like there's a little bit of space
here I can slide the spudger in but
there's extra space here like Apple
could have easily made this battery ten
or fifteen percent larger but they
weren't allowed to by the FAA so this is
where I get frustrated because I look at
all this extra space you've got extra
space down here around around the taptic
engine and if they reconfigured this
laptop a little bit they absolutely have
space to make the RAM and the SSD
upgradable there is the physical room
inside the computer without making it
thicker questions
yes SD in the RAM are not upgradable
they're not removable and that's a damn
crying shame it has been that way pretty
much since 2012 so if you want that
upgradable Mac buy a 2012 MacBook Pro
it's still in my opinion the best the
best laptop but the speakers are not as
good so that's that's I mean the the
highlights I think I think we're gonna
be diving into a lot more detail it's
it's an incredibly elegant design you
know it's been a while since I've opened
one of these things up and so it's
interesting if you if you look at the
side of it you've got things like
they've got these posts around the
battery so the battery could actually be
thicker if I if I put this here you can
see there's room for a thicker battery
it's just like all around there's
actually quite a bit of available space
inside this thing so if they wanted to
make it upgradable they could so what do
you think we'll see
next generation I I think I I think
they're happy with this form factor I
think they're going to sit
they clearly have room they've gone with
a larger better they have room to
reconfigure so I think that they could
make it feather if they wanted to I
think what clearly were on the same
Intel specs in the spring so I think the
next the next version of this is going
to be tied in with Intel's Intel's next
roadmap Apple sure doesn't want to again
there is room inside this thing for more
ports you've got you've got space here
there it sits a little bit compact over
there but if they wanted to give you
more ports or a SD card slot or
something over here there absolutely is
room on the board in this room inside
the machine to do it I mean it would be
a thermal challenge and they've clearly
you know push the envelope with thermal
engineering but I think it's doable
people are asking if you'd recommend
this model over the 13-inch but I'm
asking would you recommend this model at
all I would not recommend this can be
there I mean I think it's awesome it
will work fantastic for a while the
keyboard certainly is going to be a lot
more reliable but they haven't fixed the
underlying issues and and you have I
mean you've got Microsoft just rolled
out their surface laptop with upgradable
SSD and it's it's very compelling the
keyboard looks to be super solid on that
the speakers don't probably sound quite
as good but all right who's buying a
laptop because of the speakers so I
think we have to we have to be holding
manufacturers accountable to creating
products that are repairable we should
be able to remove the battery easier you
know you've got one two three four five
six cells here each of those cells has
to be individually pried out it's gonna
take you an hour of careful prying and
there's a fire risk in the process this
computer isn't going to be happy for
recyclers to deal with so across this is
you know for a company that brags about
their sustainability this is not a
sustainable laptop yeah and that's
something a lot of people forget about
when these things go to e-waste
recyclers they don't have the
disassembly instructions to be able to
get out the battery safely so that they
can recycle the safely so they have to
go through
the hard way just like us and a lot of
times yeah it's just I have a lot to say
about batteries but I'll refrain Kyle
knows I go on lots of rants about
batteries so I'll keep it contained
so a very impressive piece of
engineering really really cool
especially what they did with the
speakers I'm very impressed and I mean
what they've done with the thermal vents
along the side and that also gives them
access for speakers I think that's
fantastic
one kind of vulnerability of these
things is if you get water spilled
underneath through this slot right it
water is going to have ingress to the
mainboard and and and there isn't there
isn't any attempt to waterproofing with
this design most laptops aren't all
right I'm trying to be water proof right
but that means that if you get water
inside it you're gonna have corrosion on
the mainboard and that's gonna be very
expensive repair yeah so if you do get I
mean that's a common question that we
get in our community all the time can
you quickly go over what you should do
if you spill water on your laptop you
spill water on your laptop first thing
to do is to remove power from it just
connect the well yeah and just connect
the batteries again which means
disconnect the battery which in this
case is a little bit tricky I think yeah
I thought I don't actually know how to
disconnect the battery honestly I think
I think it might be this cable but let's
stay tuned for a turn but you have to
you have to Ramin zin this case the
bottom case screws are a Torx area
torque they're a pentalobe p5 so they're
a special bit you're gonna need one of
the iFixit toolkits to get inside it
Apple won't sell you the screwdriver
that you need so Apple does not have a
plan for people if you spill a cup of
wine on your computer or honestly with
the way that the food do you gotta kind
of get the water like underneath and
then off it so the computers actually
almost more vulnerable to water I
suppose if it's upside down
hmm well cool I think we've gone through
you know a good chunk of this we don't
want to spill all of our secrets we do
want you to turn into our full teardown
which we're gonna get out on Monday we
will have probably a lot to say because
there are a lot of interesting things in
this laptop yeah it's a it's a really
neat design it's
dramatically improve speaker it is a
return to a tried and true tested
keyboard design so I I'm not gonna not
gonna yeah I I think I'd be willing to
go out a little bit of a limb and say I
think that the keyboard problems with
these laptops are behind them with this
old mechanism but you still you can't
buy one for six months or a year let
everyone else be the suckers and find
out if Apple's really fixed it and and
we'll know for sure in a year and if you
do have keyboard problems you're still
replacing the whole the whole case
that's it yeah well cool thank you for
tuning in and I think that's all we have
to say we will be checking I know there
were a lot of questions in the chat that
we didn't get to so I will talk to our
engineers and try to get them addressed
in our teardown but that's it for us
thanks everyone
you