Keyboard noise - add an isolation layer UNDER the keyboard?

[Anonymous30]

Hi,
I have a Macbook Pro 2019

Do you think I can open/disassemble my macbook, and put a layer of sound-isolation UNDER my keyboard?

The noise I am trying to get rid of is not the noise of the mechanical click of the keys, instead it is the noise of the mac itself acting as a sound box, as a drum, a resonance box, the cavity under the keys (especially in the middle of the keyboard) is acting as resonance box, my keyboard (and yours as well) is like a drum.

So maybe if I fill the empty space below the keyboard with some noise-isolating material then it will stop acting as a resonance box / sound box / drum? (do you see what I mean?)

QUESTION:
Has anyone tried? What material have you used? How do you get below the keyboard? What do you think?

I tried to find a video online on how to get below the keyboard (from the back of the laptop of course) but couldn't find one, every disassembling video I found is not going that far deep in removing the pieces, they stop before reaching the keyboard level.


______
FUN TEST: try to subtly hit the key "N" as hard as you can without actually typing the letter N (that is, you kind of fake typing, hitting the key without hitting it fully). You will be amazed at how much noise there is just doing that. Why is this relevant? Because this noise should precisely be zero. You are not typing, there should be no noise when not typing. That "fake typing noise" is precisely what is wrong, it is the drum effect coming from below the key. Now try with other keys on the left or right edge/border of the keyboard and hear how the drum noise changes depending on how much void there is between the laptop components below that area of the keyboard. If you have a 2014 Macbook Pro try on that laptop as well and hear the difference: it's silent, no resonance drum.

 

[Valdna]

The keyboard is such a pain to remove and replace, that i would not even try to do it.
Even if you somehow manage to fit sound isolation inside/under the keyboard or somewhere else in the body, you will probably mess up the cooling even more.
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[0906742]

I know exactly about what OP is talking about. I mentioned that issue several times when I got my etnry MBP 2019. It makes hollow sound exactly at mentioned locations. It is more silent and solid where cooling fan is located (as it is bolted under the keyboard). It was really big disappointment to me find that even Air 2018 had solid absolutely no hollow sounding keyboard and this "Pro" sound just like a cheap "grocery store" laptops they sell for cheap at your local market.

There is also difference between 1.4 and 2.4 models, the latter one being more solid as it has cooling fans on the both sides making it more solid but it has hollow place in the middle.

Anyway, regarding putting something underneath to make it silent I'm not sure if it is wise or even doable. Basically you should see the bottom of the keyboard when removing mainboard (or logic board as Apple calls it) but I don't think there is much space between the keyboard and mainboard "spacers" and probably stuffing something there would just affect cooling and probably even cause more mechanical strain on mainboard as the metal is so thin on the chassis as you can feel it easily bending when pressing it even lightly. Also I've seen some peoples adding pads underneath the mainboard to make heat conduct on the bottom plate to increase cooling, I guess that could also silence keyboard a bit but I would not recommend that either as it probably causes strain on the mainboard due to flexing case and likely just cause mainboard chip solderings or mainboard "foil" breaking up. I think the safest thing is just to ignore the sound and forget about it, or get different notebook.

The older Pro models were much more solid, even chassis felt like solid piece of metal.

Check iFixit teardown for this model and you'll practically see the place you are looking for.