I Have Been Ive'd

After 15 months of almost not being used (*) my MacBook Pro went to a service shop. The keyboard had become very unreliable (double strikes or no strikes at all on some keys) and an orange blotch on the display. I am told the repair will take up to two weeks. To fix the keyboard they have to replace the top-half case assembly (that includes the touchpad and batteries. And then goes the display with the lid.

Not counting a Nokia (yes, Nokia) 17" active-matrix LCD I bought back in 2000 (it cost about a much as a family car), the MacBook has been the most expensive piece of computer equipment I have ever had. And I say (*) have not been used much - I dock it at home and dock it at work and use external keyboard / screen, so probably both would fail much sooner if I was using them (as designed?) everyday to full extent...

And I bought it primarily for the performance specs - big bright screen, accelerated graphics, lots of RAM. I knew it would come with Apple's Jony Ive's "minimalist" compromises (no HDMI port, no even single USB-A port), but it seems the minimalism went a bridge too far here. How come ONE failing key on a keyboard require replacement of half of the aluminum shell and a touchpad and batteries? And how come a keyboard that is barely used breaks after a year and requires 14-day downtime? Definitely the design here is a bridge too far (or several bridges).

I'm reading the new 16" MacBook is the first "post Jony Ive" laptop from Apple and has a keyboard that would not break (and could be serviced even if it does). Sounds like a good step back Apple has taken. How about one step more, to reintroduce the HDMI and USB-A and stop smacking about this minimalist nonsense.

Looking at positives - there is only one (albeit important) - a checkpoint to make sure all the backups are in place and I am able to continue my everyday duties on a replacement computer. Will see how this plays out :) In the cloud era that should be super easy. As long as you have all cookies backed up :)