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I compared a new MacBook Air with a manual typewriter from the 1960s and my favorite Apple laptop of all time to see if the MacBook's controversial keyboard is as bad as everyone says
I compared a new MacBook Air with a manual typewriter from the 1960s and my favorite Apple laptop of all time to see if the MacBook's controversial keyboard is as bad as everyone says
Matthew DeBordJul 21, 2019, 19:50 IST
Matt DeBord/BI
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The "butterfly" keyboard on Apple laptops has been resoundingly criticized.
I've been using an Apple MacBook Air for about six months - and I've found that keyboard isn't all that great.
But compared with a manual typewriter from the the 1960s, the MacBook keyboard is a miracle of modern technology.
I've owned a number of Apple laptops, however, and the latest keyboard is probably my least favorite - a far cry from the keyboard I remember most fondly, on an ancient iBook G4.
Hate your MacBook butterfly keyboard? You aren't alone - complaints about the keyboard are all over the internet, and at Business Insider we've found the design to be wanting.
I've been using a new MacBook Air for about six months, and while typing on the keyboard is super-fast, I've also noted a decline in accuracy from the desktop keyboard I had been using, and from Apple laptops I've owned in the past.
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As it turns out, I also possess the state-of-the-art for portable word processing from the 1960s: a Smith-Corona manual typewriter, which I still often use. I thought it might be both amusing an illuminating to compare that heavy-duty, hard-work keyboard with what modern technology has given us.
I gather that Apple is preparing to phase them out, according to the latest reports.
There are other quirks. My new MacBook uses a USB-C charger — gone is the magnetic MagSafe charging port.
And the overall lack of old-school ports means that I need a special adapter to provide an ethernet hookup and to connect a printer or charge an iPhone.
There is, however, a headphone jack.
Honestly, I haven't found the keyboard to be that bad. But it probably is the least accurate, worst-feeling Apple laptop keyboard I've ever used. I can see why folks are complaining.
But how does it compare with the laptop of the 1960s?
Behold, my beloved Smith-Corona manual typewriter. Made in England!
Smith-Corona as a brand dates to the late 19th century, and through the 20th until the 1990s, when it effectively vanished. I can't be sure, but I think my typewriter was made between 1965-1969.
It's the Corsair Deluxe model, a lightweight plastic manual that was designed to be affordable and portable.
It's certainly not MacBook Air thin, but it was quite svelte for the period.
Obviously, it has no use for USB-C charging.
And I don't need to connect a printer.
I do, however, need to use a pad to keep it from slipping around on my desk.
I unpack this typewriter for various artsy projects, as well as when I just want to quickly write something up. I used typewriters for years before computers, so I have the process down pat. You first roll paper into the machine.
It has these wing-like bars to support each sheet.
And once you have the paper rolled onto the plate and everything lined up, you lock the carriage and bring down the guide to hold the paper in place.
The typebars rise in response to keystrokes and hammer letters and numbers into the ribbon. It's all rather noisy.
No fonts, but you can change colors, if you have the correct style of ribbon.
Whack the carriage return lever to set the left margin and you're rockin' and rollin' like an analog throwback boss.
The ERROR CONTROL function is sort of cool: it allows you to drop a letter between letters you've already typed, to fix mistakes.
My Smith-Corona uses ribbon spools that I can still find on Amazon. But it is slightly dirty work to charge them.
The way it works with typewriters is that you make a small stack of fresh paper to one side ...
... And transfer the typed sheets to the other side when you're finished.
No cutting and pasting or spellcheck, much less Grammarly. The tools of the typewritten manuscript editing trade are pens, pencils, staples, scissors, and tape.
I'm one of those typists who always uses two sheets at a time — one sheet absorbs the impact of the typebars and keeps the platen from getting beaten up.
So what about the keyboard?
Well, there ain't no butterflies here! The truth is that typing on the MacBook Air, as I'm doing now, goes at Mach speed compared with the manual typewriter. BUT because you have to think carefully about what you're writing with the Smith-Corona, and you have to apply some serious muscle, I think you make fewer errors.
It's clearly no contest. Even the controversial Apple keyboard beats out the manual typewriter. That said, I've always felt that I do my best writing on the typewriter. It's both more meditative and more physically demanding. A real workout!
Meanwhile, once I wrapped up the typewriter-MacBook comparo, I figured I should haul out my favorite Apple keyboard.
There are lots of stickers on this thing.
It's an iBook G4! I think I got it in 2004. The keyboard always felt just about perfect to me, and although the laptop isn't powered up here, it still works — and I still use it when I want to do some distraction-free writing.
The G4 was the last of Apple's iBook lineup, which was replaced by the MacBook.
It's not thin, exactly, but it does have a CD slot.
And a whole mess of ports!
As you can see, I used the heck out of this machine. If I can keep it running, it could become to my descendants what my Smith-Corona Corsair Deluxe is to me.
