An Early Intel eBay Nightmare

[Certificate of Excellence]

Yes, exacty - because I suck terribly at typing and the backlight helps to work through those moments of insecurity while operting in the dark. That and it looks cool.

 

[California]

Backlit keyboards are handy when working with DJing gear in low-light conditions. The same can also be said when working as a lighting designer for a stage, in which your surrounding settings will tend to be pretty dark (because you don’t want to draw attention to yourself). And although I’m not a gamer, I completely understand why gamers prefer backlit keyboards — especially higher-end ones on which individual keys can be programmed to render as a specific colour. It’s not my jam, but it makes plenty of sense.

More casually, I also prefer backlit keyboards when first getting my fingers onto the keyboard when I’m about to type — especially when I’ve been doing other tasks not involving typing.

Although I don’t generally look at the keyboard whilst typing, I also crumpled and binned my entire middle-school term of having to learn to old-skool ASDF-JKL; on school electric typewriters around the time I used a Macintosh Plus for the first time (to write a paper a few years later in grade 12), because I found ASDF-JKL; to be inorganic af to do so on a Selectric, much less anything else. And… and… had I not discovered my eventual pecking method of relying on my first two fingers and thumbs, I’d likely be dealing with some variety of carpal-tunnel syndrome now.

Very good info, I had not thought of DJs or stage people. Interesting. I remember the first Unibody MacBook I got in 2008 did not have it and I returned it but not because of the lack of backlit keyboard, because it didn't have firewire.

I also remember working backstage at a high end fashion show once in the late 2000's with my 12" Powerbook G4, and it did NOT have the backlit keys as i recall... and I probably could have used it... but I just typed away in free flow/thought association and corrected the typos later. I do rely on the "F" and "J" keys having the Braile thingie on it to center your index fingers.

 

[California]

Yes, exacty - because I suck terribly at typing and the backlight helps to work through those moments of insecurity while operting in the dark. That and it looks cool.

I asked the dumb but honest question above about it because in all these years, I really never relied on the backlit keyboards. I think the few times I wanted them to turn on by themselves and I waited for it, they didn't turn on.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

Another thought - in regards to the musician on said stage - if you're running music creation software (something like propellerhead reason or the like into a keyboard or trigger or series of them) on stage - that the backlit keyboard would be incredibly advantageous with the ever shifting mood lighting that goes on in a rock show venue.

But my typing really is crap, led backlit kbs look cool and that is why I personally like and use them.

 

[Amethyst1]

That and it looks cool.

That’s the deal. It’s so epic to see the backlight gracefully fade into existence once the ambient light drops below the threshold. MAGIC.