Students also won’t succeed if they get any dust in their MacBook spacebar.
What you need to know
- Apple introduced a new MacBook Pro with a keyboard that ditches the unpopular “butterfly” switches.
- Interim Comms Lead and CMO Phil Schiller talked in detail about all of the changes needed to improve the keyboard.
- Schiller’s final point was a jab saying students would not be successful using Chromebooks in class.
Apple’s MacBook Pro butterfly keyboard was bad, very bad. It was so bad that Apple created an extended service program just to cover bad keyboards. It was so bad that when Apple launched its newest, most powerful, and largest laptop in years, the first thing commenters mentioned was the new keyboard, which is actually a return to an old keyboard design. In a deep-diving conversation with CNET‘s Roger Cheng about just how much Apple screwed up its keyboard, recently-appointed Head of Communications and Chief Marketing Officer, Phil Schiller, tries to leave a good impression — and instead leaves a bad taste by swiping at the inexpensive and wildly popular Chromebook devices.
Schiller details all of the feedback Apple gathered for its new-old, or is it old-new, keyboard design — feedback the company apparently ignored when it created the much-derided butterfly design that it forced upon the MacBook-dependent for generations. The CMO applauds the company’s decision to remove some of its TouchBar to bring back the Esc key that has graced keyboards for 45 years. He sidesteps questions about any touchscreen laptop plans, saying that “engineering effort is better spent on making the Mac be the best keyboard-trackpad experience possible,” so apparently all of Apple’s engineers were required to fix the previous design problems.
After excusing Apple’s keyboard design flaws for the majority of the interview, Schiller addresses a question on the Mac’s popularity in education by taking a swipe at Chromebooks. He claims that “Chromebooks have gotten to the classroom because, frankly, they’re cheap testing tools for required testing,” then proceeds to say that when schools rely on Chromebooks, the students are “not going to succeed.”
We’ll forgive Schiller, as these comments that seem uninformed at best, ignorant at worst. I personally spent time teaching in public schools that rely on Chromebooks and Google services, and I can say that in Dallas we never used the Chromebooks for the massive amount of testing to which we subjected our students. I cannot speak to the iPads — those were only available in the rich school districts.
Best Chromebook
Lenovo Chromebook C340
The Chromebook to help you succeed
With all-day battery life and an adaptable touchscreen 2-in-1 format, the pink C340 is ready to show you and your classmates what Chrome can do for your schoolwork.