I doubt lasering those holes is particularly cheap, i.e. likely much (much) more than the cost of a big hole with an LED.

But I do very much like them, and would happily pay a bit to get it back.

They could manage it in a $80 keyboard when that tech was new and probably more expensive, I'd think they could do it in a $1500 laptop :)

And a hole with a plastic insert would be fine for me too. It wouldn't be as minimalist but not doing it at all is much worse IMO.

Membrane keyboards are so incredibly common and simple to make that I'd be willing to bet they make dramatically more profit on that keyboard than on a $1500 laptop (proportional to price). Even after accounting for all the wasted R&D and refunds and repairs spent denying problems with their butterfly mechanism.

So kinda yes... but also kinda no, I don't think that really supports a claim that it's cheap enough to do everywhere.

But yeah, I'd totally be fine with an LED glued into a hole. The indicator is the important part, and it's a shame that it's gone.

I wouldn't be surprised if they feel like macbooks are so reliable that sort of feedback isn't even necessary