Does the backlit keyboard drain battery life?

[Sinnthetic]

I'm assuming thats why the 11 inch is getting lower battery ratings.

Is there a way to turn it off by chance?

 

[simsaladimbamba]

You can turn it off via the F5 key.

 

[miles01110]

The backlit keyboard is a very small factor in battery life. The 11" model's battery life is shorter because it is a physically smaller battery.

 

[GGJstudios]

I'm assuming thats why the 11 inch is getting lower battery ratings.

The backlight doesn't affect battery life as much as other factors, like screen brightness and other apps you're running. This should answer most, if not all, of your battery questions:

Apple Notebook Battery FAQ​

Is there a way to turn it off by chance?

System Preferences > Keyboard > Illuminate keyboard in low light conditions (uncheck)

 

[shurcooL]

Don't use it when you don't need it, and it won't use up _ANY_ battery life.

When you do need it, it'll allow you to use your notebook, which you wouldn't have been able to without it and any extra battery life would've been useless anyway.

 

[krogers34]

I don't see the need for a backlit keyboard besides it being cool, which it is. One, you should know where all the keys are and two if you really need to know where something is your screen gives of light and you can use that easily so the post above, there is never a time you would not be able to use your computer because it is too dark, haha.

 

[Gemütlichkeit]

I never use it while on battery

But it is a good additive when plugged in, in bed at night

I thought I wasn't going to use it ever (I never used my 2008 MBP backlit keys) but with the black keys it's a must. If they made the keys white or silver the backlit keys wouldn't be necessary I feel.

 

[jvmxtra]

f it.. just looks SO much better.. use it.. it will use like less than 0.1% battery

 

[AuroraProject]

Wirelessly posted (iPhone 4: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_5 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8L1 Safari/6533.18.5)

Anything that uses power will lessen battery life.

 

[kp416]

Is there a way to auto sense when it is dark to turn on the keyboard?

 

[LordJim]

^It does that by default if I'm not mistaken.

 

[mrsir2009]

The 13" MBA has a backlit keyboard too, so I don't get why it would make the battery rating lower ... If you wanna save power turn the backlit keyboard off.

 

[solo118]

Is there a way to auto sense when it is dark to turn on the keyboard?

Yes, it is on by default. It is best to leave it on auto (just like the iPhones auto screen brightness setting)

I have a feeling that if you put it on 10 second intervals (or whatever) it may waste more battery life by turning it on and off so many times. I could be totally wrong there, but its just an idea.

 

[duky]

I've found that it gives me about 20 min less in battery life

 

[Invisible Elf]

Should be really easy to find out exactly how much it's going to drain, if we could just find the wattage of the LEDs it uses?

 

[thetruth1985]

I'm so happy I found this thread. Now I understand why turning on the lights at home raises my energy bill!

 

[SteveKnobs]

I'm so happy I found this thread. Now I understand why turning on the lights at home raises my energy bill!

Hilarious. Dry, sarcastic humor like this is the best.

 

[mrsir2009]

Should be really easy to find out exactly how much it's going to drain, if we could just find the wattage of the LEDs it uses?

...And how many LEDs there are in the keyboard...

 

[Zadok Kin]

How many LED's are there per key? Given the smaller size of the 12" MacBook, I imagine that the backlight does have a noticeable effect.

In practice, it seems to me that the battery does not last all day on my 12" MacBook, only when I have the keyboard backlight on, although I have not objectively measured it (i.e. exact light situation for all day, using the same set of software for the same time period)

 

[MC6800]

Somewhere around 0.05 LEDs per key.

An interesting description of the keyboard backlight arrangement for a 2008 keyboard. I doubt it's changed much now, but then this an old thread anyway...

 

[dogslobber]

Would you use heated seats in your car?

 

[darngooddesign]

I'm assuming thats why the 11 inch is getting lower battery ratings.

I'm assuming the main reason for that is the smaller battery.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

The backlit keyboard is a very small factor in battery life. The 11" model's battery life is shorter because it is a physically smaller battery.

I'm assuming the main reason for that is the smaller battery.

Exactly.

The backlit keyboard consumes a tiny proportion of the battery power - my 11" MBA is four years old, and wth the backlit keyboard automatically on - I still manage to get the best part of around eight hours of power from the battery, certainly enough for a day away without the cable if I needed to do so.

 

[Showmaster]

I don't see the need for a backlit keyboard besides it being cool, which it is. One, you should know where all the keys are and two if you really need to know where something is your screen gives of light and you can use that easily so the post above, there is never a time you would not be able to use your computer because it is too dark, haha.

I disagree, it`s pretty handy at times.
It really depends on how you use your MBA, I guess.
In a dark airplane, or in a hotel without a reading light......I love my background light on the keyboard.

No, the screen does not always light the keys enough.
And sorry, just because you know where all the keys are by heart.....that doesn`t mean everybody else "has to".

Cheers,

Showmaster.