MacBook Pro (15" with Touch Bar) Keyboard Clicking/Sticking When Machine is Warm

Same problem here, and I'm on my second keyboard. The first one had problems with Control and Shift. This one has problems with S, R, and T. Apple's techs also dented the display while the machine was out for repair, so they had to replace that as well.

Just wanted to provide my experience here. I have the 15" TMBP (late 2016), maxed-out specs (with exception of a 1TB drive). The "S" key was doing this basically from the beginning, after the temp went over ~95 degF. Took it in and had it shipped off for service. They ended up basically replacing most of the bottom (top case, battery, keyboard, logic board) due to two problems: keyboard and logic board was "overheating." Have had the laptop back a week, and thus far, no issues. Total time from dropping machine off to having it ready for pick-up was ~60 hours.

Also had the same issue with a 13" TMBP (late 2016). That one was the "P" key, and in addition to the noise, I developed the "no letter registered" or "double letter registered" problem as well. That fix was just to replace the keyboard. Also working well. Total time in repair was ~72 hours.

I started with a 2016 BTO 13" TMBP, and after a while the "1" and "2" keys started exhibiting problems. Apple did an express replacement for an equivalent 2017 BTO 13" TMBP after I escalated to a senior advisor. The replacement machine had clicking / sticking issues on key up with the down arrow key, but when the machine was cold, not warm.

I did a top case replacement on the 2017 machine, so I'm effectively on my third keyboard now. The latest one doesn't have the clicking issue on key up, but not all keys have a consistent timbre or keypress feel. For example, the CTRL key on the latest keyboard has a distinctively higher pitched / "clickier" keypress sound than most of the rest of the keyboard. Definitely not the quality control I expected from a machine for which I spent $3000.

I'm tempted to keep sending it back for a new top case until I get one that is perfect. But given the experience of other posters here, where multiple exchanges / repairs result in keyboards that experience the same problem (albeit on different keys), I feel like a CTRL key with an abnormal keypress sound may be as good as it gets. I fear that sending it back will result in a keyboard that's just worse off than what I have now.

Has anyone experienced success with sending back for multiple top case replacements until they got it right?

I have the same exact issues. Make sure to submit feedback about this here: http://www.apple.com/feedback/

I have a 15" late 2016 MB Pro and my R and D keys are making a loud clicking noise. All other keys are nice and silent... I don't know if it's related to heat, I haven't been paying that much attention, but now that I noticed it, it's so annoying!!!

I'll try to take it to the Apple Store and have it looked at, but didn't really expect this from a $4k laptop...

Same issue on the 13" with touch bar. Hard to understand how this can be caused by heat.

Same issue here and only when the computer is warm. Within a few hours of using my Late 2016 MacBook Pro 15” with Touch Bar, I noticed some of my keys made a very high pitched click on-key-up (when I lifted my finger from the pressed down key). The affected keys: Caps Lock, left Option, and very occasionally: Delete, ‘H’, and ‘C’.

Caps lock is by far the most reproducible for me (will make the high pitched click on 95% of presses). Whenever the key stops making the high pitched click, I can always get it to start again by making a long key press with a little bit of pressure. I can only reproduce the high pitched click on the left Option key on about 25% of presses, and I’ve only noticed it on the Delete, ‘H’, and ‘C’ a couple of times (<1% of presses).

I’ve recorded a video of the issue occurring for my Caps Lock key. I press the shift key 4 times to give a baseline sound for what the key should sound like, and then the Caps Lock key four times to demonstrate the issue. I did the same thing again, but just recorded the audio (the sound quality is a little higher than the video).

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48C9eAOCaYE

Audio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6FCXj9RDKg

It’s important to note that I have not been able to reproduce the issue on any of these keys when the computer is cool.

Since I’ve remapped my Caps Lock to a delete key and thus use it often, I’m very sad to say I’ll be returning the machine.

Note for others: it can be difficult to reproduce the issue on demand due to the possible reliance on heat. To heat up your computer, you can open the application “Terminal”, type "yes > /dev/null & yes > /dev/null & yes > /dev/null & yes > /dev/null & yes > /dev/null & yes > /dev/null”, and press enter. This will spawn 6 processes which just essentially print “yes” really fast, and should cause your computer to hit 75% CPU utilization if you have 4 cores, and thus heat up after a couple minutes. When you want to stop the processes, open a new Terminal window and type “killall yes”.

Unfortunately I have the same problem. I swapped the mac... now its on different keys.

Its such a shame... I payed so much money for this and these keys just feel cheap...

Really considering returning it for good but I need a laptop...

Sure thing, mbz365 (I'm a nano user, but hopefully we can still be friends). Based on your experience, as well as others I've seen who have replaced the entire machine only to discover the same issue on different keys, I think the best thing to do would be to go to your Apple Store and see if they can replace just the bad keys. If they can't/it doesn't fix the issue, then returning it and holding off to buy again for as long as possible (until they figure this out) is ideal. Of course, that might not be practical if you don't have a machine to use in the meantime. You could play the return game and try to get lucky, but there's always the concern that the issue will only creep up after your grace period is over.

Here's a post I made on MacRumors which investigates the role heat and faulty keys could be playing, and why I think replacing just the individual bad keys is the best course of action: http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/2016-macbook-pro-issue-high-pitched-keyboard -clicking-sound.2022399/#post-24083124

Also just so you know, I've found one person who claims that the issue went away for her/him with use (it took a few days), as well as one person who said they can produce the issue when the computer is cool.

I went to an Apple Store. According to the genius who helped me, this isn't the sort of thing that can be fixed by replacing individual keys. Unfortunately, they don't replace keyboards at the store at this time (Dec 22, 2016). He offered to send the computer in to have the keyboard replaced, with a 3-7 day round trip.

I opted to return the machine. I ordered a new one, but I'm wondering if it might be best to wait for now.

Okay, that's good to know.

I think you made the right move by returning the machine. Please let us know if your replacement has the issue as well (I've seen 3 people so far who have gotten replacements that have the same issue, just on different keys). In your tests, be sure to include heat as a factor (you can use the terminal commands I posted above to heat up the machine).

If your replacement doesn't have the clicking sound on any keys, then that will indicate to us that Apple may have fixed the issue in their production and signal that we should try ordering our replacements too.

I have had the same problem twice, only affecting the 'O' key. Both times the machine was quite warm, since an external monitor was plugged and the GPU kicked in.