It was October 2016, and I was eagily awaiting a new Macbook Pro announcement.
My current Macbook Pro was from 2009, and was hanging on for dear life after years of being slung in a backback. It was the best product I'd ever purchased. I owed my livelihood to that computer.
When I saw the new Macbook Pro, I wasn't convinced. Ditching the function keys for the Touch Bar wasn't something I wanted. This was especially true of the escape key, which no programmer wants to lose.
I went to an Apple store to check it out, but still wasn't convinced. Sure, it was fancy and thin, but it just felt off. I decided to persevere with my old Macbook Pro for a while longer.
I wasn't the only one unimpressed by the new machine. Controversy followed, practically from day one. First there was the caching problem, which led to Consumer Reports not recommending the machine, when they couldn't replicate the advertised battery life. This was soon fixed, but other complaints persisted - particularly around the price of the machine, which was astronomical (over £2000 for a 15 inch model).
After a few months, the negative sentiment started leading to quite steep price cuts. My old Macbook Pro had since stopped recognising one memory slot, so was chugging along with only 4 GB of RAM. It was time to take the plunge. I picked up a new machine from Amazon at several hundred pounds off the RRP, but it was still one of the most expensive things I'd ever bought.
There were certainly things I liked about the computer. The quad core processor, fast RAM and SSD, not to mention the high quality screen. The large trackpad took a while to get used to, but ultimately was an improvement. But after a week, the 'b' key started to feel weird. Sometimes it would enter twice, or not at all.
I booked an appointment with the local Genius Bar, and they took it in for repair. I was surprised to get a phone call after two hours, saying they'd fixed it. They'd used compressed air, assuming that the problem was some debris which was stuck under the key. It never really fixed the problem.
I just lived with the fact that I'd get some spurious b's sometimes. Not a big deal.
But one day the spacebar stopped working. A bit of compressed air solved the problem, but it really dented my faith in the machine. You can't carry around a bottle of compressed air everywhere you go. It was clear this was no longer a tank like the 2009 model, but more of a delicate flower.
The breaking point was when the 0 key started to fail. It was during a time when I was doing my tax return, and if there's one point when you don't want to insert an extra 0, it's when doing your tax return.
At this point, Apple hadn't publicly admitted that there was a design flaw with these keyboards. I was quoted £480 to repair the keyboard, which I felt was excessive. You could buy a decent Windows laptop for that. The problem was the way it was designed, which made the keyboard impossible to repair without replacing half of the computer.
My faith in Mac computers had gone from the highest possible to the lowest possible. This wasn't a luxury product I could do without. A substantial part of my livelihood revolves around building iOS apps, which can only be done on a Mac.
Negative sentiment continued to brew on forums and blogs, where more and more people reported these problems. The silence from Apple was defeaning.
But fortunately, they ended up doing the right thing and announced a repair program.
I took my laptop into the Genius Bar, and they repaired the machine without any quibbles. My loyalty to Apple was at a junction point. If the problem hadn't been fixed, I'd have been hesitant to purchase any future Apple products. As it turned out, it restored a lot of my faith.
So what do I think of the Macbook Pro now? I have to treat it very carefully. I always close the lid when leaving the desk, in case some debris blows onto it. It never goes anywhere unless it's in a case. I wish it was rugged like the previous Macbook Pro, but due to the keyboard, it just isn't. There are some things which have grown on me over time. I actually quite like the Touch Bar now. When the keyboard works, it's amazing. I can type incredibly fast with it. USB-C is actually great. Sure, I had to purchase a couple of dongles, but overall, I wouldn't trade it for USB-A.
I think this Macbook Pro will go down in history as a really odd ball product. Any collector of Mac computers would need one in their collection, that's for sure. It lept too far into the future, and due to the keyboard, it didn't reach it's potential. But perhaps most importantly, it was a test of how Apple treats its customers.