2020 MacBook Air teardown shows in graphic detail how butterfly keyboards were snipped for scissor switch

Teardown terrors iFixit have opened up the innards of the new MacBook Air to reveal not only the departure of the hated butterfly keyboard, but also tweaks that might make things a bit more repairable. Kind of. The Cupertino collector of idiot tax introduced the magical butterfly keyboard some five years ago as it sought to …

[Anonymous Coward]

Things will get better

now that "Sir"Jony Ive has been fucked off. He was in charge of design for years despite not being able to spell his name correctly. Still, I expect him to do well for himself in his new business. Called "Love From".

Cheers… Ishy

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Things will get better

His original name is "Johnathan I Have", but, because he's a man who lives his credo 110%, he slimmed it down to Jony Ive, removing millimetres from his name, even eschewing punctuation. I salute his artistic integrity.

[David 132]

Re: Things will get better

Thanks for the inspiration - whenever I write his name from now on, I'm going to use a monospaced font, just to add width and piss him off.

[jake]

Re: Things will get better

Hey, be nice. He has an Art Degree. He must be brilliant!

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Things will get better

That Art degree came at a high cost with years of practical training learning about customer needs while asking if the customer would like fries with their burger.

[Lord Elpuss]

” The Cupertino collector of idiot tax”

Fuck off.

[ilovecookiez]

I wonder why they never introduce Google as "the San Jose collector of all your personal info"

[Anonymous Coward]

Because Apple and all the discks who buy their products are the juiciest target

[jake]

Because they are HQed in Mountain View?

ElReg certainly hasn't shied away from pointing out the obvious ...

[werdsmith]

Because banality is the new cool.

Along with Crysis, popcorn and all the other stuff that people write thinking they are being original.

[jake]

Methinks ...

... a nerve has been well and truly touched.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Methinks ...

After a sheep has been fleeced its nerves are closer to the surface.

[Lord Elpuss]

Re: Methinks ...

Yup. It’s inaccurate, puerile and just plain lazy writing, and it pisses me off. As long as El Reg continues to use it, I’ll continue to give them two word answers involving sex and travel.

[jake]

Re: Methinks ...

Apple's gross profit for the twelve months ending December 31, 2019 was $101.578 billion on $267.683 billion in revenue. That's one hell of a profit margin on what is essentially commodity hardware, a borrowed OS, and a user interface that was bought and paid for over a decade before. ElReg's take on the subject is quite accurate under even the closest of scrutiny. Your opinion appears to be more self righteous whining than anything else ... but you're welcome to it. Have a beer to wash down that bile. Might do you a world of good.

[Lord Elpuss]

Re: Methinks ...

I don’t like being called an idiot for making my informed decisions. If you think this makes me self-righteous, I don’t think you know what the term means.

Apple’s revenue and profit margins are also the single biggest disprover of the ‘idiot tax’ myth. No company grows to that level without selling products that people actually need and find useful.

And your comments coming from somebody who claims to have been involved in every technological breakthrough of the last 100 years, you have a VERY inflated view of your own credibility Jake.

[hammarbtyp]

Re: Methinks ...

"No company grows to that level without selling products that people actually need and find useful."

"No person would wear such clothes unless they were actually as wonderful as specified" said the tailors as they delivered the emperors new clothes

[jake]

Re: Methinks ...

"your comments coming from somebody who claims to have been involved in every technological breakthrough of the last 100 years"

Don't be stupid. I have never claimed that. All I have said is that I grew up in Palo Alto (with side trips to Blighty lasting up to a couple years at a time), managed to get engineering degrees from both Berkeley and Stanford during the time period that the network we now call "The Internet" was being developed ... and then worked in the early Silly Con Valley as computers and networking became ubiquitous. Clearly some people did this, or we wouldn't be having this conversation. Is it that much of a stretch that one or more of those people would read and comment here at ElReg?

Regardless of any of the above, Apple sells very expensive equipment that doesn't actually do anything to justify the expense. Unless you're after the high-end haberdashery effect, of course. Bling tends to sell well in our society, and a certain percentage of the public seems to find it important. I'm not disputing that aspect. Follow your bliss.

[jake]

Re: Methinks ...

Wow. A thumb one minute after I posted. Shirley you have better things to do with your time than wait on my every word? Honestly, I'm astonished that I mean so much to you!

[Lord Elpuss]

Re: Methinks ...

First downvote wasn't from me - obviously somebody else isn't keen on your tone either.

The second downvote WAS from me. Enjoy.

[jake]

Re: Methinks ...

My tone? I'm not the one that suggested that our host "fuck off".

None of your downvotes are from me, because I think thumbs are bloody useless. Hope that helps you feel better, pobrecito.

I've got work to do, so pardon if I don't reply to your inevitable answer for a couple hours.

[Lord Elpuss]

Re: Methinks ...

Yes by all means, feel free to jog on.

[JP Cavendish]

Re: Methinks ...

Fscking hell Elpuss & Jake - get a room already. People make choices. Those choices aren't always the same ones YOU would make, doesn't make them right or wrong.

Elpuss - It's up to you if you buy Apple. Doesn't make you an idiot. But it's a Reg punchline that's been around for ever, nothing personal and not the end of the world. Stop whinging.

Jake - I'm sure you've been around, seen a lot and done some stuff. But you don't half shout about it a lot so do us a favour and STFU when others have a different viewpoint.

First World Problems both of you.

</rant>

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Methinks ...

@ Cavendish

Which also happens to be the name of my local pub until it closed a couple of weeks ago.

They are just bitch slapping each other. Just stir it up and leave them to it. One day they will reach puberty and learn. (Says me)

Cheers… Ishy

[Lord Elpuss]

Re: Methinks ...

"Apple sells very expensive equipment that doesn't actually do anything to justify the expense"

In YOUR view. In MY view, I save money, stress and man-hours by buying Apple. I buy judiciously (I have a 2017 base model MacBook Pro and an iPhone 8 Plus, so nothing fancy by today's standards), my family also have iPhones (an SE and a 7) and MacBooks (a 2012 and a 2015), and all have proven to be reliable workhorses, with pretty much zero 'bling'; as you put it.

It works for me. I don't feel I've overpaid for the value I'm getting. Others may feel they get more value from Windows, or Android, or Linux, and I don't tell them they're idiots - I'm sure they're happy with their choice. And yet apparently I'm an idiot for choosing what works for me, and a whinger when I dislike being called an idiot.

[Dave559]

Re: Apple prices

I like Apple gear (mostly), but I'll be the first to admit that it's overpriced, and they price gouge extremely painfully on things liike RAM and storage upgrades over base models. I'd love it if Apple gear were 2/3 the price and would sell twice as many (possibly even more, at a more realistic price/value premium), rather than being a far too expensive segment of the market occupying a far smaller niche than it deserves.

[Lord Elpuss]

Re: Apple prices

$1.35tn market cap tells me they've done their sums right and is the literal definition of realistic, in the sense that it's as 'real' as it gets. Whatever their business model, you can't deny it works - and it works because there are a huge number of people who DO find the price/value ratio realistic.

[werdsmith]

Re: Methinks ...

Regardless of any of the above, Apple sells very expensive equipment that doesn't actually do anything to justify the expense.

The one thing it does do to justify the expense is allow people to avoid the slime that is Android.

And it's very cheap too, because they support their phones for so long I am able to pick up used ones very cheap and use them for a long time too.

I don't know about the laptops, i've looked at them and liked them but never felt impressed enough to handover cash, even used they are quite expensive. Which I suppose justifies the expense for new buyers.

[Muscleguy]

Re: Methinks ...

I use a Mid2010 hand me down 15” Powerbook Pro the one with the motherboard which causes kernel panics due to the choice between the graphics card and the onboard graphics chip. But there’s the excellent gfx cardstatus which keeps it running sweetly. I replaced battery, HD and upped the RAM to max and it’s fine. The keyboard is 100%, my daughter and I seem to be people who are kind to keyboards.

This is old tech running Sierra an OS which much post dates it and it still does what it says on the tin. Apple make stuff which lasts, or they used to. If you want the equivalent non Apple kit you will also pay through the nose for it. Just because there isn’t a Mac ecosystem selling bargain basement clones (it got killed, remember?) it doesn’t follow that the Apple kit is overpriced.

It is necessary in making comparisons to compare like with like is it not? Comparing a windoze machine from a box shifter to Cupertino’s finest is a category error. One which the El Reg scribes continue to make ad nauseum.

IT prides itself on being logical, but you are also human and humans make logical errors all the time. It’s why we created science. If as a scientist I submitted a research paper making such an invalid comparison it would get knocked back. A student submitting work like that would be corrected in the hope that the lesson might be learned.

But El Reg? it makes a judgement and regardless of the logical validity it punts it even though it is so old and hoary it stinks the place out.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Methinks ...

@ Jake

A borrowed os? MacOS and Linux bear one thing in common. They are both bastardised free versions of Unix. The only reason I run Mac is because I can't get the software I need if I used Linux. Otherwise I would have a difficult decision to make. And you whinge on about others whining? And they made how much? It's a business, they make as much money as they can.Of course if it was your business you would cut your prices and profits and your pay wouldn't you. Well wouldn't you?????

In the meantime, fuck computers and operating systems and all the rest of the bullshit that goes with it.

To you and all the other comentards, Please stay safe.

Cheers… Ishy

[jake]

Re: Methinks ...

"A borrowed os?"

Yes. The guts are a rather clumsy melange of various BSD flavo(u)rs. It's a holdover of Steve Jobs finally seeing the light (kind of) when he built NeXT.

" MacOS and Linux bear one thing in common. They are both bastardised free versions of Unix."

Linux was basically written from scratch, and so one could hardly call it bastardized. Apple borrowed Carnegie Mellon's microkernel, but rather sadly they fucked up the "micro" part.

[Robert Grant]

Re: Methinks ...

I’ll continue to give them two word answers involving sex and travel.

"Mile-high club"?

[No-One@No-Where]

Exactly

I notice all the morons who claim that Apple products are expensive have never bothered to spec up an equivalent machine

Try building a Hackintosh with the same specs as an iMac - its actually more expensive (and lower specced - try getting a 5K screen)

There are too many pathetic losers (mainly poms - fuck me the English are the biggest pack of whingers on earth) who aren't happy unless they are being smart arses - mainly because they are such a failure as a people they have to put everyone else down to feel good about their miserable selves

[NATTtrash]

Re: Exactly

have never bothered to spec up an equivalent machine

You do realise that the new devices that Apple launches always, consistently have older, sub-spec components right? Things like (too) little RAM, unless hefty idiot tax is paid, aged CPU, perhaps changed if considerable idiot tax is paid, smaller capacity SSDs, unless significant idiot tax is paid.

(Did I already mention the Apple margin is an idiot tax?)

Any way... Perhaps not so bad, if you want (to show off) the looks, to order the case and build something that really has some specs. You can even use your glue gun if you want! After all, it's all about (showing off) the looks right? And if you want, like you say, to have something with really some oompf... I heard the AMD Ryzen 9 3950X seems to be nice. But you can always step down of course if you want it to have more Apple feel...

[Mr F&*king Grumpy]

Re: Exactly

all this nerdy stuff about "speccing uo an equivalent machine" ...

what would somebody like me, who has been using Apple products since the early 90s, and has a very considerable tangible investment in software licenses, not to mention a less tangible but equally valuable investment in acquiring knowledge of how the hardware, OS, supplied and third party software work have to gain by switching to a slightly cheaper, slightly more powerful, and most likely less reliable alternative when this would mean pretty much throwing away all that acquired knowledge?

I get the impression that a considerable amount of people here are far more into the gear than actually using it. And sure, even today, if that's what floats your boat, in the Windows/Linux world there's far more scope for fiddling with gear than in the Apple world.

Side note - my "corporate" machine is a Windows PC. At present a quite pleasant HP EliteBook. I've gone through 4 laptops in 8 years, generally replaced because fixing various software-based slowdowns was considered too challenging. My 2013 MacBook Air is still humming along quite happily. Just one data point.

[Lord Elpuss]

Re: Exactly

A lot of people also don’t realise that if you run a significantly sized business, doing it on Hackintoshes is impractical at best and at worst could put you out of business.

Apple may turn a blind eye to individuals, but companies like mine of 100 or more are likely to get slapped much harder; they tend to want to stay on the right side of the law.

[big_D]

Re: Exactly

On the other hand, heise recently did a review of the new Threadripper and compared it to the new Mac Pro. The Threadripper machine cost less than a quarter of what the Mac Pro cost and ran rings around it with Cinebench single and multi-core tests and other benchmarks.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Exactly

The English are the biggest pack of whingers on earth?

Of course we are. We can put up with the Knobs with a smile on our faces. That is what makes us superior to knobs like you. An English foetus could swallow the letters in the alphabet and shit a better insult. But don't worry, once you grow hair in your pubic region, you will be different. (Oh, just go and ask an adult)

Cheers… Ishy

[werdsmith]

Re: Exactly

Try building a Hackintosh with the same specs as an iMac - its actually more expensiv

Nah, it was free. I just did it in a VM.

[chivo243]

smarter?

I rarely use the built in keyboard, unless forced to use it. I like older Apple bluetooth aluminum keyboards, they have the right travel, and response to input.

[paulf]

Re: smarter?

An external keyboard has the added benefit of being significantly easier to replace than the internal one when it finally gives up the ghost.

I do the same - not always easy to find the original style bluetooth keyboard and track pads but they are out there if you're prepared to wait/search.

[C 7]

I like my Microsoft keyboard...

I use the Wireless Desktop 3050 with AES... a great feeling keyboard, a blue-track mouse that's big enough to hold on to, AES encryption, and only $35 (USD) for the set on Amazon. My old 3050 without AES has lasted around 10 years, and still going strong, I just decided to upgrade since I'm stuck working at home until this coronavirus thing blows over.

I do use it with a Mac, but it's SO much better than the built-in keyboard. There's actual key travel you can feel, the keys are all in the right places, complete with Home and End and Backspace AND Delete, and PageUp/PageDown, all those keys that some idiot designer at Apple apparent'y thought were as unimportant as the right button on a mouse.

[-tim]

Re: I like my Microsoft keyboard...

Keyboards with AES aren't much more secure. The timing of the packets can be used to deduce the key sequences with no need to decrypt them.

[C 7]

Re: I like my Microsoft keyboard...

If there's someone sufficiently motivated to deduce my keystrokes from the timing of the packets being sent by my keyboard, I have bigger problems to worry about than whatever might be in my keystrokes.

[Ian Joyner]

Stop insulting your readers

A lot of people here realise spending a little extra for Apple is a good investment. They are not idiots.

Let’s consider some UK companies – Rolls Royce (oh well BMW now), Dyson – 10 times the price of a regular product?

Apple has brought down the cost of personal computing. As always happens when others see success, the most obvious thing they can do is sell a cheaper less durable product and undercut on price.

Stop making the obviously political point all the time of ‘idiot tax’. It is both wrong and childish and undermines the Register’s credibility.

[DiViDeD]

Re: Stop insulting your readers

Apple has brought down the cost of personal computing

No, IBM did that by allowing cheap clone makers access to the specs. All Apple did was come along and charge a hefty premium for last year's hardware.

[stuff and nonesense]

Re: Stop insulting your readers

IBM didn’t allow access, they used a bought OS on commodity hardware for the original PC. The only proprietary part was the BIOS which was reverse engineered.

[AlanS]

Re: Stop insulting your readers

IBM did allow access: when the PC came out they followed their standard practice for their equipment and published the specs, including the main bus. This allowed third parties to build add-in boards, while other manufacturers offered only their own designs, then when the BIOS was cloned, other people (eg, Gateway) could build compatible boxes, allowing the market to mushroom. Only now did MS bribe the clone makers to use MSDOS rather than, eg, DRDOS, for which they were duly fined after the competition were dead.

[Ian Joyner]

Re: Stop insulting your readers

And IBM brought out the PC in an attempt to kill Apple, so Apple was responsible for that.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Stop insulting your readers

"Stop making the obviously political point all the time of ‘idiot tax’. It is both wrong and childish and undermines the Register’s credibility."

Oh no, ElReg has offended me and inspite of creating superb content and insightful opinion, being offended is more important to my shallow, largely pointless life. Only I won't leave because I know I can't get a similar level of well written content elsewhere so I will moan pointlessly while nursing my fragile ego.

Maybe ElReg could help readers by including a large banner at the top of the site to indicate that the content may contain irony, sarcasm and other grammatical devices to improve the quality of the content? Maybe use a catchy phrase or somethin....

[big_D]

Re: Stop insulting your readers

They are equally abusive of all of the big tech players. They have no favourites, although Apple snubbing El Reg probably puts them at the bottom of the list of friends.

Apple has brought down the cost of personal computing.

Absolutely, those $200 Chromebooks are... Oh, wait, no that wasn't Apple.

Absolutely, those $300 Windows PCs... Oh, wait, no that wasn't Apple.

When I first started in computing, I wanted an Apple ][, but I ended up with a ZX81, because it brought down the cost of personal computing to under 50 quid! The Apple was around 30 times as expensive, not really something you can buy on wages of 3 quid a week, as a schoolboy!

Later, I lusted after the Mac, but it was well over 2000UKP at the time, the Amiga 500 did more and cost about a quarter as much...

I used Macs for many years at work. I only bought one. When Apple switched to Intel, the 24" white plastic iMac cost about as much as a traditional PC + 24" display (after lecturer discount). When I went to replace it a couple of years later, the 24" displays had dropped around 70% in price and the normal PC had remained price stable, but the 24" iMac had increased in price...

[baud]

Re: Stop insulting your readers

> undermines the Register’s credibility

The Reg has any kind credibility? That's new to me

[werdsmith]

Re: Stop insulting your readers

I don't know about crediblity. But the idiot tax thing is old, trite, tired, hackneyed, unoriginal, boring, banal etc.

[Muscleguy]

Really?

<quote>While screws will always be the repairperson's friend</quote>

Assuming the repairer notices them or is halfway competent. I inherited this laptop (Macbook pro 15” mid 210) from my daughter who had had it repaired several times. I replaced the battery for one which retained more than 10min of juice and after removing three screws looked for the 4th. Which was sitting in a broken off tab from a previous battery. Which explains the warped chassis which means the ram slot lever will not stay down (so far so good).

Some repair person had failed to think that maybe there might be a 4th, symmetrical screw and just pulled and levered until the tab broke. The screw btw was easy to remove and both the screw and the hole showed no signs of binding. It was slapdash. Some stretchy glue might have been preferable.

I suspect the screwhead choice will continue to get weirder as they engage in the arms race with what people equip themselves with. Must I buy yet another set of micro screwdrivers so I can repair something I own? They even host a page showing how to get in and change the RAM which requires you take the base off.