Backlit keyboards?

So you're saying i'm pretty much hallucinating everytime i look at my keyboard and find the key i want in no-time? Something that seems to be harder on my non-backlit Asus...especially when in bed or something when i have my screen at 30% brightness?

whatever....

 

Troll. I can definitely see where this thread is going.

 

Or backlighting is pretentious. Nothing wrong with it. For example, my tie provides absolutely zero productivity increase.

Some might argue because it restricts my breathing and is a potential hazard near machinery that my tie is in fact a hindrance to productivity. But I still wear it proudly.

Just accept the fact that such features provide no productivity boost.

 

Why do you find it so hard to believe that some people find them helpful?

 

theres NUBS in the word F and J for you to know your hands are in the right place

 

That's because people are terrible at picking designs due to performance. But rather they pick designs out of preference. Then cognitive dissonance takes over.

You'll study this in marketing class....

 

WINDOWS IS BETTER THAN MAC OS.... wait, wrong thread. Huh, could have fooled me.

 

Alienware is one of the most powerful computer made and it's got lights up the wazoo! How do you account for that?

You took the words right out of my mouth. As long as it's an option, where's the issue here?

You want us to believe that all the objects you own are monochromatic and unadorned? Most consumers wouldn't buy a product if it didn't have some visual appeal. For example, lets take NIKE sales. Ninety percent of their apparel sales is based on it's aesthetic appeal. Can you guess what their profit margin would be if they just sold plan white shirts/short/etc.? After all, an unadorned garment would have the same function wouldn't they?

Now then, would you care to describe your wardrobe for us?

 

Talk about misrepresentation.....

I never said aesthetics are bad. Nor have I said aesthetics don't belong on laptops. Nor have I said buyers should not consider aesthetics. Nor have I said aesthetics should not exist.....

Rather it irks me that this "feature" is claimed to have productivity boosts is ridiculous.

To repeatedly claim this aesthetic feature somehow provides a boost over current solutions is beyond me.

You guys are just losing track of the thread.

 

Maybe not, but you've done a pretty good job of indirectly making that point.

Not ridiculous at all.

That's because you've limited your view. A simple thing as the color of the paint on the walls has been proven to improve productivity. Here's something on color:

Did you know that merely having the wrong color on your home office walls can lower productivity in your home office? Some colors motivate, some colors depress and colors actually have impact on your office visitors. It's even been suggested that purples and blues may reduce your appetite.

In addition to colors, your walls, floors and overall style influence productivity, attitude and the affect your business has on your customers. The good news is that modification of walls, flooring and home office style does not have to be expensive. The overall affect can be invigorating, impressive to clients, and productive to your home business. Consider the possibilities by applying the following analysis.

That is?

 

I can't possibly anticipate every single possible interpretation of my posts. If posts can't be taken for what they are worth, then it is illogical to assign unintended meaning to them.

Again, there is a reason why the scope of an argument should be limited. If you can't figure out why, then well, open a book.

Color of walls. Tone of voice. Type of plants. Shape of lighting. Every factor can be argued. And really, anything can be argued to be a productivity booster. It's simple economics. There are a whole stacks of ideas out there to boost employee productivity. There will always be an unlimited number of ideas. And each are compared, benchmarked and studied and evaluated for returns. This is how the world runs. There is a law of scarcity. So thus some ideas are going to better than others.

Yet it is unfair to apply that same methodology to backlit keyboards??

Test your backlit keyboard v your nonbacklit keyboard. I can walk to the University and for the cost of a few pizzas, time 20 students work in the dark. How many bets that backlit keyboards provides an measurable rate of productivity boost versus the backlighting of their LCD? Seriously. It will be an indifferent factor and thus become an aesthetic feature.

 

Yawn...your WAY too full of your own conviction.

 

I try to stick to the subject, rather than rating people's opinions.

 

This is your first comment on the subject. Here you correctly state this as being your opinion. With the added remark that people who gotta (have to...as in "wouldn't find their keys otherwise") need more practice.
If your point is that when you're able to touch type, backlit keyboards have no real advantage besides maybe looking good, i would probably agree. But you pretty much state the whole point here, not everyone is a touch-typist and for those it is in fact usefull.
Just because you think "people should just practice more" (to become as great a typist as you? Elitist much?) it is impossible that it offers any functional benefit. Get off your high horse please.

 

hmm... I still manage 10h+ with the display at a sensible level and keyboard back light on...

 

If keyboard illumination was engineered from a productivity standpoint, then all laptop's would have ThinkLights. Because they increase the ambient lighting, reduce the relative contrast to your eyes and consequentially prevent eye strain all while illuminating your keyboard. Also it doesn't radiate light UP at you, it shines down on your keyboard providing better visibility than any back lit keyboard and uses just one freaking LED.

Keyboard lighting does have it's uses. Do I use it when I type? No. Because I don't look at the keyboard when I type. But, if I'm lying down and watching something and need to hit a button, or if im hunting and pecking like a lazy man while I skype slovenly on the couch, or other scenarios, then yeah, I need to be able to look at my visibly illuminated keyboard and find a button and push it because I'm not using both my hands and couldn't be bothered to find home row. To say keyboard lighting has no use is just wrong. Weather it increases productivity? By productivity I assume work involving typing... and like a previous poster said.. if you're a good typist then no it probably won't do crap for you, if you're not so good a typist, then yeah, it'll probably help you out.

My issue with keyboard lighting is that more simple and elegant and effective solutions like the ThinkLight and possibly selective key lighting exist and would probably prove to be better solutions than backlit keyboards if they gained in popularity. But companies make what people want weather it's good for them or not. And people want backlit keyboards because of the Bling Bling factor.

I have a backlit desktop keyboard. I don't use it. It's a gaming machine and I bought it cause it looks nice. I have a thinklight on my T400. I love it. How many of you with backlit keyboards would take a more effective thinklight-like solution over your led backlit keyboard if your laptop manufacturer offered it? I doubt many would, because backlit keyboards LOOK cooler. And there's nothing wrong with that, people buy useless stuff cause it looks cool all the time.

 

Couldn't agree more.

 

I personally don't like thinklights, i don't want everything to be illuminated, just the keys is perfect.
And saying it is a more effective solution in your opinion doesn't make the alternative useless, just a little less effective.

 

Ive tried an LED on a stick before, and while it does the job, it doesnt offer uniform lighting has a bright light source that can catch your eye and produces a lot of glare off the keyboard... a dim back light on my keys is a much more relaxing experience... Im not talking a million ultrabright LEDS shining up from around the keys and between them... but very subdued illumination.

another way of looking at things... the military use laptops, a thinklight type option is not availiable on those, but adjustable keyboard backlighting...

Kudos to all those that can touch type... even more so to those that can do it whilst holding a laptop in the crook of an arm one handed, or with gloves on in the snow, but all us other mortals that get by using a few fingers, well, its personal preference... but I wouldnt go back!

again, battery consumption... the keyboard backlight on my laptop has almost zero effect on my battery life, especially as the screen is dimmed to the minimum anyway - if all you lot are worried about an LED, why are you all running hugely inneficent processors... swap your core i7 or an ULV and you would get more than 3 hours from the wall!!

 

I never said the alternative was useless. On the contrary I said that it's dumb to call keyboard illumination useless. But I do think the thinklight is a better engineered design then the backlit keyboard, and that it's more productivity oriented as opposed to the backlit keyboard which may still aid in productivity but is more for the show. And I think the thinklight was also designed with the business user in mind, and so on a plane a thinklight would be more useful, as you could look at other documents under the light. It's useful for me in class when the room is dark due to a presentation and I need to look at a print out or see what I'm writing.

The thinklight is recessed and so there's no bright light source to catch your eyes. And the glare, I guess that depends on the keyboard. My thinkpad keyboard isn't shiny or smooth or anything, so it doesn't really reflect off the keys. I haven't seen a lot of backlit keyboards in person. My desktop keyboard is dim so I don't mind it. But I've seen some of the dell backlit keyboards, and it looks like there's airport running lights under the keyboard. But again, to each there own. I prefer the thinklight. Maybe they should start putting both in, but I think that would take away from the feel and draining ability of the thinkpad keyboard.

 

Well you had me fooled, really sounded like you were actually making a comparison with useless products.
You're right though about the thinklight having the added feature of being able to read printouts in dark surroundings, if you find yourself needing that it's a great solution. Someone here mentioned all he needed was the glare from his lcd but i really doubt that would give the same result, especially since you normally have a dim lcd in dark environments.

 

I shouldn't have said useless, I mean less useful (in comparison to a thinklight IMO).

ie) 22" chrome rims aren't useless. You need rims or your car won't move. But they're less useful than lightweight alloy rims.

 

lol...true, and i for one wouldn't be caught dead with big chrome rims.

 

I think what we all should do is get cars with no ABS, no Airbags, Manual Transmission and no Assist Systems. Suuuure, they help a bit, but having a car thats lighter means less fuel consumption, and less chance of rolling and better handling. Yeah, it performs better.

I for one, use 5 computers, with different keyboard layouts, and 3 different languages (which have different layouts of their own). I can still look without typing. Believe me no one is impressed that you can use Dvorak layout because it lets you type 5 more words in a minute than I do with a standard layout.

If you think every new idea, every new innovation, every new option for people who choose to use it is a gimmick, please kindly go back to your stone age and hunt with hand made spears.

I definately prefer back lit keyboards even though I don't need them, because they look fantastic in my opinion. They can have haptic feedback for all I care because I know people will use it if they prefer. And if you dare have the nerve to call me a "pretty boy" because of that you better pray I have to keep a civil tounge in these forums.

As for your accusation of "taking the thread off-topic" a couple pages back, the poor OP was just trying to find out if there were aftermarket options he could get for his computer.

I'm sorry people, but we, unfortunately have been feeding a troll.