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MBP early 2011 keyboard backlight

T

theBostonian

Suspended
Original poster
Apr 15, 2012
317
238
Hiya, could some of you tell me if this keyboard is unevenly lit? I've had my MBP's top case replaced twice now and for some reason it still looks strange to me, unevenly bright in parts.

What could be causing this, a problem with the logic board?

Apple HW tests show that everything is hunky dory so I'm confused as to what the problem might be.

I'm hoping to iron out any kinks and sell it to buy the rMBP but it's proving difficult...

I've done SMC resets and PRAM resets too, all to no avail.
 

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theBostonian said:
No one can be bothered to look down and then look up again? :confused:
Click to expand...

Are you talking about brightness between screen and keyboard? They're supposed to brighten or darken in an opposite way. When you're in a bright area, the screen gets brighter and the keyboard dims, and vice versa.

Think about it. When it's dark, you don't need the screen as bright but the keyboard needs to be brighter. The reverse is true as well.
 
I can see the unevenness from the photo, not sure how bad it is in person but if it bothers you then I would get AppleCare to do something about it. You paid a good amount of money for the laptop so you shouldn't have to settle for anything.

My 17" MBP has uneven keyboard lighting, and I could easily point it out next to my 15" 2011 MBP while I still had it. But I ended up growing used to it and forgot about it, really.
 
I don't think it is normal, I've looked on youtube and most seem to have really brilliant, even keyboard backlighting.

I wonder if it's just the UK keyboard that has problems?

I have taken it into AppleCare and it's been replaced but the problem persists hence I'm not sure if it's a logic board issue or not.

Thanks for the replies anyway!
 
It's not a logic board problem, if anything it's a keyboard problem.

If I were you I'd also check on some real-life macbook, not just on youtube, the perceived evenness depends a lot on the angle, and on how bright the backlighting is set.
 
My rMBP's kb brightness seems to be even. Never had any issues with uneven backlighting on my old unibody 13/15" Pros either- that's something which would have bothered me.

All of them had the US kb layout.
 
The dimmer section also happens to be the right side where the punctuation keys live. Maybe because the symbols are smaller than letters, they let less light through? My MBPr does look brighter in that area though. My previous Macbook didn't have a backlit keyboard, so I really can't comment beyond that. Who replaced the top case? Did you take it to Apple? You may want to.
 
The top case was replaced by Apple and the replacement also had unevenness although not as severe.

I have an appointment again today. It's very odd, I looked at some in store and my friends and all of them were very bright yet mine is a bit drab and uneven.

Is it impossible for it to be caused by the logic board? I mean after 3 giving the same "problem" there must be some underlying cause, right?
 
The top case and keyboard are one piece, but today they said they're going to replace the logic board and top case to see if that finally resolves it.
 
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