I assume a lot of people, or at least some, can go without a backlight with very little trouble. They need to take a step back and think if it really effects them. Turn the backlight off on your mpb for a week and see what happens. Too many people buy or don't buy things because of small features that will never or rarely effect them. They end up ignoring the big picture and the important features.
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New Macbook Airs don't have Backlit keyboards?
- Thread starter hellfire88
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Do we really need to start this discussion again? It has been beaten to death and this thread mercifully died 2 months before it was resurrected.
Yes, I do not need to read it or respond, but sheesh!
Yes, I do not need to read it or respond, but sheesh!
Oh sure. I didn't even realize the lack of that feature until this morning and it doesn't change my opinion of it beyond, "why did Apple retract feature x or feature y". For the dramatically improved speed over any MacBook Air before, and the removal of that stupid port door and addition of an SDXC card slot and second USB port, yeah, I'm cool sacrificing the backlit keyboard if Apple decrees that such a sacrifice is necessary for me to be able to buy a MacBook Air that is finally good as a stand-alone computer.
...and if you read the thread, you would see that you have added nothing new and resurrected a thread for no reason.
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I can't believe the fuss some people make.
Firstly, for those that claim to "need" backlighting on the keyboard, my response is you don't. The keyboard is perfectly lit up by the screen in the dark better than any backlighting function provides on other and previous Macbooks.
Secondly, the reason Apple removed it was in order to lose weight and more importantly shave size.
So if you want the superslim MBA then you HAVE to have compromises, otherwise whats the point, same goes for SD card slots on the 11", superdrives, firewire 800 port, etc etc, add all these back in and you end up with a larger Macbook Air
Live with it people, their won't be a backlit keyboard on the Macbook Air any more.
Yawn....
Firstly, for those that claim to "need" backlighting on the keyboard, my response is you don't. The keyboard is perfectly lit up by the screen in the dark better than any backlighting function provides on other and previous Macbooks.
Secondly, the reason Apple removed it was in order to lose weight and more importantly shave size.
So if you want the superslim MBA then you HAVE to have compromises, otherwise whats the point, same goes for SD card slots on the 11", superdrives, firewire 800 port, etc etc, add all these back in and you end up with a larger Macbook Air
Live with it people, their won't be a backlit keyboard on the Macbook Air any more.
Yawn....
It became an opinion-based thread after the first page.
Last edited by a moderator:
I'll grant you that it's an unimportant feature and that it isn't worth whining about, but the notion that the backlight on the keyboard added even a remotely important measure of size or weight with respect to engineering a thinner MacBook Air, is ridiculous.
Well I admit it's not an awful lot more to fit in, but there is the membrane, the LEDs, the additional fixtures and connections to the logic board, battery etc, probably another mm or 2 on the finished product.
It all goes back to the argument that, you add all this up with the other compromises and before you know it you have a Macbook sized laptop.
Do you have an authoritative source for your remarkably dogmatic pronouncements? Absent some proof to the contrary, it would be awfully easy to assume you pulled this stuff out of your, um, elbow. Many long time observers of Apple's marketing strategy have been positing that Apple eliminated the backlit keyboard feature from the new MBAs in order to be able to add it back in the next revision. Others have made compelling, to me at least, arguments that including the backlit keyboard feature would have carried with it no discernable weight penalty. The bottom line, though, is that nobody, including you, knows why Apple eliminated the backlit keyboard feature from the new MBAs.
Come on.. Apple probably realises that there is a limited amount of improvement possible on this very small and high quality computer, and by cutting backlit keyboards, then more people will upgrade when the next MBA model comes out with a backlit keyboard. Same thing with the MBP model that came out without FW, and then the next model had firewire again. It's all about the money, and selling as many units as possible of a new model... I agree it's a nice feature, but I can live without it very well.
This is a good point. It was clear that Apple went out of its way to market a line of MBAs at the lowest price point possible. Thats why the entry level models come with only 2GB of RAM, although all the MBPs come with 4. I suspect, therefore, that cost also played a part in Apple's decision to eliminate the backlit keyboard feature from the new MBAs. It worked, it seems to me. For example the entry level 11 inch MBA sells for the same price as the humble white Macbook.
That's the key for me. Apple has advertised this as the "next generation of MacBook." Not "MacBook Air," but "MacBook." We'll see when the Pro gets its next update, but I would not be surprised at all if the base MacBook goes away, replaced by a $999 13" MacBook Pro with integrated Sandy Bridge graphics only.
I'd like to see some proof for anybody's arguments, and beliefs of Apple's strategy. My connection to Apple is probably as close as many others on here that feel they have "inside knowledge". I won't and don't claim to know what Apple plans to do in the future, but I do know the Apple marketing line, in fact if any of you have bothered to go into an Apple store and actually ask an Apple employee the reasons for the MBA losing backlit keyboards, the line is (or is supposed to be) exactly as I mentioned.
So unless YOU have a better source that you care to share with this forum, then please do let me know.
I've been living with and loving Apple products since their first days of offering prosumer products, tearing them apart, using them and abusing them.
I'm not an Apple newbie, i'm not an Apple fanboy, i'm an Apple realist.
No. They're trained to not speculate (although many still will).
Unless there is information publicly posted on Apple.com in specific regards to why the backlighting was removed, there is no "line" for them.
They are never given private information (i.e. "lines") to tell customers.
Trained or not, it makes no difference to be honest.
The keyboard designed for the new range of MBA and the 11" in particular are drastically different to the previous MBA and the MBP. If you don't believe me go and have a close look at the new MBA and one of the aforementioned machines and look at the height of the keys for starters, that will give you your first clue to the difference in keyboard profile. Now those that are slightly more computer literate can tear their machine down to it's component parts, this is not for the faint hearted and I don't recommend you do, but if you did, the keyboard is one of the last elements to be removed after the batteries, MLB, fan and trackpad. You'll notice how there is no space between the keyboard and other internal hardware, then you'll notice how thin the keyboard assembly is, and that it also lacks the additional layers required to illuminate it that you would find as part of the keyboard assembly on the old MBA. For the record it would also require sensors, ribbon cable, etc etc but I think you get the picture.
Now thinking if I were Apple and wanted to install one of these backlit keyboards in the next MBA how could it be done. I'll tell you how, you'd need to increase the height profile of the keyboard to allow the additional parts in behind it, this keyboard design change would require rebating the screen back by the same depth (to prevent key foul on the screen with the lid closed), which in turn would require the thickness of the lid to be increased to allow for the rebate adjustment, resulting in an overall increase in the depth of the machine itself. Not something Apple will do, as the product cost relies on the unibody design being tooled for it's planned life, not being replaced half way through to accommodate minor internal hardware alterations like adding back a backlit keyboard.
Some of Apple's key design criteria for the MBA were to increase battery time (in use), reduce weight, and reduce overall size. They have made a very very big deal of the overall size of the new range of MBA, and to quote "it's a brand new machine" never a reference back to the old MBA, which is unusual for Apple.
You can tell me i'm wrong, but it is quite obvious to those with a bit of knowledge of these things why Apple removed hardware like the backlit keyboard, and why it isn't likely to be added back too easily unless the tech changes or the overall product design changes, the latter certainly wont happen in the near future.
That's right. We simply don't know why Apple eliminated the backlit keyboard feature from the MBA or whether it will return in the future. The poster who has claimed otherwise, not once once but repeatedly, has demonstrated that he has failed to learn the important lesson that when you find yourself in a hole, it really is a good idea to stop digging.
That's right. We simply don't know why Apple eliminated the backlit keyboard feature from the MBA or whether it will return in the future. The poster who has claimed otherwise, not once once but repeatedly, has demonstrated that he has failed to learn the important lesson that when you find yourself in a hole, it really is a good idea to stop digging.
They are trying to teach mac users how to type without looking at the keys. Any other reason is crazy!
I would like to say thank you Apple.
Because the lack of the backlit keyboard feature on the MBA has been such an emotional issue for some posters, I've avoided saying what I think about the issue very often. Truth be told, I virtually never used the backlit keyboard feature on either my old Powerbook G4 or MBA and don't miss it at all on my MBA. Shhh, don't tell anybody!
That's right. We simply don't know why Apple eliminated the backlit keyboard feature from the MBA or whether it will return in the future. The poster who has claimed otherwise, not once once but repeatedly, has demonstrated that he has failed to learn the important lesson that when you find yourself in a hole, it really is a good idea to stop digging.
Thats the kind of typical response i'd have expected from somebody who's experience must equate to years of...surfing an Apple forum...
Interesting - some good info there. What if they fitted an OLED screen to rev B - would that mean that the screen itself could be somewhat recessed, allowing for increased key height?
Thats a very interesting idea. There are currently no OLED laptops on the market to my knowledge, although I know Samsung are keen to release one, as are Dell and Sony, but neither have yet.
The big issue is cost, OLED screens are still incredibly expensive to manufacture, you only have to look at the price of the cheapest LG OLED 15" TV on the market which retails at around GBP£1,400 then you can see the difficulty of producing an affordable (even by Apple standards) OLED laptop.
For the short term, I can't see it happening for the current MBA, for the long term then it's certainly possible once production costs reduce a bit.