Logitech seems to focus on producing all-crap keyboards for PCs, too: I'm into my second G15 in only 4 months for the very same reason, and those keys are actually illuminated: big deal, if all blank, ha ha.

Nor is this an exception, the high end Logi models I used before would only last for about 6 months till about 45% of the keys were more or less defaced. This has been going on for the better part of three years now, too.

If my current model didn't offer full customized programming of some 18 special keys, I'd have scrapped that company ages ago.

But there's corporate logic for you: if only 10% of your customers can be forced to purchase two fresh keyboards a year, that's some mighty short term profit boost ...

I can totally see that for a desktop keyboard. Use it up and get a new one ... but on a laptop? I wonder if the repair techs are in on some profit-sharing scheme. (If so, it's failing if the keyboards get replaced while they're still under warranty.)

This keyboard is/was illuminated too. Toward the end, the only way you could see the letters on a few keys was when it was lit. And the spacebar almost doubled as a reading light. ;-)

I'm most stunned at the quality difference between my last laptop. That keyboard is still sharp as a tack with no faulty keys or problems whatsoever, after three years.

I ended up getting an iSkin silicone keyboard cover. It's transparent and really easy to type with ... have you tried any similar products?

True, it doesn't make too much sense on a laptop. But I guess the way such things are organized these days, they're basically all purchased from a mere handful of OEM manufacturers - who'll blithely cut costs across the board by going cheap on components and scrapping quality control in the same stride. So they're probably saving a dime per gallon on the finish, wowy.

To accomodate, I've resorted to returning the crap within the warranty period, too - hassle aside, it's not really filling their coffers, and serves 'em right, too. Once market shares are up, any further sense of branding seems to be the first to go down the drain ...

No, haven't tried the iSkin or similar stuff - having a hard time coming to terms even with screen protection foil for my LifeDrive: after a while, the stuff merely looks like another scratchy, soiled and spotty surface, only you can pull it off and replace it ever so often if you're willing to spend half an hour on getting it right every time. So much for aesthetics and practicability, duh.

Plus, not sure about the feel of the material, but it might be worth a try provided it doesn't inordinately dim or refract the illumination.

...this keyboard cover doesn't adhere to the keys at all. It's a molded-to-fit thin one-piece layer of clear silicone, which is smooth on the underside (so it 'sticks' to the keys well enough not to slip around), and slightly textured on the top. You can see it here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mivox/224880369/ (Well, you can hardly see it there, more to the point ;) They key feel is just a sort of muted, rubbery feel. Not bad at all, and it actually quiets the keyboard a great deal too.

Maintenance is great: just lift if off, rinse it in the sink, and let it dry ... good as new. I have only been using it for a few days now, but I'm sold. I think even if Apple released a replacement keyboard without the key-wear problem, I'd still use the cover. And it does double duty as spill protection, which is especially good for people like me. haha

I don't know if the iSkin company does any non-Apple keyboard models, but other companies put out similar products.

There is no noticeable effect on the illumnination either, that I notice.

For pda screen protectors though, I don't think I've changed mine in over a year. haha. If the keyboard cover was anything like that, I probably wouldn't bother. haha

Found this site googling! I have a late-model (18 month old) 12" PowerBook G4 like the one you're praising, and my keyboard looks just like your MacBook's -- all the keys are worn off and there's black plastic under shoddy grey paint apparently. They must have switched to these crap keyboards a couple of years ago.

I'm in Britain and a new keyboard runs about £100 (US$200) here. No way I'm paying that. Add in a sparking power supply which Apple wants £90 ($180) to repair, and you can see why I've quit Apple for HP.

You just shot my big plan to order a 12" model keyboard should this one end up wearing down after the warranty expires. Although I can apparently get a replacement keyboard for only $40-odd, so it's not so bad.

OTOH, I don't only use Apple's for the hardware, so switching to HP wouldn't really make a happy solution for me.

Sorry to dash your G4 keyboard replacement hopes, and I understand dependency on software/OSes. I wasn't thrilled to switch to XP, but the last couple of Macs I had were eating out of my pocket in two ways -- first, with expensive repairs (and AppleCare coverage purchased later to cover all the problems after the warranty expired), and in downtime when I couldn't earn anything because my computer was in the shop.

The dual-core HP I picked up was cheaper, runs OpenOffice (my primary office environment and work tool), and seems to be better built than my old G4 (although after just a month I've managed to make a shiny spot on the KB, it's not to the level of ridiculousness of missing letters like my G4 was).

I think Apple's generally suffering from a quality problem, and also has customer service issues that aggravate the quality problem. Lots of people I know say PCs often have the same issues, and that may be true, but as you note, when you pay Apple prices (especially for bog-standard Intel hardware, as Macs are these days), you expect premium quality, premium reliability, premium durability and premium service.

I bet someone will make a bit of cash off of selling replacement "nondestructible" keyboards for PowerBooks and MacBooks, just like other enterprising entrepreneurs made good money by selling replacement power supplies (for the sparky, flaming PB supplies) and clear covers for scratch-prone iPod Nanos.

Good luck with your KB trevails. The MBP is such a gorgeous design, it's a shame they cannot get the durability and quality issues ironed out -- otherwise it would be a truly killer product.

PS -- have you considered just trying to swap over the keyboard from your old G4? If it works and is durable, that might be a quick fix.

I sold the 12" G4 to a friend when I got the MBP. I don't think he'd fall for "hey there ... you want to swap your perfectly good keyboard for this brand new one that will probably fall apart in less than 6 months?" ;-)

Oh dear. Well I am sending you "good keyboard vibes" then. :)

This is all just a guess, but here goes.....

So - you wear hand lotion; most or all of the time. (How do I know this? Long story. Funny how these keyboard problem are almost completely exclusive to women.) Hand lotion contains a solvent that prevents the lotion from getting clumpy. The solvent in the hand lotion makes it to your hands. The solvent on your hands dissolves the paint on your macbook pro....
If apple did consider it a warranty item they would have to replace keyboards or everyone who uses hand lotion every 45 days or so.....

me again - found this for you:
http://www.welovemacs.com/ex72.html

... I rarely wear hand lotion, for one, and my hand-lotion habits did not suddenly change after the three years I owned my previous laptop when I bought the MacBook Pro.

So, fact remains, their previous keyboard model is much more durable than the new model, hand lotion or not. So why not continue manufacturing keyboards with a finish that actually lasts, as opposed to one that doesn't, regardless of the reason for the deteriorization?

Re: your link ... I bought a transparent ProTouch keyboard cover already, but thanks! I must admit, I think it's rather odd that they manufactured an opaque keyboard cover for a laptop with an illuminated keyboard.

I suffer the same problem with my MacBook Pro.

Have you tried to contact Apple about this problem yet? Is this covered under AppleCare?

...I don't have Apple Care, so maybe they offer broader replacement coverage under that than the original warranty? My keyboard was replaced, as mentioned in the post, because the N key was also going bad. It would fail to register the keystroke about one out of every 10 times you hit the key.

The guy at the shop told me the damage to the finish wasn't covered under the regular warranty, but if you have Apple Care, you can call them and hassle the telephone support people for a replacement, maybe? Stop back by and let us know if you get them to cover it for you!

Rather than replacing the keyboard, couldn't the key tops be replaced?

Actually, I have a related problem: I have been using a 17" MacBok Pro (keyboard still pristine after 6 months), that I may replace with the new core 2 duo model. My current one will go to a relative. The problem is I use a Qwerty keyboard, my relative would rather have an Azerty (French layout) keyboard.

My idea is to swap the keyboards. Are the keyboards compatible across the two generations?

Actually swapping the keyboards is real hard (much harder than on my old titanium). Easier is to swap the entire top case. Are these compatible?

Or why not swap simply the key tops? Can the key tops be removed without damage?

TIA,

JD

... afaik, the keyboards should be compatible. The key tops, however, CAN be popped off and replaced (I tested with my old keyboard, because I was going to just get replacements for the few that were worn through), but it's a HUGE pain in the rear to get them back on once they come off. There's actually some fairly intricate little hinged pieces on the back of each key.

I love my silicone keyboard protector. I plan to get a spare so I can always have one on the keyboard while the other is drying after being cleaned. I've discovered that using something to dry it (paper towels, etc.) leaves lint behind and rather defeats the purpose of using the cover in the first place.

You should be washing your hands after going to the bathroom, this is why your keyboard is falling apart.

I'm trying to think of a nicer way to say "fuckoff" but somehow it loses something in translation ...

I suggest that no keyboard would stand up to daily typing with FAKE NAILS. Keyboards are designed to be used with finger tips not nail tips. Loose the FAKE NAILS ladies and bet the keyboards will last years.........

Yeah, um. Love these unfounded assumptions ... I haven't had fake nails since I was 16. And that was a long damn time ago.

I got a HP Pavillion for Christmas and the keys are already wearing off! I noticed it a few weeks ago but figured I got something on it, then I realized it wasn't me! So I contact customer service today and they say I can pay $300 to get it fixed! I don't think so.

Pisses me off that this is a brand new computer and the keys look like shit, when this computer was expensive!

I contacted customer service again to see if I can deal with someone who speaks ENGLISH and I can understand.

I know you're talking about MacBooks, but I just had to add this, since I'm not a happy person at the moment!

So Apple isn't the only company totally cheaping out on their keyboards. Damn.

You could probably find a company that does the silicone keyboard covers for your computer too. I've gotten so used to mine that it feels really awful to type on the laptop without it. (And it makes the keyboard even quieter.)

I'm still using an old MacAlly keyboard I gave my buddy Jim before he moved to Chicago, and which he gave back when he moved to San Francisco. I pull all the keys and clean it once every five years, which is to say, once.

My 'N' key is the worst one of them all but the o, m,d,s,e,and a keys are doing the same exact thing. I'm pretty disappointed in it, because it really ruins the overall appearance of my computer which I have worked hard to make sure stays very nice. I have however, found replacement keys for this, but they are 3.00$ a piece. Since I've already taken apart my keyboard once to clean underneath it so it shouldn't be too much of a problem, but I don't think that I should have to replace something that I paid 2,000$ for.

Not sure I could hack my laptop case to make a MacAlly fit in there ... ;-)

Yeah, it totally doesn't seem like they should be putting such chintzy keys on such an expensive machine. Even with the silicone cover on, a few of mine are starting to get rubbed off on the edges ...

Sorry, but have you guys ever though about WASHING your hands once in a while?

That way you keep your keyboard clean...