The 2016 MacBook Pro was one of the biggest piece-of-shit laptops ever released by Apple You have to go back to 2016 to see how badly this laptop redesign damaged the venerable MacBook Pro line Let me tell this story from the perspective of someone who experienced it firsthand In 2006 with the switch to Intel from PowerPC, Apple users were very happy with the Pro line of Apple laptops. The 13" MacBook line was the base model for students and education. The latter (2008+) MacBook Air line was for portability, and the PRO line was for PROfessionals. The Pro was the top of the line, fast, efficient and had all the ports and tools needed for business, creative and home use. Everyone was happy! 2012 brought the Retina version of the MacBook Pro and we loved it! But as time went on, we wanted a redesign. Users were excited about what the first post Steve Jobs pro laptop design could be and look like. I don't think we were fully prepared for what we were about to be shown.... On October 27, 2016 at the "Hello Again" event, Phil Schiller walked on stage and introduced the 2016 MacBook Pro. I remember thinking.. Looks very nice and sleek. The Touch Bar looks fun. The 15" and 13" familiar sizes are still there but..... Where are the ports? NO MAGSAFE CHARGER PORT, NO USB-A PORT, NO HDMI, NO SD CARD SLOT. w h u t the f u c k. When it came to memory/RAM, that was the one downside to the Retina MBPro (soldered to the logic board) but we lived with it. We were NOT expecting the SSD to also be soldered to the logic board... no more SSD upgrades. Logic board having a problem? Good luck getting your data. Keep in mind, we kind of accept soldered SSD chips today, but at the time this was shocking. At the time we did not really give a second thought to the new butterfly keyboard. (Oh boy would this be a shit show later). The ESC was gone and the function key row (all moved to the Touch Bar) which was super weird... We were also worried about the price. Well, for the 15" model because it included the Touch Bar added +$400 to the base price. The 13" model could exclude the Touch Bar, but was still +$200 more. The aftermath.. Once people started getting their hands on the 2016, the reviews immediately started coming back with 4 major points. 1. New Butterfly keyboard: TRASH 2. Dongle adapter: HELL 3. Much loved MagSafe charger Port: GONE 4. Touch Bar: labeled a gimmick I didn't mind the Touch Bar at the time, and I still don't today. The keyboard: The 2015/16 butterfly keyboard has been gone for 7 years now. Some people may have never had the chance to use it. Trust me.. It is terrible. The key height was so small and had almost 0 travel distance. Each touch of the keyboard was like banging each key into the top of the case. 2017 brought a "revised" butterfly design, but didn't fix anything. Users still complained, the keys failed, and if any small amount of dirt or crumbs got under the keys, they would not respond. On June 22, 2018: Apple launched its first official Keyboard Service Program covering 2015–2017 12" MacBook and 13-15" MacBook Pro models. The issue was STILL not fixed after the 2017 revised keyboard. The 2018 MacBook Pro introduced a 3rd revision to the butterfly keyboard. (the issues were still not fixed) It was not until Joanna Stern's WSJ article on March 27, 2019 titled: "Appl Still Hasn’t Fixd Its MacBook Kyboad Problm" That article forced Apple to take action. This was the response that day and note how the statement might sound familiar. "We are aware that a small number of users are having issues with their third-generation butterfly keyboard and for that we are sorry. The vast majority of Mac notebook customers are having a positive experience with the new keyboard." But this was the opposite of what was actually happening. A good number of users had keyboard issues, and a small number of people were having a positive experience. A few weeks later, Apple updated the keyboard repair program on May 21, 2019. This expanded the repair program list to the full line of laptops using the butterfly keyboard from 2015-2019. It took the collective voice of the user base and one amazing article, to finally get Apple to fix the situation. To their credit, Apple did finally fix the keyboards and the repair program ran for 4 years. The program even included out-of-warranty and covered previous repairs that the user paid out of pocket. The issue was finally fixed with the return of the much-loved Magic Keyboard in the new 2019 16" MacBook Pro. Dongle Gate? I'm going to have to save that story another time. In conclusion, I blame an unchecked Jony Ive for this disaster. Keep in mind, Jony is a VERY creative talented designer!!! Just look at his resume from 1996-2011. But that design talent went hand in hand with Steve Jobs. We talk all the time about "what would Steve have done". In this case, he would have tried out the butterfly keyboard prototype and said.. "THIS KEYBOARD IS SHIT!!!!!!" That's how usability and industrial design would have aligned. Right before Steve passed away, he gave Jony Ive full control so engineering/usability/finance could not overrule him. On paper this made sense, engineering complaining and bean counters could not override design. But when design has 100% ultimate control? You get the 2016 MacBook Pro. This is how things worked when Steve was still around. The difference was, Steve had the power and sharp wit to change design or functionality on the fly. No one else at Apple had that power. Jony Ive left Apple in June of 2019 to start his own firm. After the 2019 16" MacBook Pro, Apple followed with the introduction of the 2021 M1 16" MacBook Pro. It continued with the Magic Keyboard, but brought back MagSafe charging, an HDMI port, SD Card reader and got rid of the Touch Bar. Tomorrow we get the new touchscreen MacBook Pro. Who knows what history will say, but it will be fun to find out. 💻