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Uneven key illumination

too many Macs

too many Macs

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 8, 2009
28
16
I just received my new 13" MacBook Pro and the first thing I noticed is the "7" key is half the brightness of the others. I compared it to a relative's two month old 13" MacBook Pro and their keyboard is evenly illuminated and substantially brighter. Anyone else have an issue with the keyboard brightness?
 
Go exchange your MBP at the Apple store. You've already done your homework so there's nothing more for us to tell you.
 
Why is are many people Blasting people that post about an issue they have.

I think he is fully aware that there is nothing we can do, I think at the very least he just wants to let others know that may have the same issue but thought maybe it was normal.

I had this issue on 2 MBP 13" in the last month one right after another.
I did not know if it was an issue or if my eyes were playing tricks on me.
I finally exchanged for a 15" which is fine. But I would have liked to have seen this thread then to know i was not going crazy.


why dont we lay off the more legitiment threads and go after the stupider ones like. "is it ok to pick up your computer with one hand" or "tell me why i should buy a laptop, (even though i have always wanted one and have already made up my mind to get one) but why?"
 
Bill Gates said:
Go exchange your MBP at the Apple store. You've already done your homework so there's nothing more for us to tell you.
Click to expand...
Thank you for your wonderful insightful reply. With a name like Bill Gates maybe you should go work as a "genius" in one of the new MS stores. FYI, this was an online purchase and they do not do swaps at the retail store if you purchased online.

jfyrfytr25,
Thanks for the info. It's very helpful to know that others have experienced this problem.
 
jfyrfytr25 said:
Why is are many people Blasting people that post about an issue they have.

I think he is fully aware that there is nothing we can do, I think at the very least he just wants to let others know that may have the same issue but thought maybe it was normal.

I had this issue on 2 MBP 13" in the last month one right after another.
I did not know if it was an issue or if my eyes were playing tricks on me.
I finally exchanged for a 15" which is fine. But I would have liked to have seen this thread then to know i was not going crazy.


why dont we lay off the more legitiment threads and go after the stupider ones like. "is it ok to pick up your computer with one hand" or "tell me why i should buy a laptop, (even though i have always wanted one and have already made up my mind to get one) but why?"
Click to expand...
Blasting people? Blasting him would be criticizing him for posting here. No, I told him the one thing that he should do with a brand new machine. You need to check your "garbage-post" meter.
 
Bill Gates said:
Blasting people? Blasting him would be criticizing him for posting here. No, I told him the one thing that he should do with a brand new machine. You need to check your "garbage-post" meter.
Click to expand...

well he obviously got the same vibe from your post as i did since he said so.

you told him what to do, and then threw that extra little jab about no one here can do anything.

the comment implies that it was stupid for hi to have posted it since he already knew it is an issue.

if by "garbage post meter" you mean the one that goes off every time there is an arrogant, unhelpful, waste of time post. then yeah it was peaked out after i read your response.
 
You could choose to do so if you like. For the most part, you want it to be evenly backlit. If you could still see the key in the dark, I wouldn't worry too much about it not being even. I know of some backlit keyboard that are not evenly lit but you could still see it and the way I see it is that it's doing it's job even if it's not even. It really depends on your tolerance and how bad the lighting is.
 
decided i couldn't live with it and returned it today. manager didn't want to exchange it, but i made a sad face and she gave in. new one is perfect and all is well in la la land. to the OP, take it back!
 
Update: Exchanged the MPB twice. First replacement had an evenly backlit keyboard, but had dust under the glass. Second replacement has the exact same problem with the backlit keyboard as the first. The 7 key is dimmer than the rest.

I guess I'll just have to live with it. Apple QA has some work to do. Very disappointing.
 
I've taken my new 13" MBP to the Apple store twice regarding this issue, and they've told me this is essentially a design flaw in the current back-lighting circuitry and cannot be "fixed".

I tend to believe this because several of my co-workers 15" MBPs have the same issue.

Seems kind of like Apple R&D dropped the ball on this one.
 
too many Macs said:
Update: Exchanged the MPB twice. First replacement had an evenly backlit keyboard, but had dust under the glass. Second replacement has the exact same problem with the backlit keyboard as the first. The 7 key is dimmer than the rest.

I guess I'll just have to live with it. Apple QA has some work to do. Very disappointing.
Click to expand...

Heh, they probably gave you your original one back again!
 
jlimon said:
I've taken my new 13" MBP to the Apple store twice regarding this issue, and they've told me this is essentially a design flaw in the current back-lighting circuitry and cannot be "fixed".

I tend to believe this because several of my co-workers 15" MBPs have the same issue.

Seems kind of like Apple R&D dropped the ball on this one.
Click to expand...

7,8, and B key appear very slightly dimmer on our MBP 13". It's so slight as to be unnoticeable unless I look for it. Bleah, thanks for making me look for it. hehehe.
 
My only issue with the keyboard backlight is the 5 key being slightly brighter than the rest, but I'm fine with it, you don't notice unless you focus on it.

I'm just curious to know what's actually causing this. Perhaps a simple replacement key would do the trick? I'm assuming the keys just pop off like most other laptop keyboards.
 
jlimon said:
I've taken my new 13" MBP to the Apple store twice regarding this issue, and they've told me this is essentially a design flaw in the current back-lighting circuitry and cannot be "fixed".

I tend to believe this because several of my co-workers 15" MBPs have the same issue.

Seems kind of like Apple R&D dropped the ball on this one.
Click to expand...

It sounds more like there's nothing they can do about it without drastically altering the design. It's a compromise, not a flaw. They're not out to purposely make people's lives miserable by having the 7 and 8 keys slightly less illuminated than the rest.
 
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