How To Clean Underneath Macbook Pro Keyboard

When I traded my former MacBook Pro for a MacBook Pro with Touch on Bar, it took me a few days to get accustomed to typing on the shallow, butterfly keyboard. A few months later, I was merrily typing away -- while wondering how I ever enjoyed the feel of the mushy keys on my previous MacBook Pro -- when the space bar suddenly stopped working. Or, more specifically, when the right side of the infinite bar stopped working. Unfortunately for me, that'due south the side I use to, you know, add spaces between words.

I was able to set up my space bar issue, simply I'm worried it'll return -- and will practise so the mean solar day later my warranty runs out side by side month. After all, I'm not the but one with a faulty MacBook Pro space bar -- songs accept been written about information technology.

Compressed air for the win

When I my infinite bar stopped working, I discovered numerous tales of woe in diverse forums about dirt, crumbs or even a speck of dust getting underneath a key and interfering with the delicate butterfly mechanism. Since I use my MacBook Pro primarily at my kitchen table and my local bagel store (and always opt for an everything bagel), I figured a poppy seed, a piece of dried onion or garlic or a bread crumb got lodged underneath my space bar.

First, I outset tried blowing underneath the spacer bar to dislodge any trapped foreign affair. No dice. Next, I consulted Apple Support's guide on how to clean the keyboard. Subsequently a trip to Staples for a tin can of compressed air, I got to piece of work. And, sure plenty, it worked. Here's what I did:

I held my MacBook Pro at a nearly vertical angle -- Apple tree says 75 degrees is the magic number.
I grabbed my tin of compressed air and sprayed all around the space bar.
I so turned my MacBook Pro sideways -- keeping it at the near vertical angle -- and sprayed some more than air. I and then turned it effectually and so information technology was facing sideways the other way and sprayed again.

macbook-cleaning-keyboard-front-75angle — Apple tree

Subsequently thoroughly spraying the space bar with air, I placed my MacBook Pro dorsum on my kitchen table and happily discovered that its space bar was once more fully operational. Since this beginning encounter with a expressionless -- or half-dead -- space bar, information technology has happened 2 more times, and each time a tin can of compressed air revived it. Merely what if the fourth dimension comes when compressed air doesn't do the play a trick on?

When air doesn't work

I called my local Apple tree Store and asked a technician for an approximate for the repair cost I'k facing if I'm no longer under warranty and my infinite bar goes kaput and stays that manner. He told me that they would need to send it out for repair and couldn't give me an gauge for the repairs. I likewise emailed Apple, simply information technology didn't immediately answer to my request for comment.

So, my advice to those typing on a MacBook model with a butterfly keyboard -- the current MacBook Pro models and the 12-inch MacBook -- is to keep a tin can of compressed air on hand. It did the trick for me. If the trouble is happening regularly, either switch from everything bagels to plain bagels or visit your local Apple Store -- ideally before your warranty is up.

And if you are already past your warranty, then be prepared to pay a sizable repair bill. I've read that it's not as simple equally replacing a unmarried key but that the entire keyboard or bottom one-half of the laptop may need to exist replaced.

One last thing you might try earlier sending your MacBook out for repair is to follow the method described in the top comment of this 9to5Mac article of using your fingernail to scrape the metal edges of the keyboard deck below a stuck key. Others have responded to this annotate with profuse cheers saying information technology worked for them. Basically, you are removing a build upwards of grime below the fundamental that is causing it to stick.

If you take a method for fixing a stuck or unresponsive MacBook key, delight share in the comments below. And if you've had your MacBook keyboard repaired past Apple, please share that experience and the associated toll, too.