HP Laptop keyboard scan rates slow?

[epicpilgrim]

Hi all

I just moved from a Mac to a HP after many years on the other side of the fence. One thing I've found with the in-built keyboard is that with my fast typing (~600cpm), the keyboard is interpreting my keystrokes incorrectly at times. I've found one key combo that demonstrates the repeatable flaw. Any word that ends in "ound". If I type this as fast as I normally type, it ALWAYS flips the "nd". For example, "around" becomes "aroudn". I've filmed my fingers in slow-mo with my iPhone to confirm - the problem is not me. My fingers ALWAYS hit the "n" first, and then the "d" next, but the keyboard registers it the other way around.

It isn't OS-related. I'm running Windows 10, with the latest BIOS that was just released a few days ago (however the problem has existed for a few months on 3 different BIOS version). I've rebooted into Linux (booted off USB) and also into the Windows recovery partition, and the problem occurs in all three OSs. I've just had the keyboard replaced today and the problem persists.

Additionally, since I work in IT, I figured I'd go and try on two other models of HP (Probook 440 G5, and Spectre x360). BOTH have the exact same issue. When I type that combination of characters quickly, it flips the last two (there's actually a slight delay before those two characters register, which is also weird). External keyboards (USB and wireless) are fine, can type as fast as I like with no issue. Typing on my Mac at the same speed is fine, and the keyboard layouts are virtually identical anyway so that wouldn't be it.

It makes me wonder if HP have inferior scan rates or keyboard constructions to Apple? Does anyone else have this problem? And/or can anyone else that types really fast try typing "around" over and over again for a minute and see if you find the same thing I found? I'm sure there are other combos (I find myself making a lot more typos on my HP than I did on my Mac, even though generally my accuracy is very high) - however this is the one that I've figured out and can now easily replicate.

Thanks in advance

Brett

[epicpilgrim]

Bump

[epicpilgrim]

Another bump.

This is a HP laptop forum - I'm assuming 99.999% of the readers have HP laptops. Could a few readers please just try typing "around" as quickly as possible? I've tried three different models of HP laptops now and all mess up the "n" and the "d" - I type this word a lot and it's quickly getting frustrating that HP laptops seem to have a widely ignored, massive issue with their keyboards.

[epicpilgrim]

Interestingly, I came across this site:

http://random.xem.us/rollover.html

It registers simultaneous keypresses in the browser. You can hold multiple keys and see if your computer register the simultaneous keypresses. Since, when typing fast, often the next key is being pressed before the last key is even released, having keyboards able to register multiple simultaneous keypresses is important (also for gaming, but that's not my issue here).

When I hold letters like 'asdf', they all appear in this just fine. However, try and hold "oun", and only the "ou" appear - it won't register the "n". Some letters do register with "ou", but others don't. So, taking this a step further, I found another two-letter combo that doesn't work when adding a third letter ("yu" followed by "i"). Then I went to a text editor and tried typing "yui" followed by other letters quickly, and found it often swaps the letters around.

Now, a bit more testing later... If you type "asdf" but don't release the keys until all four fingers are down, then release all the keys, you'll see "asdf" registers properly, as you type it. If you type "ound" with the same technique (all four fingers down), the "n" and "d" either don't appear at all, or appear reversed, depending on in what order you release the keys.

This seems to be related to an ancient problem called "ghosting" and it's modern fix, "anti-ghosting", which blocks when more than the greatest possible number of simultaneous keypresses are registered: https://www.keyboardco.com/blog/index.php/2016/03/what-is-nkro-our-guide-to-rollover-anti-ghosting-a...

My USB keyboard does not have this problem. So the HP keyboard (and other brands of PC laptop keyboards, I'm finding), are manufactured cheaply and with poor electronics. They are not strictly 2KRO (see above article), since some longer keyboard combos work, however they have biased NKRO towards certain combinations. I tried the same test on my MacBook Pro from 2015 and it appears to be a 6KRO keyboard. I can press any combination of six letter simultaneously and they all register, allowing me to type very quickly without error.

Moral of the story: if you're a speed-typer, avoid PC laptop keyboards. My new MacBook Pro is now on order, and this PC is being handed off to someone who types slower.