Backlit keyboards?

What's true for isn't for the other. For everyone saying they're a waste of power, money or what not.....that might be the case for you so don't get one. For someone else (myself included) it's a great help. Yes i can type without looking and i know al my 3dsmax, Cubase, Ableton, Photoshop, Illustrator, Coreldraw etc. shortcuts without looking but i still find myself glancing at the keyboard sometines and it definetly helps then, especially for keys that i don't use often or even keys that i use in the shortcuts but when not used in combination i sometimes have to look.

and yes, if done right they look good to.

 

At the end of the day it's a preference. It's not a waste so much as it's not a necessity either; it all depends who you are and what you do.

 

Yeah, preference over performance. It's a fact of life according to psychologists.

 

I would like a backlit keyboard, it would be good for presentations when you cant see the keys and you dont have enough time to find them all the time. Also for doing hw in the dark where you have to use symbols that are not normal.

And if you are in a dorm you can have the lights off so you dont off the roommate as much.

Personally I wish I had one.

 

Once you go with a backlit keyboard, you can't live without it

 

I have my first keyboard with backlight, actually there are two different kinds of lighted keyboards back light is just he space between the keys, and fully lit is when the numbers/letters are illuminated as well.

The G73 just has white light and its fully lit. I actually have it turned off as I have no need for it in the light but I would turn it on in the dark. It has 4 settings. Off/Low/Med/High

I think its a neat feature and know its important to a lot of people but feel it should not be a necessity.

 

theres a lot to be said for the continuity of interfaces, though.
soon the gap between visual and text input will be bridged and the entirety of computing will be touch screen anyway.
right? then we wont have to worry about backlights.

 

Here is a picture I took of the G73 keyboard

 

How much power will backlight Keyboad do anyways?

1W? 2W?

Whatever the real number is, i bet its far less compared to the difference between screen's backlight in Total Dim vs Half Brightness.

ie, with backlight, I would set my screen to 100% Brightness just to get a glimpse on the keys. But with Backlight, I set the brightness down to 0%

I am sure I am saving power there.

 

I have this for my desktop: http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/keyboards/keyboard/devices/4740&cl=us,en

And my lappy is a macbook pro, so illuminated too, I really cant go back.

As for power, look at my sig, do you really think the few LEDs in the keyboard are gonna make a difference, NONESENSE! Anyway doesnt it take one of those tiny batteries to power a standard led for a year?

 

same thing could be said about high end GPU's:


I believe a lot of people who want this (not necessarily the OP) just like to brag of it and how 'cool' it is.

Just learn to play games on the lowest settings, and for those times you can't stand that, then you're sol.

There is no need for another power consuming gimmick IMHO.

 

Or a useless post simply ignoring everything that is said before you, huh?

 

you know what was a useless invention was the cursor. everyone knows that the terminal is faster.

did you know that your cursor moving around your screen is taking up 35% of your cpu at al times?
what a power consuming gimmick, when will manufacturers learn?
blah blah bla bla bla bla

 

Bull! I agreed with the persone you quoted.

Honestly, for me its as simple as this:

Backlit keyboard = I can type in the dark, and access instanly ANY keys on my keyboard. Turn off the lights in your room and write a whole 10 page essay, then do some music editing for a few hours followed by some photshop editing and tell me you didnt have to look at your keyboard once.

Honestly blablabla.

Backlit keyboard = yet another tool that helps me and hundreds of thousands other people get the job done faster and most importantly in a smoother way.

How on a PC forum filled with geeks striving for better technology every day anyone can argue that beats me.

Turn off your wifi and go connect your laptop to a plug. Hell even remove the batterie and connect to the wall. come to think of it, lets go back to our 4 color screens. and god all those media shortcut buttons on my keyboard are a nuisance and more lalalala...

Seriously? :/

 

There's nothing wrong with a little "cool" factor. There on our cars, our A/V systems, our apparel etc. It doesn't always have to serve a function to be popular or important. After all, there are entire industry devoted solely to nothing more than to the beautification of the environment around us. What of them?

 

im glad some people got it

 

Ok...lol....your sarcasm wasn't that clear because you sounded exactly like others before you.

 

haha
you know, we could all just never know if we were joking or serious all the time and everything would be way funnier
i mean, theyre just computers, right? the only thing theyre actually productive for in the first place is even more obscure technology
hahaha

 

I love my backlit keyboard on my studio xps 13. I usually leave it off during the day, but if I do any work at night/in the dark I simply turn it on low (I've never had to use it on high). It's great.

 

My 6 yo Apple Powerbook G4 has this feature, and I never really use it. It is maybe useful when you're looking for particular button in the dark (not for typing) but from my experience, the light from the screen is enough most of the time.

 

About the only point I agree with in here regarding the usefulness of backlit keyboards is they can be useful to perform certain combo key operations while in a dark room. How often that happens . . . depends on the person I suppose.

Anyway, my personal stance is that backlit keyboards are a touchy-feely 'cool' feature and nothing more. They are an additional drain on battery life and add cost onto the machine. If my notebook had a backlit keyboard, the lighting feature would be disabled.

Sorry, I have to burst your bubble . . . yes, I do type on a 100% blank keyboard. There are no markings on it at all. Das Keyboard: http://daskeyboard.com
Been using it for several years now.

 

IMO those who said backlighting helps typing better start learning to touch type , the world aint going to wait for you just because you typed 30WPM

i had my flico keyboard keycaps randomized so it makes it even more difficult for you to rely on the letters on the keyboard
"what you see is not what you typed" ...lesson learned

for those key combinations..im pretty sure people will get used to it , even i can press 3 key combinations with looking..soo...whats bothering you people from learning the key positions?

 

And because you can, everyone should? Point stays that for a lot of people it IS usefull, there are people out there who just don't care about blind typing and who won't live up to your standards.

 

its about typing..not shortcut keys etc

i think that all people should learn touch type , increase of efficiency in work , chatting , replying emails etc
learning it wont cost you a leg , but you'll gain lots of advantage by being a touch typist ...

you should ask those who already type without looking at their keyboards and ask how they feel after and before they learn how to touch type...

 

Well....that's what you think. Personally i couldn't care less, i don't type that much. I'd spend my time differently, simple as that.

 

For real. Back lighting is a waste of time, space, money, and effort. If anything, it should just be a small bulb, like the ThinkLight. Other than that, backlighting ftl. It pains me to think engineers are spending their time putting in backlighting on the keyboards, yet I'm stuck with anemic battery technology and less than stellar cooling solutions...

 

Then I take it your home is fill with a collection of various size boxes for furniture and storage? Would you buy a car that was a square box with wheels? Would eat a meal that had all the food pureed into a much easier digested paste? You should know better than to say something like that. Aesthetics appearance and presentation are all major parts of manufacturing and sales. Virtually every component, device, unit, or object made for human use and consumption considers it to some degree.

 

Extremists.......

Should I even bother?

 

Saying that is just as extreme. You should realize that it does have it's uses. I'm a touch typist but I also rather enjoy gaming in the dark. When I'm playing games, my hands aren't going to be in home row, and if i ever need to access another key on the other side of the keyboard quickly, having a backlit keyboard is very convenient. It's all a mater of taste. It's nice when manufacturers offer more customization. For me $25 dollars to add a backlit keyboard was an easy choice. For someone like you, just save the $25.

 

It's uses may have a perceived value, but it falters compared to other solutions.

Lets look at what solutions we had before backlit keyboards. If I was gaming at night and I needed to find a key, what would most of us do?

Look down, because the LCD was bright enough in a dark room to help you identify the keys. Is backlit keyboards such a large improvement over the LCD backlighting? Hardly.

While backlit keyboards do provide a nominal value, it pales in significance compared to alternative solutions. You have to see the big picture.

 

What big picture? And compared to which alternatives exactly?
I'll take a well made backlit keyboard over the lcd light everytime, i could even be playing a dark game, thought of that? Same goes for the crappy thinklight.
Again, why would anyone think their perception of something trivial as this should be how everyone sees it? I like it, i definetly make good use of it (i sure miss it when i'm on my old Asus for a minute) So why would you make a statement like: "waste of time, money, etc"? Why do YOU have a problem with others saying it's helpfull for THEM?

 

Read the post.

People are notoriously bad a picking a design that increases performance. Time after time, people will pick a design that inspires preference over a design that inspires performance. Which is why, when they say it is helpful, it really carries little weight until it is benchmarked.

In this case, I highly doubt your gaming performance will increase at all using the LCD backlighting versus a backlit keyboard. I can test it myself and I see myself looking down at my keyboard maybe once every two hours to look for a hotkey (mainly the Ctrl 6-9).

Huge performance gains.

 

I find backlit keys visually appealing. I would buy one on the strength of that fact alone.

Why all the squabbling? Does something need to bring increased functionality/efficiency to the table to be valid for the world to consider?

 

That is a valid question......

Personally, like I posted before, I'd rather companies focus on providing real productivity boosters over blue lights.

Like where is my all day battery life? Why all the glossy screens? Did Lenovo lose the NavDial for looks? How about better cooling systems?

Maybe I'm asking too much.

 

I'm sure they're looking at those alternatives, but it's not like you have to remove backlit keyboards to have better cooling solutions. You can toggle them on and off to save battery on the go. I sure as hell can't see my keyboard using LCD lighting while playing Deadspace. I agree with you completely that I'd like different items to be added to a laptop that increase productivity, but I also believe that backlit keyboards an item that increases productivity.

 

You are asking that, while others are looking for a backlit keyboard.
Is it that hard to understand?
There isnt any written book about tastes..

 

if it is about aesthetics...theres little to argue about
the point is that some people think that backlit keyboard = increase of performance / productivity

i would like bigger battery pack like those on macbook rather than backlit keyboards...

 

But the MacBook Pro has a backlit keyboard too

(As my fey, french-coffee-drinking friend was oh-so-quick to point out lol)

I understand the need for utility, and as someone who gets about 30 minutes of battery life (it wasn't a priority for me), I think manufacturers could do a bit better, even if it meant me paying a few extra bucks, but I wonder how much of a resource-drain the keyboard-backlighting R&D departments really are on hardware companies as a whole.

 

again too much blabla here about what is good and what isnt, we can argue for pages over and over again, but when it comes down to it, many here, including me, find it to be an advantage. It help me a lot, and this is where I stop looking further.

You can tell me countless reasons why YOU dont find it an advantage, and altho it is interesting, but I dont need reasons, either it works for me or it doesnt, and backlight WORKS for me, and others.

I say it should be on all keyboards. why?

Because if YOU dont like it, you can turn it off
If WE like it, we can turn it on.

Options.

 

I did, but i don't see any solution that makes the backlit keyboard "pale in comparison".

Benchmarked!?! Are you even serious? Do you really need a benchmark for everything? If people say they find that it helps them finding stuff on their keyboard why do you have a problem with that? I say that having the possibility to choose preference is, by itself, enough reason for the existence of the feature, i don't care about absolute figures of a benchmark to prove to you i'm actually getting work done faster and i don't care if it's usefull for you.
Not everything that's usefull means direct performance gain.

And do you really think this is keeping so much time away from engineers that it's the reason for slow development of batteries? Get real

 

too bad more and more consumers are into something flashy , increasing the demand on these things , thus companies have no choice but follow consumers needs , neglecting the not very useful stuff such as batteries and allocate their resources to design laptop that is better in terms of looks and aesthetics

technology makes life easier and its people , dumber ... in general...no

 

Because I'm sure the tremendous amount of research it took to figure out how to put LEDs behind a keyboard is the reason we don't have better battery technology.

Also, I'm not sure how you read your keys with the extra light from the LCD. . . my LCD is generally angled up, away from the keys, and my eyes are generally adjusted to the brightness of the LCD itself, not the things being illuminated by it.

And as for typing properly, I don't have any trouble most of the time - my hands do know where to find the keys relative to each other in most cases. In the dark, though, and when I'm frequently going to use the mouse or whatever, my hands often don't end up *exactly* in the right place when I go to type again, leading to a couple of words of goble-de-gook before I fix my hand location. A backlit keyboard solves this issue, as I can glance down (or even see in my peripheral vision) and confirm my hands to be in the correct positions before typing.

In short, the existence of backlit keyboards does nothing to hurt you, and is beneficial to some. Chill out already!

 

LOL...i think the R&D division got the rest of the month off when they finally figured it out!

 

And people will use cognitive dissonance to convince themselves of the perceived productivity effect.

Some things will never change.

 

If you can touch-type, you will not really benefit from a backlit keyboard.

If you cannot touch-type, you will.

 

Lol...you usually seem to read what others post but you're just completely ignoring everything that's said here.
Nevermind, just stick with the major issue you have with others liking their backlit keyboard.

 

How about we just let those who want backlits to buy them, and those who don't not buy them? Most computers have the backlit as an optional addon anyways.

 

And even when they don't, I've never seen one where the backlight couldn't be turned off.

 

Well that's pretty much what i've been saying but some seem to think backlit keyboard should be banned from existence because of all the time and power it consumes and they rather look at the backlight of their screen.

 

I'm not opposed to people buying backlit keyboard. Just labeling their motivation as aesthetics and not functionality. Apparently people have a problem being called a pretty boy.

Or in an uncensored forum, we would call them .... bags/nozzles.