The 16 inch switched back to a scissor mechanism.

I do like the butterfly keys though, it’s only the reliability issues that make them problematic for me. Until keys started being flaky I was perfectly happy with it.

I believe he's contrasting his current 16" experience vs the older butterfly switches.

Ah sorry my comment is ambiguous; I’m saying I 100% prefer butterfly keys over the new 16 inch keyboard. I’m sure I’ll get used to it though.

Gotcha. I do like typing on the butterfly keyboard. It's just problematic that keys will randomly not respond or send multiple strokes, and can't be fixed short of taking the entire computer apart.

You're not alone, I had a mostly-broken left command key for the better part of a year so I despise the butterfly keys.

Nonetheless, when I switched to a 16 inch it felt mushy and weird, and that's with almost a decade using the previous scissor keyboards, which feel effectively identical.

I got used to it pretty quick though, and you couldn't pay me to go back.

So you like the new one then? I ordered a maxed out MBA and am curious to try it out. I’ve only used the original design.

Yeah, literally everything that they changed is a strict improvement. UI wise the 'new' keyboard is identical to the pre-butterfly, which gives me some confidence that it will also have the absurd durability which MacBook keyboards historically have.

I even suspect that the smaller keys, greater travel, and more space between each, has made me a bit more accurate and hence faster. No actual data to back that...

My remaining gripe is the lack of haptic feedback on the touch bar. But I expect to get many years of use out of this computer with no complaints.

The nice bonus is that the speakers are excellent. Like, shockingly good, I don't bother putting in earbuds for most video anymore.