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This is a normal post The Evil Fuckers do this on Purpose
Notes on Replacing the keyboard on a MacBook Pro Retina 2015 (A1398)

This is of course a pretty straightforward repair, right? After all keyboards are replaced routinely in most models. So on most laptops we’d think maybe 15 minutes should cover the labour. Not even close.

The keyboard is held in place with rivets, lots of them, 105 I think. The have to be ripped out which destroys the keyboard, but at least that’s already broken. These will be replaced with 105 small self tapping screws which you can buy for just this purpose.

It’s not over just yet though. To get to all the rivets you also need to remove the battery, which is a multi-section Lithium-ion job and of course it’s glued in place with super strong adhesive. If you are lucky to prise this out in one piece without it exploding in your face you are good to go. In all this shouldn’t take more than a couple of hours, and there is only a small-to-medium risk of you terminally damaging the battery or chassis in the process of carrying out the repair.

I’m now going to choose my words carefully as Apple has lots of lawyers and they are mean and vicious.

Apple: WTF ARE YOU DOING YOU STUPID F***S.

Since when did a keyboard become a non-replaceable part in a laptop? Are you really telling us that a slip of the prosecco glass means a trip down to the Apple store to buy a replacement £2700 laptop?

Designing laptops that can be serviced isn’t hard – until recently Apple’s batteries were secured by screws, and even Apple’s notorious keyboard-of-a-thousand screws was replaceable without causing physical damage to components if you were prepared to put up with the swearing from the workshop techs. It’s almost as if you were purposely designing laptops that are as hard to repair as you could possibly make them. Which I have to conclude is exactly what you are doing.
(, Tue 20 Aug 2019, 10:58, , Reply)
This is a normal post Excellently put
I've been following all the shit they've done to macbooks - which is why mine is about six years old when normally I'd have replaced it after four years. Aside from the horrendous keyboard shit - and let's not forget that the keyboard you describe can break with not so much more than a biscuit crumb in the wrong place - there is also

flexgate - display cable for monitor so short that after just over one year it breaks and fucks the display. Unlike in previous models you cant just replace the cable for a few pounds, no the cable is built into the display in such a way that you can only fix this by getting a new display - which costs $600
(, Tue 20 Aug 2019, 11:29, , Reply)
This is a normal post USB-C ports on mine fried a bunch of adapters, mice and keyboards
I know everything will be USB-C soon, but a few years ago they could have just left one USB on the Macbook Pro that's presumably supposed to be used by professionals such as photographers. So many dongles.

So yeah, in conclusion Macbooks been getting steadily worse for about 7 years now.
(, Tue 20 Aug 2019, 15:21, , Reply)