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key lights

M

markwise

macrumors member
Original poster
The keys of the MBA key board are lit.

One would say the more dark it gets in the room the brighter the light should turn.

When I turn of the light in my room, the screen turns less bright and the keys turn dark l. Is this normal ???
 
markwise said:
The keys of the MBA key board are lit.

One would say the more dark it gets in the room the brighter the light should turn.

When I turn of the light in my room, the screen turns less bright and the keys turn dark l. Is this normal ???
Click to expand...

Normal for the Air, in my experience yes.

Operating as it should - no. Join the crowd. F5 & 6 will be your close friends😀
 
I keep getting mixed results with this. Sometimes it works as expected, other times not.

I find the best solution is the follwoing:

1) Shine a light on the sensor (to the left of the camera)
2) Dim the keyboard light to off
3) Remove the light and cover the sensor
4) Turn the keyboard light all the way up

It's kind of crude calibration that works some of the time. We're all hoping it's just a software problem that they'll patch but there hasn't been any word on it.
 
You don't really need to shine a light on the sensor. Covering the sensor and turning up the lighting manually is the key. You'll notice after doing that, when in the dark, the backlight automatically goes to the level you set it at with the sensor covered.
 
wordy said:
You don't really need to shine a light on the sensor. Covering the sensor and turning up the lighting manually is the key. You'll notice after doing that, when in the dark, the backlight automatically goes to the level you set it at with the sensor covered.
Click to expand...

I should have added a note that you only need to do that if the room is dark or you're in a shadow. You'd be surprised how sensitive that sensor is....
 
Key lights are fixed screen reamins less bright in the dark

THX for the calibration tips received from you all.

It did help to solve the key light issue.
Unfortunately the screen remains less bright in the dark and still becomes very bright when light hits the sensor??

another point on the long list of issues to solve by Apple... hopefully soon
 
False, the keys should be dim when the room is dark, and bright when the room is a bit brighter. Or else the keys and light will be the same color. The darker it is the less lights you need.

this is the way it should work (and generally does):
room: BRIGHT > DIM > DARK
display: BRIGHT > DIM
keyboard: OFF > BRIGHT > DIM

This is how it has worked since the original 17" Powerbook in 2003. (and how every other laptop with light sensors work)
 
The behaviour of the screen is correct. In dark areas you don't need the screen to be as bright, so it is correct that it dims.

Fuchal, I think you're right, but I think what the OP was experiencing (as did I) was that in a darkened room, the keyboard backlight didn't come on at all. Calibration as described above fixes that issue.
 
Fuchal said:
False, the keys should be dim when the room is dark, and bright when the room is a bit brighter. Or else the keys and light will be the same color. The darker it is the less lights you need.

this is the way it should work (and generally does):
room: BRIGHT > DIM > DARK
display: BRIGHT > DIM
keyboard: OFF > BRIGHT > DIM

This is how it has worked since the original 17" Powerbook in 2003. (and how every other laptop with light sensors work)
Click to expand...

Agreed! This is the way it works!
 
It worked!

NC MacGuy said:
Try putting your finger over the left of isight holes over display at the same time pressing F6 -they should be active then.
Click to expand...

This works! (I had to do it more than once)

I'm in a darkend room,
My keyboard is lit
and I can actually see the black keys! 🙂
 
Hi, the way the macbook air works is that it uses I believe it is an infrared light sensor. And the reverse direction trick that is the current "fix" is actually how it was "broken".

So, it seems that there are ways that the macbook air's light sensor seems to be affected. I do not have an Air yet, but:

IF the light turns on (or flashes for a second) when you boot up OS X, this means that the function has turned on during boot, so make sure you are in a darker room

IF the light never turns on during boot, try being in a bright room (or outdoors) during the initial boot (and after login)
come back inside and go to a dark room and see how it reacts.


If there are enough complaints im sure an update will come 🙂
 
markwise said:
THX for the calibration tips received from you all.

It did help to solve the key light issue.
Unfortunately the screen remains less bright in the dark and still becomes very bright when light hits the sensor??

another point on the long list of issues to solve by Apple... hopefully soon
Click to expand...

This makes sense. When it is bright, the screen needs to put out more light to be visible, the darker it gets, the less bright the screen needs to be to appear equally visible. Think about it the other way: if it was really really sunny, would you want your screen to get dimmer? You wouldn't be able to see it, and then think if it was pitch black, would you want it full brightness?

/edit: I see several people already posted this.
 
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