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To be able to see the keyboard at night...

I don't stare at my keyboard either while actively typing, but most people look at their keyboard for a starting position, or to find a specific key, or use keys other than the QWERTY rows...

For anyone who ends up working late, backlit keyboard is essential.
Turning on a lamp is not an option? The screen does not sufficiently illuminate they keyboard? I’ve never discovered the need for backlighting. Nice feature but is it really essential? Asking out of ignorance I guess.
 
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It's funny people think they need this on a desktop PC. I was working on nothing more than candlelight last night just for fun, and not once did I think to myself it was hard to see the white keyboard keys. I mean you're sitting in front of what is essentially a giant rectangular lamp.
You have to realize that not all people use their system just like you do. For instance I use my keyboard drawer and I use dark mode screen soooo...I would LOVE a backlit keyboard. People are different ya know?
 
Did I miss a rant thread about no Face ID in the new iMac. I wonder why we are talking about Touch ID when Face ID would have been perfect.

Face ID is a lot more than just the camera. It would take quite a bit of extra hardware to make it work the way it does on other hardware. Basically adding the entire notch from the iPhone right? I assume that is why it isn't there.
 
I'm sure it's already been said, but if you have an Apple Watch this is a useless purchase.
 
Out of curiosity, why do people want backlight? With touch-typing I rarely ever look at my keyboard, and no backlighting means longer battery life anyway
I work usually with low ambient light. We moved from the original keyboard to a logitech mx Keys to avoid having a reading light to be able to work 🤷‍♂️ We don’t need a lighthouse coming out of the keybord. Just a real dim light to see the keys…
 
Oh, the old good "I don't use it, so it's useless for anyone else". Thank you, you took me back in younger days.
This is one of my BIGGEST pet peeves. "Why would anyone want something different than what "I" use, want, need, have etc. ". Cheezus Crust, Get out of your box!
 
I'm sure it's already been said, but if you have an Apple Watch this is a useless purchase.
Not entirely because you might be using a machine for work that isn't signed into the same iCloud account. Or a shared machine in the home.

Apple Watch unlock is also just slow enough to make you wonder whether it's going to work this time. One in 20 times it fails for me due to random signal strength issue (not to mention you don't remember when it will require a password for security). You also still need to hit a key or mouse/trackpad to trigger the unlock. So you might as well put your finger on the touchid sensor, know it's going to work and not have to wait and see what happens.

At least that's my frustration with current MacBook Pro.
 
So don’t buy it, simple.

It‘s an optional purchase.

Oh, and by the way, speaking of minorities in that way is kind of shun on in this day and age.

Stop. Don’t go there
“Left handed” is not a racial minority or a group of persecuted humans

I made a factual statement about it being a massively smaller percentage of users.
Notice how few left handed mice and keyboards with numbers on the left there are?
 
Out of curiosity, why do people want backlight? With touch-typing I rarely ever look at my keyboard, and no backlighting means longer battery life anyway
It's the same people who complain that the butterfly keyboard was bad for typing because they were used to chiclet keys. If you're so used to typing on a certain keyboard that you can't change it I would think you're used to typing on it without looking.
 
Stop. Don’t go there
“Left handed” is not a racial minority or a group of persecuted humans

I made a factual statement about it being a massively smaller percentage of users.
Notice how few left handed mice and keyboards with numbers on the left there are?
You’re having a laugh.

We live in a right handed world.

And who mentioned race, minority groups or persecuted humans?

You’d for sure to too scared to “go there.”

A minority is a minority.

“ok?

You’re the vast minority”

... you’re basically (patently) implying that left handed people don’t really matter so yes, I will go there. You have a dated perspective, simple as.
 
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Face ID is a lot more than just the camera. It would take quite a bit of extra hardware to make it work the way it does on other hardware. Basically adding the entire notch from the iPhone right? I assume that is why it isn't there.

I don’t think it needs a notch since there is a lot of bezel in the iMac. It has 3-4 sensors which can easily fit in the bezels. Yes for sure it would add to the cost.
 
By looking at the lack of a full screen, the colors not including Space Grey or Black,
The Chin etc I’m getting the impression this is designed to be a low end iMac. But we won’t know for sure till the other iMac comes out
 
So they can add it to the next iMac, to make you want that one as well.

This is Apple we’re talking about.
They've created such feature fragmentation in their SKUs they end up making me not want either one or the other honestly, and I'm speaking as someone so deep into the Apple ecosystem I'd need a helicopter rescue ladder to pull me out. There's a threshold of expectation fatigue from constantly holding back or not utilising in-house features after which people "kind of forget" to care. And eventually these innovations go the way of 3D Touch, whether some users once loved them or not.

FaceID isn't some incredible new tech, it's been around for almost 5 years already and it would make total sense to add it to a fancy new redesigned desktop than hold it back even longer.

It might be Apple, sure, but they "kind of forgot" how to sanity check their products lately.

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Nickel and dime in. Touch ID has been around since 2013, 2016 on the MacBooks, what makes it so special you have pay extra for it. It should be standard at no extra cost. MBAs are infiltrating. Everyone of them should fired!
Wireless though? And it’s just in the base models. Some may have no use for it...
 
I have a Satechi X3 with backlighting - needed one keyboard for home and work machines, as well as a numeric keypad. I have an older Apple Bluetooth keyboard, the kind that takes 2x AA, and much prefer the key feel on that keyboard, but it misses out on these features.

Anyway, the reason I bring up the Satechi X3 is that it has backlighting. Working from afternoon into evening, especially in winter, the backlighting was definitely helpful in finding non-touch typing keys. I spend a lot of time in SQL, and being able to find the "/*" combination as sunlight begins to fade is useful, for example. Eventually I'll turn on the room lights, but having the backlight is definitely helpful.

That said, the implementation on the Satechi isn't the greatest - I see much more light spill coming out from under the edges of the keys than I do from the keycaps, making it a bit messier - perhaps reminiscent of early aluminum PowerBook backlight implementations.
 
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