The new MacBook keyboard is unbelievably nice to use
And yet Apple touted the keyboard as a major innovation. It features a new mechanism under each key that allows for "a more stable, responsive key that takes up less vertical space" so "when your finger strikes the key, it goes down and bounces back with a crisp, consistent motion that makes typing with precision a breeze."
The keys are also 17% larger, with a deeper curvature to hold your fingers, all while being 40% thinner.
After enough hype, including a glowing review of the keyboard from Steve Kovach, I convinced myself that I needed this computer in my life.
The MacBook is a pleasure to use while sitting on the sofa in a way the MacBook Air never was. It rests easily on the armrest or a pillow and doesn't seem to get hot. It is much easier to type on thanks both to the narrower body no longer digging into my wrists and that sexy new keyboard.
Typing on this thing feels less like hitting the keys and more like pressing. Your fingers rest on the keys more and move less.
Switching back to the MacBook Air after using the MacBook feels like, as Kovach writes, using a typewriter.
It is of course also wonderfully easy to carry, and when you're carrying something in shoulder bag then every bit of weight makes a difference.
It also just looks so good.
[No disclosure: I'll note for regular readers that I am no longer an Apple investor as of about a week ago, and I plan not to invest in the company again, mostly for ease of disclosure as well as a recognition that I don't have any special insight into its stock market value.]