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Comment by oldcynic | Hacker News Reader

Short of fitting a keyboard condom, or iPad (no doubt called TouchBoard) where the keyboard used to be, what can they do? Make the battery thinner so they can get sane key travel back within the case without increasing overall thickness?

So I expect to see a couple more releases of ultra thin keyboards with various fix mechanisms before they accept that rules of physics and dust apply to them too. :)

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> what can they do? Make the battery thinner so they can get sane key travel back within the case without increasing overall thickness?

Go back to previous thickness; it wasn't that bad, and thin for the most powerful portable they sell isn't necessarily a good thing. They could even couple it with advancements in battery tech to finally put 32GB on their laptop.

That's my preferred answer. We can have magsafe back too. :)

Sadly Apple rate thinness too highly, so I suspect they'll not give it up easily.

Consumers seem to - I'd take a Galaxy S8+ with twice the thickness to get some decent battery life.

I don’t see why they can’t have Air for customers that want thinness and Pro for customers that want portable workstations. Is there a reason, other than “marketing”?

> We can have magsafe back too. :)

Yes please. Honestly the new format is such a clusterfuck of unwanted features, poor hardware implementation, and removal of wanted features that it makes you wonder how it got out the door.

Hanging onto my circa 2013 MBP until they come up with a more appealing offer, or going elsewhere.

It irks me even more when they try to keep their desktops thin.

They wouldn't even have to go back to the previous thickness. The current MBP should be the MBA and then the MBP can be an actual pro machine.

A "keyboard condom" isn't a joke or insane. It would be a membrane layer between the operating mechanism of the keyswitches and the keycaps. They haven't done it because it adds thickness to the design.

> what can they do?

Make the case thicker.

they are already invested in the current chassis, and it's not changing for at least two next generations

Hopefully at least the Macbook keyboard is going to be annihilated forever.

Well, I'll buy one in three generations time then ;)

Have a keyboard that has increased travel when the laptop is open. (raised up?) And have it return to a compressed state when the screen is closed.

More hinges to break, and take up space

That sounds like another complex mechanism to break

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