What is the difference between the scissor keyboard and the butterfly wings?

While Apple's laptops are considered the pinnacle of design, users have (and are still) struggling to type in things that don't work. And the reason for this is the butterfly keys.

Of all the controversies involving Apple in recent years, the Macbook keyboard is one of the most problematic. While Apple's laptops are considered the pinnacle of design, users have (and are still) struggling to type in things that don't work. And the reason for this is the butterfly keys.

There are rumors that Apple will abandon this design and return to the previous keyboard setup. But in the end, why do butterfly keys cause so many problems?

How do regular keys work?

Before explaining what makes a butterfly key different, we need to consider how a standard keyboard mechanism works.

TipsMake mentioned this issue in a previous article. Readers can refer to: Mechanical keyboard works like? For more details.

There are many different variations, but one of the most popular variants on laptops is the scissor switch design.

Basically, it looks like this:

What is the difference between the scissor keyboard and the butterfly wings? Picture 1 Scissor switch design

Due to the diagonal design, the scissor keys do not need to move as much as the desktop keyboard. This makes it ideal for laptops, but as you can see from the image above, there's still plenty of extra space there.

That has led to Apple creating butterfly keys, because the company wants to create a slimmer and more beautiful keyboard than competitors.

What is a butterfly key?

Here's the image Apple used to announce changes in previous years:

What is the difference between the scissor keyboard and the butterfly wings? Picture 2 Apple butterfly keys

Basically, the key is called butterfly because it looks like a butterfly wing. While the scissor switch has two crossed bars, the butterfly key has only one hinge in the middle. Besides, the scissor switch is an X-shaped, while the butterfly key is shaped like a V-shape.

Butterfly keys can be considered a design revolution. It's thinner and, frankly, typing these keys gives a better experience. The problem is that because of the V-shape of the butterfly key, it easily gets caught under food, debris and dirt - which is less likely with the X-shaped key.

Put simply, this problem is the reason why the butterfly keys do not achieve the expected success.

In a way, Apple has created a great new laptop keyboard - it's thinner, more beautiful and feels great to type on. But unfortunately, it only works stably in a controlled environment and destroys one of the most important aspects of any computer.