MacBook & iMac repair
Won’t turn on, screen, battery, keyboard, liquid damage, SSD and RAM upgrades.
Mac laptop · 2015–2017
Repairing a 12″ Retina MacBook in Barcelona: the butterfly keyboard
This is the laptop where the butterfly mechanism was born: the thinnest keyboard Apple has made, and also the one that gave it the most trouble.
4,6 out of 5 · 138 reviews on GoogleDocumented design fault
A mechanism with no room for dust
The butterfly keyboard cuts key travel down to almost nothing. In exchange, there is barely any space between the key and its base, and a particle that would simply rattle around in another laptop jams the mechanism here. The symptoms Apple eventually described are three: keys that repeat letters, keys that do not respond and keys that feel sticky.
Apple opened a service programme in June 2018 and widened it in 2019 to cover every laptop with this keyboard, with four years of coverage from purchase. That programme closed in November 2024, so no 12″ MacBook goes through that door any more: today it is an ordinary workshop repair.
The other quirk of this model is that everything runs through a single USB-C port, which charges and connects at the same time. When that port works loose or gets dirty, the laptop looks dead without being dead, and that gets checked before anyone mentions the logic board.
Where all this comes from
What we see most on this model
Keys that repeat or type nothing
The classic butterfly symptom. Sometimes a deep clean of that one key sorts it; sometimes the mechanism never recovers and has to be replaced.
It will not charge through its only port
With a single USB-C, any dirt or wear in the connector leaves the laptop without power. The port gets checked before anyone declares the board dead.
Trackpad bulging from the battery
The cells are glued under the trackpad. If the battery swells, the first warning is that the click stops working. It is not a machine to keep using like that.
Before you bring it in
Compressed air rarely does it
It is the first thing everyone suggests and it sometimes works, but in this mechanism the particle usually sits under the scissor itself, where air will not reach.
Keep it shut and crumb-free
It sounds like a joke and it is not: with this particular keyboard, prevention is half the maintenance. Eating over it is the single most repeated cause we see.
The service this belongs to
This page digs into one specific model. If you want the full picture of what we do with this family of devices, start here:
Similar models with their own page
MacBook Pro 13″ (Intel) 2016–2017
It collected two Apple service programmes: one for the keyboard and one for the display backlight.
MacBook Air 13″ (no Retina)
It is the last MacBook Air with a socketed SSD: it can genuinely be upgraded.
Frequently asked questions
Can a single key be replaced?
Sometimes yes, when what broke is the scissor or the keycap. When the fault is in the membrane, the repair is bigger. We see which of the two it is at the free diagnosis and tell you before touching anything.
Is Apple’s keyboard programme still running?
No. It ran from June 2018 and Apple closed it in November 2024, once every covered model had passed its four years of coverage. The repair is still possible at an independent workshop.
Is a 12-inch MacBook worth fixing?
As a light second machine, often yes. What decides it is what is wrong: a battery or a port almost always pays off; a full keyboard is a conversation with numbers on the table, and we give you those numbers first.
Shall we take a look?
Tell us what’s wrong and we’ll tell you what it is, what it costs and how long it takes. No obligation, and the initial diagnosis is free.
4,6 out of 5 · 138 reviews on GoogleCarrer de Fontanella, 14, bajos · 08010 Barcelona — or drop by Fontanella 14, next to Plaça Catalunya