If that renders the laptop unusable, the cost to repair out of warranty is $700. That's a pretty good starting point.

A couple years ago I was working as an independent contractor and my Macbook started having problems. I ended up needing help from local Apple repair folks. It cost me maybe two days of billable hours.

I wouldn't expect Apple to reimburse me for lost work; that's a risk I take when I buy and depend on a computer. But that risk certainly makes me take risks like "your keyboard may stop working and take a week to ship off and repair" into considering when buying something. I wouldn't buy one of these models with notoriously fragile keyboards.

One could also buy a usb keyboard for $10. I know it’s less ideal but it’s not like the computer is worthless if the keyboard is busted.

What is the point of a low weight laptop if you're going to be lugging an external keyboard around.

Sure. But one could also buy a less expensive laptop than a Macbook and get a reliable keyboard. "It still sorta works" is not what I'd want to hear from the company that calls its devices "magical" and sells them at a premium.

People not being able to work due to faulty work equipment has a non-zero cost to the economy.

So Joe Q. Random dying or getting maimed in an avoidable car crash is a 'cost to society' but your laptop not working is not?

"Cost to society" is a term where I suspect various people will assign various different meanings to it.

Either we all explain what that term is supposed to mean, or, we use a different term.

In this case, I'm pretty sure the comment which started with the cost to society (speaking about the idea that an out-of-court settlement should reflect 'the cost to society') clearly meant: Take the # of laptops failing and becoming unusable due to the problems with the butterfly keyboard design, minus all people who get them fixed within 1 year warranty, and multiply it by $700, which is what owners of these laptops have to pay apple to get it fixed out of warranty.

The point that was presumably being made is that the out of court settlement should be similar enough to the internal (to apple) cost of apple's repair program, or possibly even this $700*affected number. The idea being, if it isn't, apple will simply settle out of court because it's cheaper for them to do this.

There's really no need to bring some sort of comparison between random car drivers and users of 'hippie' laptops into it, that seems unduly presumptuous of you.

> Some yuppie whose keyboard doesn’t work right doesn’t represent society at all.

Are they not a member of society?

I must admit that I find it easy to pigeonhole people into these straw-man categories too, but making the leap from "I really don't get it" to "These people have no intrinsic value, thus we can completely disregard their well-being" is a giant step towards collective madness.

But society is made of people! And calling a customer "yuppie" doesn't sound respectful...

> Some yuppie whose keyboard doesn’t work right doesn’t represent society at all.

Even if you don't like someone (to the point of using uncalled derogatory terms), they're still a part of the society.

Said yuppie would have spent that $700 on a brand-new hand-made saddle ('with ecological naturally cured Yak leather from the Himalayas') for his fixie bike which would have provided the proverbial drop which made the Yak-saddle-startup succeed in its venture, starting a business which would have lasted for many generations and which would have created a market for Yak leather which would have improved the lot of Yak farmers in the Himalayas who would have realised the way they're treated by their overlords from China was not up to snuff, starting a popular revolution which would eventually gain support from the Chinese population who would pressure their own overlords for more democracy, ending up with the democratisation of both China as well as its former vassal states.

But no, this will not come to pass because of Apple's cruddy keyboards.

That cost of society is what was meant.

Just use Yakster -- Yak Saddle as a Service. They come to your house and swap it out for a fresh one every two weeks. Highly recommended.

I personally prefer Yacky, the Yak-saddle-cleaner-service which tracks the microflora on your saddle and keeps it in check using locally sourced nettle water, this being much better for the environment. As far as I know Yakster just swaps saddles between bikes anyway so it is a bit of a sham, really.