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New MBP trackpad = Slight electric tingle on fingers when using

I

iViking

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 23, 2006
293
0
At first I thought I was going crazy, but in fact I can feel a ever so slight electric tingle on my finger when sliding it across the track pad.

Does this happen to anyone else?

Try it.

Very gently touch the pad with your finger pad and tell me you don't feel it! It's easier to feel it on the full pad of your finger than on your finger tip.

In other words, my computer is constantly shocking me electrically. What joy!
 
It's a Microsoft thing:
"Hello, I'm a PC!"
"Hello, I'm a Ma.. ZZZZzzzzzzttt! I'm a Ma... ZZZZzzzzzzttt!"
 
Glass does not conduct electricity

Glass does not conduct electricity, so I hate to say this, but you might be imagining this... Why don't you test it? I would go to an electrician or hardware store and get a voltmeter and see if there is a reading from the mousepad. Again, glass doesen't conduct. The only way I can even imagine feeling something would be if there is a coating on the class that is hooked up to a high power voltage, like over 12V, but again this seems unlikely.

Please post results if you choose to quantify this numerically by going to the electrician or hardware store.
 
Mac4Obama said:
Glass does not conduct electricity, so I hate to say this, but you might be imagining this... Why don't you test it? I would go to an electrician or hardware store and get a voltmeter and see if there is a reading from the mousepad. Again, glass doesen't conduct. The only way I can even imagine feeling something would be if there is a coating on the class that is hooked up to a high power voltage, like over 12V, but again this seems unlikely.

Please post results if you choose to quantify this numerically by going to the electrician or hardware store.
Click to expand...

On the UMBP there has to be some electrical coating on the surface of the glass in order to enable it to be used as a trackpad, without such a coating it wouldn't sensor your touch and movement. I'm thinking similar to a LCD segments, invisible to the eye but apply some current and you get a black/white image depending on the polarizing overlay.
 
Try to go to a local retailer that has these units on display to see if you feel it on those too.

I've used it for several days without feeling anything different. The trackpad feels almost the same as the trackpad on the Macbook Pro Classic (damn you all for making the Glassbook Pro sound like New Coke!).
 
I don't think you're alone, only in my case, it's intensified. Everytime I boot up any of my Macs, I feel an intense tingle of joy and awe running down my spine...

Oh wait, am I thinking of the wrong kind of tingle here?:p
 
raymondu999 said:
I don't think you're alone, only in my case, it's intensified. Everytime I boot up any of my Macs, I feel an intense tingle of joy and awe running down my spine...

Oh wait, am I thinking of the wrong kind of tingle here?:p
Click to expand...

Perhaps you should stick your fingers in the socket,
i'm sure you'll enjoy the tingle from there too!! :D
 
I have the same problem with my old MBP sometimes when I plug in my external harddrive (I'm assuming it's not properly grounded or something).
 
are you using the 3-pronger extension cord that came with the Mac to a PROPERLY grounded fixture?

I got this the other day without that, on a MBP Classic. I also got it when I was holding my firewire HD plug in my hand (not grounded) and touching the back of the LCD, it was cool :)
 
I get the same tingle when I plug in my powered external hard drive, not on the trackpad but on the palm rests. With both hands on its not noticeable, but it is when touching with only one or 2 fingers. But it seems to go away again if I use the magsafe adapter, I think the magsafe must be grounding the case.

Incidentally I recognised the tingle as its the same tingle I get when I plug my Ipod touch 32gb in. Rubbing your fingers over the back is like touching a vandergraph generator.
 
UltraNEO* said:
On the UMBP there has to be some electrical coating on the surface of the glass in order to enable it to be used as a trackpad, without such a coating it wouldn't sensor your touch and movement. I'm thinking similar to a LCD segments, invisible to the eye but apply some current and you get a black/white image depending on the polarizing overlay.
Click to expand...

Wrong touch technology. The trackpads and the glass screens on the iPod touch use similar technology. It is based on capacitence and depending on the thickness, screen protectors and plastic coatings don't effect their operation at all.

840
 
That's the reality distortion field. You are feeling it's effects slipping into space-time.
 
Me too! You're not crazy- but the question is- why is no one addressing it?

iViking said:
At first I thought I was going crazy, but in fact I can feel a ever so slight electric tingle on my finger when sliding it across the track pad.

Does this happen to anyone else?

Try it.

Very gently touch the pad with your finger pad and tell me you don't feel it! It's easier to feel it on the full pad of your finger than on your finger tip.

In other words, my computer is constantly shocking me electrically. What joy!
Click to expand...


I just returned and switched out my brand new 2010 Macbook because I feel a constant low level tingling/shock using it.
Particularly the trackpad. My fingers go numb using it for only 5 minutes or so. If I change out my fingers- it happens to them too. Other places I feel this charge are from the keyboard and from the sides of the body.

What I feel is a low level constant tingle-almost static energy- which to me I can feel throughout my body- up from my fingertips. Like touching that thing in science that makes your hair stand up.

I've never experienced this from a Notebook computer- I've had at least 10 laptops in my lifetime and this was never an issue. I tell you, I can almost feel it a little in my heart. I SWEAR.

I've used this plugged in and on battery. Same effect. In sneakers. On hardwood floors. In my home, out of my home. In the Apple store. I just feel it on most Macs.

The weird thing is alot of people don't feel it. So does this mean we are carrying more of an electromagnetic charge OR does it mean- as I feel- that Mac has an essential design error here- that perhaps the more senstive among us feel?
 
lizwaxy said:
I just returned and switched out my brand new 2010 Macbook because I feel a constant low level tingling/shock using it.
Particularly the trackpad. My fingers go numb using it for only 5 minutes or so. If I change out my fingers- it happens to them too. Other places I feel this charge are from the keyboard and from the sides of the body.

What I feel is a low level constant tingle-almost static energy- which to me I can feel throughout my body- up from my fingertips. Like touching that thing in science that makes your hair stand up.

I've never experienced this from a Notebook computer- I've had at least 10 laptops in my lifetime and this was never an issue. I tell you, I can almost feel it a little in my heart. I SWEAR.

I've used this plugged in and on battery. Same effect. In sneakers. On hardwood floors. In my home, out of my home. In the Apple store. I just feel it on most Macs.

The weird thing is alot of people don't feel it. So does this mean we are carrying more of an electromagnetic charge OR does it mean- as I feel- that Mac has an essential design error here- that perhaps the more senstive among us feel?
Click to expand...

__________________

You did well - you should not keep "experimenting" if you are so sensitive to these electric leakages. Some say using the extension cord solves the problem... Well, for my part, I can feel similar symptoms when I use my magic mouse and my trackpad, which both work on batteries!!

Anyhow, even for those who do not feel anything, I'm wondering what are the long term consequences of using such things as trackpads everyday, which indeed works by letting small currents of electricity going through your fingers...
 
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