MacBook Air M1 keyboard… normal or a concern?

[Bosternou9]

I feel my keyboard is a bit loose. It definitely feels more loose than my work thinkpad.
Unsure if all MacBooks air are like this or if it’s just a few or them.

This video should explain what I experience:

MacBook Air M1 keyboard - wobbly/loose keys​

youtube.com


Basically all fields feel a bit loose I.e. if you touch them lightly without pressing them, they have a bit of movement.
some of them more than others, like the right hand side shift key and the return/enter key.

The only keys with no/minimal move are the arrow keys.

The top line keys (function keys) are probably the wobbliest, with a particular noise as you can hear in the video.

I visited a store which had a few MacBook airs and couldn’t test this as well as I wanted, given the noise in the place made it hard to hear the noise. I could definitely hear the particular noise with the top tier, at least some of the keys.
Based on that comparison I felt the keyboard was comparable to the one in the store, though not sure if all of them are the same (if better ones exist?).

I only have 1 day to initiate a return/replacement…

 

[0128672]

If it bothers you, it's worth taking it in for a return or replacement. Show the salesperson your concern about the keyboard and maybe they can help you test a different one in a quieter area of the store. Otherwise, you'll always wonder.

 

[meson]

I would say the keyboard looks and sounds pretty normal to me.

The butterfly keyboard was designed to eliminate much of that type of movement, but we all know how that worked out. Even then there were still little click and ticks in addition to a small amount of wobble when applying light pressure to various parts of the keys. It was a great idea in principle, but just not practical at the end of the day.

The current scissor keyboards have much more stable keys than previous generations. The iMac sitting next to me on my work desk has a wired keyboard with the 'chiclet' keys from around '08, essentially the same keys from the laptops of that era. The movement, clicking, etc. are much more noticeable on those keys than the M1 MBP that I use for most of my work.

If it bothers you, take it back and swap it out.

 

[Bosternou9]

I would say the keyboard looks and sounds pretty normal to me.

The butterfly keyboard was designed to eliminate much of that type of movement, but we all know how that worked out. Even then there were still little click and ticks in addition to a small amount of wobble when applying light pressure to various parts of the keys. It was a great idea in principle, but just not practical at the end of the day.

The current scissor keyboards have much more stable keys than previous generations. The iMac sitting next to me on my work desk has a wired keyboard with the 'chiclet' keys from around '08, essentially the same keys from the laptops of that era. The movement, clicking, etc. are much more noticeable on those keys than the M1 MBP that I use for most of my work.

If it bothers you, take it back and swap it out.

Thanks for your answer.. Useful to know it sounds normal to you. I was wondering if there are any out there that are super solid minimal movement.

It’s actually my wife’s and she’s totally okay with it, so I should just leave it I think.

I am currently typing from the iPad Pro folio keyboard - i know it’s a completely different keyboard - with minimum travel, but I absolutely love it. No wobble At all. Very solid.

 

[leman]

Some key wobble on Apple Magic keyboards is expected and no reason to worry. It was by the way one of the advantages of the otherwise badly fated butterfly keyboard: that one had rock solid keys.