[Mike Pither]

I notice that my new MacBook Pro keyboard is always illuminated unlike my old PowerBook which is illuminated only in the dark. Is this normal I can't see any way to change it in sys prefs?

[Cold Warrior]

system preferences > keyboard & mouse > keyboard > 'illuminate keyboard in low light conditions'

[Mike Pither]

Originally Posted by Cold Warrior 

system preferences > keyboard & mouse > keyboard > 'illuminate keyboard in low light conditions'

Thanks for the quick reply but I have already tried this and this only switches it off or on. My problem is if selected for illuminate in low light conditions it is ALWAYS lit up. On my PowerBook it only lights up in low light conditions when the option is selected.

[ibook_steve]

Anything blocking your speaker grilles that may be covering the light sensors?

Steve

[chabig]

Mine behaves the same way and I don't really mind. By the way, the light sensor is not inside the speakers, it's up next to the webcam.

[Mike Pither]

you are right, if I point a torch at the web cam the keyboard illumination turns off, Seems like the sensor is not sensitive enough and is consuming battery power unnecessarily!

[dimmer]

Must be model specific: on my MacBook Pro 17 inch (pre-unibody) covering the iSight has no effect on the keyboard illumination, but covering the "speaker" grills does.

[chabig]

That's right. The original poster mentioned his "new MacBook Pro" which I assumed was a unibody.

[Mike Pither]

Chabig is right I have a 15 inch unibody.

[PB2K]

hey, my macbookpro 2.4's keyboard is not the issue but when it illuminates the TFT becomes darker. How to disable this darkening?

I tried the keyboard settings, I tried an application called LAB TICK but this doesn't help. It's annoying to have an oozing screen, I like the illuminated keyboard though

Mind this, I swapped a harddisk from a macbook to this macbookpro. Does it matter for this keyboard??

[hookem2oo7]

in your display preferences there is a setting to "automatically adjust brightness as ambient light changes." try that.

[Simon]

pre-UB MBPs: ambient light sensor is below the speaker grill

UB MBPs: sensor is next to camera

[PB2K]

Originally Posted by hookem2oo7 

in your display preferences there is a setting to "automatically adjust brightness as ambient light changes." try that.

[KiltBear]

Same here. I have a brand new MacbookPro 15"

If I shine a torch (flashlight on this side of the pond) at the sensor next to the iSight Camera, then the keyboard will shut off. Very annoying. At least I'm not alone. I guess I'll visit the good folks at the Apple store and see what they have to say.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by KiltBear 

If I shine a torch (flashlight on this side of the pond)

Thanks for clarifying.

I was about to torch my MBP

-t

[EndlessMac]

Originally Posted by KiltBear 

Same here. I have a brand new MacbookPro 15"

If I shine a torch (flashlight on this side of the pond) at the sensor next to the iSight Camera, then the keyboard will shut off. Very annoying. At least I'm not alone. I guess I'll visit the good folks at the Apple store and see what they have to say.

It's not exactly the same thing but since the new MBPs have shortcut keys for turning brightness up, down, and off/on the keyboard lights. I just use that instead of the automatic system. They are the secondary function keys for F5 & F6.

Originally Posted by turtle777 

Thanks for clarifying.

I was about to torch my MBP

-t

You are just easily brainwashed turtle. It is good that he clarified.

[SSharon]

I actually prefer always having the backlight on and so I downloaded Lab Tick I'm sure you could use it to manually turn off the backlight if you don't want it on all the time.