How’s the MBP 2017 Keyboard in school and work?

[TinaBelcher]

What’s your experience with using the keyboard in class? Are you receiving snarky remarks/comments from your fellow students and teachers?

I currently own the 2013 edition 13-inch, but bought in mid-2014. I’d love to upgrade to the new and beautiful 15-inch with the touch bar. But I’m scared of the reception I’ll get for bringing it to class as I have 3 years left of study. I’m afraid I’ll be asked to leave or something due to the loud clicks. I know, a bit dramatic but so are these really annoying students i study with

 

[leman]

I actually sat down with a sound level meter and couldn't detect any difference between a 2015 and a 2016 model. The new keyboards seems to produce higher-pitched sounds, which might be perceived as being louder by some people.

 

[New_Mac_Smell]

I think it entirely depends on how ham fisted you are with typing. Like HR departments, whenever I walk through them it sounds like a 1930s newspaper office.

I work in the design field so there's usually cool music or hip surfer videos playing on a TV in the studio. Editors also use Macs but they just have that habit of blaring the same 30 seconds of music over and over - wouldn't even hear the fire alarm.

No computer is going to be silent when typing, and will produce a noticeable noise in a silent room. If you're in a Library they should have a computer area, don't go sit in story time corner to bash out your emails. If someone is genuinely snarky enough to come over and ask you to "Please type quietly" then politely tell them about the secret quiet spot on the other side of campus, or book out a study room if they must have 'silence'.

Good luck! Never be scared of a keyboard, be scared of clowns.

 

[TinaBelcher]

I think it entirely depends on how ham fisted you are with typing. Like HR departments, whenever I walk through them it sounds like a 1930s newspaper office.

I work in the design field so there's usually cool music or hip surfer videos playing on a TV in the studio. Editors also use Macs but they just have that habit of blaring the same 30 seconds of music over and over - wouldn't even hear the fire alarm.

No computer is going to be silent when typing, and will produce a noticeable noise in a silent room. If you're in a Library they should have a computer area, don't go sit in story time corner to bash out your emails. If someone is genuinely snarky enough to come over and ask you to "Please type quietly" then politely tell them about the secret quiet spot on the other side of campus, or book out a study room if they must have 'silence'.

Good luck! Never be scared of a keyboard, be scared of clowns.

Thanks for the great advice. We all stay together in one room 4-5 hours daily, so it's not that we have to be quiet... It's just that I know the new keyboard will have a distinct sound compared to the other students who use those cheap and heavy "Dell" laptops.

 

[mj_]

It really depends on how forceful of a typist you are. After I bought my 2016 I noticed two things: first, it was very loud at the beginning and I even annoyed myself. Second, after a while my brain, muscles, and fingers started to adjust to the much shorter key travel and my typing gut much softer and more refined as a consequence.

This became shockingly clear to me when I took out my ThinkPad after three months and was basically only brushing the keys without actually typing anything. I had to completely readjust to the different key travel, but it was much easier and faster to readjust this way than the other.

In other words: your brain might adjust, and you might end up typing much softer resulting in a much more pleasant overall typing soundscape. Or your brain might not, and you'll keep hammering the keys. It's all a matter of muscle memory. Honestly, if I were you I'd be much more worried about the keyboard's reliability than the sounds it makes.

 

[cambookpro]

Unless you're absolutely hammering the keyboard, it's not much louder than many others. It would be ridiculous if you were asked to leave because of it.

 

[0989382]

No issues so far. It's a distinct sound rather than a particularly loud one, which has had a few people stare frustratingly at it in my use at university. Either that or they're admiring the look of the sexy Space Grey colour .... or how fast I can type which is alarming in it's own right..

Though you can definitely become mindful of it and 'type quieter' if you wish, so I wouldn't say to avoid the machines because of it, just think about if it bothers you. And if you don't buy one of these new Mac portables you can bet tonnes of others will so unfortunately to the haters, the noise is here to stay!

 

[cambookpro]

Though you can definitely become mindful of it and 'type quieter' if you wish, so I wouldn't say to avoid the machines because of it, just think about if it bothers you. And if you don't buy one of these new Mac portables you can bet tonnes of others will so unfortunately to the haters, the noise is here to stay!

Every other new computer at my uni now seems to be a retina MacBook or 13" 2016/17 MacBook Pro. Can't escape these keyboards!

I take an optional philosophy module and I think humanities students tend to have a sort of 'hipster/Starbucks' reputation which certainly wasn't helped by going to the seminar and seeing all fifteen students - and the tutor - taking out their Mac.

 

[Frankfurt]

I found the 2016 MBP keyboard quite loud and intrusive. Once I changed to a 2017 MBP it became a non-issue.