Here’s my verdict:
MacBook Pro keyboard (also applicable to MacBook and 2018 MacBook Air):
IMHO these keyboards are the worst Apple ever made.
It’s not actually the switch which is terrible (well, they sort of are because of the short travel, but that wouldn’t be the end of the world), it’s the keycaps which do it for me. They’re (obviously) chiclet style but they problem is that the keys are way too close together and the surface is not sculped or textured in any way.
It is thusly impossible to tell if your fingers rest on the correct keys and you constantly have to look down. And I’m not even talking about the abomination that the Touchbar is.
They also, especially for their minuscule size inexcplicably wobble a lot. There’s an unpleasant feeling of them “swimming away” when you touch them.
The smooth caps also cause finger oil and debris to accumulate which then conveniently transfers to your screen surface when you close your laptop lid.
Just about the only good thing I can say about them is they don’t bind and the backlight works quite well.
iPad Smart Keyboard
This keyboard is a hundred times better than the laptop keyboards Apple currently makes. For the larger iPad, the keyboard is essentially the exact same size as the MacBook Pro 13” keyboard. (Note that the Smart Keyboard does not have a function key row or a TouchBar).
The keys are a good distance from each other and have actually sculped and textured keycap surfaces (keys are concave, bottom row with spacebar is convex, like God intended). It’s not a Model F or anything, and of course there has to be a compromise in key travel, but they feel oh so much better. I don’t make mistakes while typing on them, because I alwayls know if my fingers are sitting on the keys correctly. It doesn’t have the horrible wobbble either (there is the tiniest hint of wobble, but it’s not like teeth chattering like on the scissor switches).
Because the Smart Keyboard is completely sealed, spills and dust will just come right off and it’s extremely unlikely that the keyboard would be damaged.
I even like the typing noise better. There’s absolutely no problem typing longer texts like this post on it. Of course, I’d use a real keyboard if I have one at hand, but given the choice between the laptop keyboard with the scissor switches and the Smart Keyboard I find myself reaching to my iPad.
One downside is that there’s no backlight. However, due to the iPad screen being right there, it tends to have quite enough illumination from above to be a non-issue unless you type black text on a black screen...
Perhaps a caveat with the 2018 model is there is that the keyboard in the previous models was folded in on itself when not in use, and now the keycap surfaces will touch the screen when you close the folio-style Smart Keyboard. It does a little bit of dirt transfer to the screen surface, however the cover itself now also protects the back of the iPad, so they compromised here. I haven’t had the newer iPad for long enough to make a judgment if that’s a real issue or not.
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What do you think?
