🚀 go-pugleaf

Oh dear, it seems something (someone) stuffed up my previous post. Here
it is again...

The Duo is a computer that stands alone among portables for many reasons, but 
one reason for which Apple should not be proud is that its keyboard has a life 
expectancy of about 6 months of reasonable use.
 
Many people have posted their woes about kkkeeyyy bboounnnccce and misng ky 
prssng problems with their Duo. Others, like myself have had their keyboards 
replaced (3 times in my case, more in some other peoples experience).
 
The reason is poor design. This compact little keyboard is constructed of a 
pair of mylar sheets with key-switch contacts printed on them, which are 
switched with conductive rubber rings mounted on the under-side of a rubber 
mat that sits under the keys themselves. Quite a neat design except for the 
fact that in most cases all manner of crap ends up *under* the rubber sheet 
making electrical contact unreliable. What's worst, the type of metal printed 
on the mylar sheets oxidises over time (depending on humidity and other 
factors) so that reliable electical contact is further reduced.
 
There have been about 6 revisions of this keyboard from Apple, all ultimately 
suffer from this problem. All Duo models are ultimately affected. If yours is 
OK, it probably wont be in 6 months to a year.
 
Now, the reason I am saying all this is to ask Apple in this open forum what 
they indend to do about it ? Locally Apple charges about $350 (far more than 
the keyboard is worth) to replace it (it takes about 10 minutes work, and the 
components would have a cost of about $20 in the quantities Apple purchase 
them). The annual AppleCare fee of $400 is a joke. Since this keyboard is 
effectively a consumable, they should only charge a "consumable" fee for a 
replacement - you know, a sort of "grease and oil change" for your computer.
 
I reckon $50 would be a fair price for a new keyboard since all that needs 
replacement are the mylar sheets ($2 each) and the rubber mat ($10).
 
Post a followup, if you agree with this idea - kind of an open request to
Apple to be honest about this problem, and let us all know what they are
going to do about it.
 
-bruce

-- 
             bruce tulloch sydney australia - brucet@ucc.su.oz.au
***complex problems have straight forward, easy to understand wrong answers***