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Apple recommends compressed air for MacBook keyboard problem

Apple laptops released since mid-2015 boast a keyboard design with bigger keys and thinner profiles than before.
However, there does seem to be one major problem with the MacBook’s keyboard: often it feels as if something is stuck beneath the space bar, so it won’t register a space or click at all.

So commonplace is this problem, that someone even wrote a parody song about it. And this post in The Outline urged many people to come forward to say they had the same issue: “The key won’t click, and it won’t register whatever command it’s supposed to be typing. It’s effectively dead until someone can either shake loose the debris trapped under it or blow at the upside-down keyboard Nintendo-cartridge style.”

Of course, Apple keyboards are not the only ones that exhibit problems. Over time, others do too. And very often these issues can be fixed within a short time and with the minimum of effort. But not all companies come up with what can only be described as a really absurd solution: Apple recently said you should turn the device close to vertical, and then proceed to make three consecutive passes with – wait for it – a can of compressed air.

Now if you just paid thousands of pounds for a computer, that might come across as somewhat of an insult. And to make thing worse, many people who tried this saw no difference at all.

According to Apple, if this doesn’t work your only other option is to visit your nearest Apple authorised service provider or store. They could then make a decision to replace the device’s whole top case – and charge you hundreds of pounds for the privilege.
Otherwise you will just have to live with the space bar issue and hope it eventually goes away by itself.

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About the author

Chris

I've been a passionate evangelist for Apple and the Macintosh throughout my working life, my first love was a Quadra 605 working with a small creative agency in the south of Norfolk UK in the mid 1990's, I later progressed to other roles in other Macintosh dominated industries, first as a Senior graphic designer at a small printing company and then a production manager at Guardian Media Group. As the publishing and printing sector wained I moved into Internet Marketing and in 2006 co-founded blurtit.com which grew to become one the top 200 visited sites in the US (according to Quantcast), at its peak receiving over 15 million visits per month. For the last ten years I have worked as an Affiliate and Consultant to many different business and start ups, my key skill set being online marketing, on page monetisation, landing page optimisation and traffic generation, if you would like to hire me or discuss your current project please reach out to me here.

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