I always thought all 15" and 17" aluminum PowerBooks had backlit keyboards, but apparently that's not the case. From a review of the initial 1GHz 15" I saw, it seemed like the backlight could be removed in build-to-order machines. Then Wikipedia said that only one model of the 15" aluminum PowerBook had a backlit keyboard but it didn't say which. Then I've heard conflicting info on this very forum about it. My current PowerBook (867MHz 12") is both beat up and slow, and while I love the size, I absolutely hate the lack of a backlit keyboard and so I was planning on buying a 15" model instead just to have that backlight. Am I gonna have to jump up to 17" for a backlit keyboard? No backlight is a deal-breaker for me. I didn't realize how much I relied on the backlight on my early-2008 MBP until I used my PowerBook with the lights off and kept hitting the wrong buttons, which caused me to lose my work.
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Which Aluminum PowerBooks had backlit keyboards?
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All 17-inch PowerBooks were equipped with a backlit keyboard, whereas all but the first two series of 15-inch PowerBooks came equipped with backlit keyboards as standard: the late 2003 15-inch aluminium PowerBooks are split, with the base 1.0GHz model lacking it, and the 1.25GHz variant has it; with the early 2004 15-inch models, the backlit keyboard was standard for the 1.5GHz model, and optional for the 1.33GHz base variant.
With all 2005 PowerBook 15- and 17-inch versions, the backlighting is not only standard, but also brighter.
Yet another reason to get the impossible-to-get 2005 models! Argh. I'll have to settle for buying a "For Parts" one in the hope that one of the RAM slots has failed. Thanks for the info!
Or, find a 1.5GHz 2004 model, especially if you’re wanting a 15-inch version.
At least in my part of the world, the early 2005 models (A1106/A1107) are somewhat common and they all have a lovely backlit keyboard. It's the DLSDs (A1138/A1139) that have been eluding me due to both relative scarcity compared to the A1106/A1107 and high prices.
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I figured this one would be harder to find on eBay if I'm going through parts listings. Most "For Parts" machines won't have any indication beyond the year of what the specs are, so it'd be a bit of a gamble.
My main problem with the backlight is day time. I do use my PB and MBPs in dark rooms, but never completely dark and the screen is often bright enough to see the keys.
During daytime the backlight tends to cause the characters on the keys to become the same gray color as the key itself. Hence my backlight usually is just shut off.
During daytime the backlight tends to cause the characters on the keys to become the same gray color as the key itself. Hence my backlight usually is just shut off.
Lab Tick, which carries over well into aluminium Intel MacBook Pros, helps me manage backlighting on my terms when I’m in iffy lighting or when I’m someplace where I need to override what I typically use around the home. I find it helpful with the pre-unibody Macs with backlighting because it avoids the issue (changed/fixed with the unibody MBPs) of the keyboard backlighting shutting off unless it’s nearly pitch-dark in the room, or else not working at all (if setting the keyboard prefPane to ignore ambient lighting conditions).
In short, it wasn’t really until the unibody MBPs before Apple got the ambient/manual control to behave a little more co-coperatively with the user. For aluminium PowerBooks and MBPs, Lab Tick makes up for that shortcoming.