Judge Grants Preliminary Approval: Compensation for MacBook Owners with Butterfly Keyboards

Are you an owner of a MacBook with a butterfly keyboard needing repair? Then you could be eligible to get some compensation through a lawsuit settlement that has just been given preliminary approval by a judge in California.

Apple has been the center of several highly publicised controveries in regards to its hardware (dubbed "this-gate" and "that-gate"), including issues with the butterfly keyboard in the MacBook line that had to be replaced due to malfunctioning.

Apple has agreed to a $50 million settlement and $33 million of that will be given to MacBook Pro owners who have had problems with these devices. Each person can receive up to $395. A majority of the rest went to attorneys' fees.

In order to qualify as a claimant, you must possess either a MacBook (which includes the default MacBook, MacBook Air, or most Macbook Pro models) having been bought between the years 2015-2019 in the United States, in the states of California, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, New York or Washington and fitted with the notorious butterfly keyboard.

Those who need to replace multiple keyboards will receive a maximum of $395, whereas for those who had to replace a single keyboard, the compensation is $125. Finally, those who had to replace just the keycaps will get $50.

It seems that Apple has opted to bring closure to this dispute by offering compensation, though they have been steadfast in their affirmation that they are not culpable. It was disheartening to note that the replacement of the Macbook keyboard necessitated the removal of other elements, such as the upper-case assembly - which included the chassis, keyboard, and battery - for complete replacement.

Did you need to repair your butterfly keyboard? Are you planning to seek compensation from Apple for the repairs you had to do? Tell us in the comments below.