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MBP16 trackpad NOT solid state?

G

gladoscc

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 13, 2011
297
47
I've been playing around with my late 2016 Macbook Pro, and I basically like everything except I've noticed something peculiar.

The trackpad is NOT solid state, unlike the home button on the iPhone 7, and the Magic Trackpad.

If you press VERY strongly on the trackpad, you can actually end up moving it down... so it's not made from one component / part of the unibody, it's actually more of a traditional trackpad with force touch.

I'm still within my return period and it's a small thing but I'm OCD and can't stand something that's faux solid state and not solid state. You can clearly press down on it, even if it doesn't click, and there's some degree of freedom of pressure, I will say only at the corner tho.

Thoughts? Faulty mbp?
 
Rkuda said:
The trackpad is solid state. However it is (obviously) a separate component from the chassis.

If you press hard enough it will flex.

That doesn't mean it's not solid state.
Click to expand...

Exactly this. There's no doubt whatsoever, the Trackpad is 100% solid state, it has no switches to depress like the old ones did.

As mentioned, if you press hard enough on the Trackpad with the MacBook switched off it will flex a little, it's not a part of the aluminium housing, it's a separate component, this is normal. You don't notice it so much on the iPhone as it's a much smaller and much firmer component.

If you want actual proof of this you need look no further than iFixit. Look at the tear down of say, the 2013 MacBook Pro and you will clearly see the switches under the Trackpad. Then look at the tear down of the 2016 MacBook Pro and you'll find none of those switches under the Trackpad.

So don't worry, it's not a fault, it's not broken and it's not faux solid state. It's just flexing a little because it's a massive component.
 
Return it and get an older one or a machine with a trackpad you like. If you are OCD and it will bother you that's not likely to change so I'd take advantage of the return period before it's too late.
 
gladoscc said:
The trackpad is NOT solid state, unlike the home button on the iPhone 7, and the Magic Trackpad.

If you press VERY strongly on the trackpad, you can actually end up moving it down... so it's not made from one component / part of the unibody, it's actually more of a traditional trackpad with force touch.
Click to expand...
It is the same as with the Magic trackpad 2: when turned off there is a teensy bit of movement when you press really hard. If you think about it for a second you understand why this is the case ;)

Returning it is not going to solve anything because there isn't a problem. This is how a pressure sensitive trackpad works. The only advice would be to not press that hard on it. It mostly isn't even necessary to do so plus you can change the setting for it in System Preferences > Trackpad.
 
I agree there's no issue and this is by far the best trackpad I've ever seen in a laptop but my point of view is if he's OCD and it bothers him that doesn't matter and the fact that it flexes and it bothers the person isn't going to change. My point of view is basically if you don't like the product, go buy a product you like. If a product doesn't meet your needs go find one that does, if you find a product that meets your needs better and you have the means go buy it. So I guess my point of view is if he doesn't like how the trackpad operates and that is important to him then he should go find a computer with a trackpad that doesn't bother him. That seems much a much better option to me than waiting for the return period to end and being stuck with a computer you don't like.
 
Last edited:
I've noticed that the 15 has more flex than the 13 - and while all will flex if you put a (arguably not good) amount of force on it, it should NOT flex under lighter or even firmer pressure entailed in normal usage. A few people have had defects where something was loose and it flexed too much in one area. A video could help determine if you are dealing with an issue, or it is simply the design.

And why would you want it to be solid state in a sense that it is attached to the body itself? Imagine how much more money it would cost to replace the trackpad if a failure occurred when it was out of warranty! (and the trackpad might still be part glass, and if so it could indeed crack). Don't give Apple any more ideas. They have already integrated the RAM and SSD into the logic board (potentially doubling the replacement costs for MBPs with larger hard drives), and used enough glue with the battery to bond the Titanic to the Empire State Building. This is one of the few areas where there is still a small hint of repairability. Now you done ruined it.
 
ZapNZs said:
I've noticed that the 15 has more flex than the 13 - and while all will flex if you put a (arguably not good) amount of force on it, it should NOT flex under lighter or even firmer pressure entailed in normal usage. A few people have had defects where something was loose and it flexed too much in one area. A video could help determine if you are dealing with an issue, or it is simply the design.
Click to expand...

I think it might be because it's a larger piece. As someone else mentioned above, it's less noticeable on the iPhone because of how small the piece is. The larger it gets the more noticeable it will be. It does flex, but it doesn't feel "cheap" to me personally. My only qualm with it is whether that gap that's created at the top of the pad makes the device subject to a greater accumulation of dust than it otherwise would be. I also think it's tough to tell what's "too" lose objectively because there doesn't seem to be any specs to compare to w/r/t the trackpad's flexibility. So it's really just based on individual user sensibility. I was quick to return an MBP I got with a couple of scratches on them, but this doesn't bother me since it seems like some give is probably intended as it might otherwise be more prone to cracking under stress from force presses.
 
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