Production of New Thunderbolt-Equipped MacBook Airs Set for Next Month?

[madhatter61]

Yes it is a deal breaker. I actually spend quite a bit of time in bed after lights out surfing and reading, keeping up with stuff (I am doing it at this moment) with the brightness at the lowest level +1 to not disturb my wife, and its definitely not enough to see the keyboard.

I also like it for taking notes in a dark presentation room. I got the newer air and returned it after a week (and gladly paid the restocking fee) because of this alone. I really liked the reduced weight and bulk, didnt miss the optical drive, but I gotta have that keyboard backlit.

right now I tend to use the ipad when I am just reading, but when I have to type it gets awkward, so I break out a laptop.

There are USB LED lights on a flexible cable that holds its position that might be a useful add on for you to light up you keyboard.

I understand what and why you want back lit. What I believe is Apple is striving for longer and longer battery life ... and many of us are touch typists and don't even look at the keys at all. If you consider the iPad ... one of its key features is outstanding battery charge. The AIR is the next step up and offers interfacing the iPad doesn't. The next step will be thunderbolt for high speed data transfer to the higher performance Macbook Pros, and iMacs.
I know the add on USB light isn't built in but is a viable option for the few that need the backlight. Either way that option draws more power. sobeit

 

[42streetsdown]

i can haz backlit keysboarrdz pls

 

[AidenShaw]

Are there any Thuderbolt devices yet?

No, just a couple of promises about devices available "some time this summer" (northern hemisphere, I assume - even worse if it's southern).

 

[KingCrimson]

I too am hanging out for a new MBA model before I jump in, and a backlit keyboard is the top of my list of must-have features. We have two unibody 2008 MacBooks in the house, only one of which has a backlit keyboard and not being a touch typist I really miss it when I use the other MacBook by mistake.

Anyway... has anyone else noticed that Apple will have a tricky design problem on their hands if they were to introduce a backlit keyboard into the new MBA design? Basically, they've got no room for the keyboard brightness keys!

When they brought out the 2010 MBA, they ditched the circular power button and added in a new 'power' key, to the right of the eject key. However this means that all the function keys have had their functions 'shifted' to the left, which was possible because there's no keyboard brightness up or down buttons needed in the function keys.

MacBook Pro
F1/F2 = brightness down/up
F3/F4 = expose/dashboard
F5/F6 = keyboard brightness down/up
F7/F8/F9 = rewind/play/forward
F10/F11/F12 = mute/volume down/up
EJECT

2010 MacBook Air
F1/F2 = brightness down/up
F3/F4 = expose/dashboard
F5 = (blank)
F6/F7/F8 = rewind/play/forward
F9/F10/F11 = mute/volume down/up
F12 = EJECT
POWER BUTTON

So my question is, if they DO add in a backlit keyboard where will they put the keyboard brightness up/down controls? Maybe they would ditch the eject key... which seems superfluous in a machine with no optical drive. This leaves two spare spaces, but it also means they would have to shift all the function keys to the right again to make space for two adjacent keys.

And why they didn't do that when they brought out the original 2010 models, rather than have two variations of MBA with differing keyboard layouts?

This may sound like madness, but I know Apple really sweat these sorts of details, so I can't wait to see how they solve it. (or if they're not putting in a backlit keyboard then it's not a problem... in which case I'll be sorely disappointed with the new update)

Shouldn't Apple be able to optimize the backlit level with a light-sensor?