[Mr Mushroom]

Hello,

Spent the last few days playing around with my new 17" Powerbook (My first Mac), and I have to say, after reading some posts on this forum, that I was quite looking forward to the backlit keyboard feature. However last night I was working in low light conditions and so presumably the light came on, but I did not notice it at all, and thought perhaps it was broken. So I experimented with turning it on and off, and then noticed that indeed it was on, but was so dim I hadnt noticed it, and in fact when I turned it off I could see the keys better because the dim white light simplty made the characters less visible than the dark hole did, if you see what I mean. Is this normal? Or is there a dimmer switch on it somewhere? Because if mine is working properly I really don't see what the fuss is all about - I would be better off turning it off which is what I have now done.

I would appreciate any feedback on this.

Thanks

Mr Mushroom

[cloudaj]

you can adjust the strength of the backlighting using the f9 and f10 keys (just press the keys, not fn+the key).

[Spheric Harlot]

I've never heard of anyone who didn't love it.

My musician/technician friends are used to it in a "why-the-hell-didn't-anybody-do-this-before?" way for concert/low-lighting settings.

[cszar2001]

It all depends on the viewing angle.
If you turn the screen brightness way up the keys are visible without the backlight.

[Maflynn]

Its come in handy for me, so I like it.


Actually is a great little feature.

Mike

[moodymonster]

I'd like to be able to change the light colour. Also it would be really cool if the keys could change depending on the app you're using (like those specialist keyboards you can get for photoshop FCP etc).

I find if you have dim light above you the keys are easier to see with b/l off.

Overall I'd rather have it than not

[djohnson]

I think it is great! Very nice to be able to see each key when it is dark.

[hadocon]

I like it. I use it. Mobile phones have lights under their keys, why not laptops?

[Mike Pither]

I liked mine when it worked which wasn't often, unfortunately it doesn't work at all now. At the moment I am toying with the idea of sending it back before the warranty expires.

[urrl78]

Sorry, I turned mine completely off. It is only a show off novelty to me. Otherwise it makes the keys hard to read in certain lighting situations; very annoying. If Apple would make the keys, especially the function keys brighter I would use it. Meanwhile the screen gives plenty of light to easily read the keys.

[azdude]

I love it, but only in the *dark*. In "low-light," it's not nearly as useful.

[kafoochy]

Originally posted by urrl78:
Sorry, I turned mine completely off. It is only a show off novelty to me. Otherwise it makes the keys hard to read in certain lighting situations; very annoying. If Apple would make the keys, especially the function keys brighter I would use it. Meanwhile the screen gives plenty of light to easily read the keys.

I use the backlight quite often when my roommate is trying to sleep. In near low-light conditions the backlight will make the keys harder to read since the keys themselves will be visible enough so that the lighted letters appear as a similar shade. Obviously, this is not what the backlight is for if you can already see the keys fine. If you're not going to be in a situation where you can use it, then yes its a novelty. When my roommate is trying to sleep I turn down the screen brightness (I wish I could turn it down more) and can't read the keys on the keyboard without the backlight. For me its very useful. I wouldn't complain with a brighter backlight that would be more useful under other circumstances, but I'm not complaining with a good first try by Apple.

[Mr Mushroom]

Thanks for the advice about the fkeys to make it brighter. I figured that it was just on low light before. Now that I can see it, I actually like it and will use it often.

Thanks again

[Daracle]

I love the feature.

[moep]

I love the feature... although I'd rather have it kick in all the way or not at all, due to the reasons that kafoochy mentioned.

[Ryan1524]

i work in the dark a lot, so i love it.

[gsxrboy]

Works a treat for me

[Macpilot]

"Actually like it?"

Heck yeah I like it! It has worked beautifully on both my previous 17" and current 15" models.

I can't think of a lighting situation where the system would not work. With the screen turned down to one bar, and the keyboard at full brightness, it is quite a nice setup.

[EdipisReks]

i love mine, but only when it's TRULY dark.

[justinhale]

the apple wireless bluetooth keyboard needs this feature.

[SpaceRockness]

After using my 'book during some late nite uni projects, the backlit keyboard is very useful in situations where you don't want to disturb others esp when writing final papers at the last minute

[nate_02]

I was using mine last night in low light. If it wasn't for the backlight, I couldn't have seen my keys. I have noticed you have to have it on full for it to work best.

[DVD Plaza]

Originally posted by moep:
I love the feature... although I'd rather have it kick in all the way or not at all, due to the reasons that kafoochy mentioned.

I found the same - unless the backlight came on FULL it made things HARDER not easier. I came up with a fix for that:
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.p...book+backlight

Basically just punch the following into your CLI and, when the backlight turns on, it will always be full brightness:
defaults write com.apple.bezelservices kHWMin 1

[V0ID]

Yes sir, I like it.

And in low light situations it isn't very effective unless turned up a fair bit. Just like screen brightness, brighter when ambient light is high, lower when it isn't. No worries mate.

[wuzup101]

Yeah I love it but I only use it in certain conditions. It's of no use when you're in a dark room and you have multiple displays running throwing plenty of light. However, at times when you cant see the keys normally, the back light does wonders. It does exactly what it was intended to do: allows the user to see the keys when he otherwise couldn't. It's far superior to anything currently on the laptop market (including IBM's thinklight).

[bstone]

I love the backlit keyboard!

[alligator]

Why didn't they put this on the 12"? Can you replace the keyboard to make it work?

[Commodus]

At the least, the 12" doesn't have the backlit keyboard for cost reasons (though it would be nice if it was made optional). It could also be space as well... I don't know how tight a fit things are directly underneath the keyboard.