HP EliteBook 8540w Mobile Workstation Review Discussion

My 2 cents on this issue: I think backit keyboards (or the spotlight-in-screen-bezel variation) should be considered as necessary as markings on the keys. Depending on your eyesight, the illumination can help a great deal even in a decently lit room. As far as all these tiuvh tupost braggarts, well, I am a touch typist, but every computer I own or use (7 on a weekly basis) has either major keys reversed (eg, Lenovo and the FN/Ctrl keys) or has numeric pads with special keys or things like cursor movement keys which do not have a "standard" location or size for these clairvoyant touch typists to "sense" on every different keyboard they use. Yes, I do touch-type the four rows that are standard on all keyboards, but even there, one can lose place accidentally and use a well lit keyboard to get back on track.

For those snobs who insist they need no illumination of keys, I recommend the mfrs provide keyboards with no marking at all on any key, just blank, smooth keys for those who need no guidance at all to find the right keys. For the rest of us: back lit keyboards please, universally on any computer costing more than $499, as the HP DM3 has shown it can do, for a whopping $25 upgrade.

And no, I'm not particularly passionate about this issue, nor have I been writing about it for the past 3 years as more and more mfrs have dropped them as an option .