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Why isn't the Apple keyboard backlit?
- Thread starter lil666jrkatz
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Sorry should have put a sarcasm tag on last comment. Thanks.
Oops! Oh and for anyone interested in the Logitech backlit keyboard i was on about its called the diNovo Keyboard Mac Edition.
Now that the MB has a backlit keyboard, the desktop keyboards might follow.
I'm hoping for a Mighty Mouse update and backlit keyboards in WWDC. I've had it up to here with that damn scrollball.
I'm hoping for a Mighty Mouse update and backlit keyboards in WWDC. I've had it up to here with that damn scrollball.
Before we get our panties or whatever in a knot, those keyboards were introduced way before the backlit-chiclet keyboards were introduced on the unibody Mac notebooks. Apple may update them in WWDC (probably not, but we'll see) to be backlit. The only other company that does this is Logitech.
I really recommend rubbing a damp qtip hard (but not too hard) on scroll ball. Rub it so it's even covered and then use a long-fibered cloth (like a bath towel) and rub it dry. My scroll ball scrolled south when it came to up-scrolling so I did this a few minutes ago and it's like new.
hello anyone listening...
all macs are used in on stage live musical performances from the best dj's and bands around the world, not having to rely on an outside source of light beaming down on your mac can really mess up the lightshow, lasers, and fog, and can be nearly impossible to see with any type of external lighting in these situations. That is the only reason I am getting into mac, solely for the purpose of the creation of electronic music for performance.
all macs are used in on stage live musical performances from the best dj's and bands around the world, not having to rely on an outside source of light beaming down on your mac can really mess up the lightshow, lasers, and fog, and can be nearly impossible to see with any type of external lighting in these situations. That is the only reason I am getting into mac, solely for the purpose of the creation of electronic music for performance.
That's strange. The mac I'm typing on isn't in the middle of a stage being used by a dj. Must be something wrong with it.
Thanks for resurrecting this old thread for no purpose whatsoever.
STILL no backlit desktop keyboard
Over two years this thread has been running and STILL, Apple hasn't come out with a backlit desktop keyboard. Although I understand the control aspect of Apple, it's still a bit shocking.
All silly and/or insulting arguments against a backlit desktop keyboard aside, there is obviously a market out there for them if Logitech, one of the largest peripheral manufacturers out there, carries quite a few of them.
Now, they also carry a handful of Mac compatible backlit keyboards, albeit gaming ones for no less than $100 (CDN) and all are in black. It's really too bad.
Personally, I'd LOVE to have a backlit keyboard for my G5. It sits in our basement in which the lighting is minimal (and that's if I bother to turn on the light across the unfinished room). Plus, personally I prefer to work in the dark down there. That's just me.
If Apple released their corded keyboard backlit, I would buy it in a heartbeat.
Over two years this thread has been running and STILL, Apple hasn't come out with a backlit desktop keyboard. Although I understand the control aspect of Apple, it's still a bit shocking.
All silly and/or insulting arguments against a backlit desktop keyboard aside, there is obviously a market out there for them if Logitech, one of the largest peripheral manufacturers out there, carries quite a few of them.
Now, they also carry a handful of Mac compatible backlit keyboards, albeit gaming ones for no less than $100 (CDN) and all are in black. It's really too bad.
Personally, I'd LOVE to have a backlit keyboard for my G5. It sits in our basement in which the lighting is minimal (and that's if I bother to turn on the light across the unfinished room). Plus, personally I prefer to work in the dark down there. That's just me.
If Apple released their corded keyboard backlit, I would buy it in a heartbeat.
why would anyone want a backlit keyboard , i understand it on a laptop where you might need that bit extra light ,if you are out there if you live past the polar circle where half the year is no sunshine ,
but ok thats my opinion , with a backlit keyboard i could switch the lights of in the room and safe energy , that might be something the green fraction might look forward to , but i still cant see a logical reason to do so , i guess a backlit keyboard to be able to switch the lights of is one step to far in terms of energy saving , and even on a MacBook pro its wasted energy , without backlit the battery might last a couple minutes longer ,essential minutes as everybody with a laptop tries to get the most time out of the battery
but ok thats my opinion , with a backlit keyboard i could switch the lights of in the room and safe energy , that might be something the green fraction might look forward to , but i still cant see a logical reason to do so , i guess a backlit keyboard to be able to switch the lights of is one step to far in terms of energy saving , and even on a MacBook pro its wasted energy , without backlit the battery might last a couple minutes longer ,essential minutes as everybody with a laptop tries to get the most time out of the battery
I have to agree....
I was just opening my wireless keyboard from the mail when i thought
"Oh $#!, of course its not going to be backlit...
"
Even though your expected silly fanboys are on here criticizing other users for suggesting/wanting something which the holy messiah of electronic devices, Steve Jobs, has not deemed worthy/willed into existence/ or thought of yet, it is actually a great idea.
I personally do use my wireless keyboard (and trackpad) to connect to my laptop and not a desktop. I have my 13" MBP connected to a 24" monitor in my room, which serves as quasi "not so powerful desktop" when iam home. I bought these wireless devices so i could move around the room and use the computer/monitor from any spot (bed, chair, desk, or anywhere else).
Seeing as how the screen is big enough i pretty much can use my computer from anywhere in my room. One thing that i was looking forward to the most was being able have full access to the MBP functionality while laying in bed. Laying down with the laptop is a pain, for anyone who has tried it...
Anyway the point is, a backlit keyboard would be very very useful for me, and it is just a generally good idea.
And for all the physiologically crippled fanboys who are compelled to "defend" everything Apple related without thinking first, we "common sense bearing people" will be saying "i told you so" when apple finally does come out with backlit wireless keyboards and you start robotically praising their ingenuity. ( morons )
My guess is a backlit model wouldnt be so sleek and it would eat batteries to death, therefore it hasnt been implemented.
I was just opening my wireless keyboard from the mail when i thought
"Oh $#!, of course its not going to be backlit...
" Even though your expected silly fanboys are on here criticizing other users for suggesting/wanting something which the holy messiah of electronic devices, Steve Jobs, has not deemed worthy/willed into existence/ or thought of yet, it is actually a great idea.
I personally do use my wireless keyboard (and trackpad) to connect to my laptop and not a desktop. I have my 13" MBP connected to a 24" monitor in my room, which serves as quasi "not so powerful desktop" when iam home. I bought these wireless devices so i could move around the room and use the computer/monitor from any spot (bed, chair, desk, or anywhere else).
Seeing as how the screen is big enough i pretty much can use my computer from anywhere in my room. One thing that i was looking forward to the most was being able have full access to the MBP functionality while laying in bed. Laying down with the laptop is a pain, for anyone who has tried it...
Anyway the point is, a backlit keyboard would be very very useful for me, and it is just a generally good idea.
And for all the physiologically crippled
fanboys who are compelled to "defend" everything Apple related without thinking first, we "common sense bearing people" will be saying "i told you so" when apple finally does come out with backlit wireless keyboards and you start robotically praising their ingenuity. ( morons )My guess is a backlit model wouldnt be so sleek and it would eat batteries to death, therefore it hasnt been implemented.
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it is beyond me why someone doesn't mod an apple keyboard so it has a few LEDs soldered to the main board and then maybe do something with the keys to make them backlit. the only thing that would be kind of tough would be making the key lettering translucent so that the light could shine thru. Alternatively, one could tediously replace every key on the keyboard with matte glass ones, so that it would be very nicely lit. Alas, i am terrible at this sort of DIY stuff.
I've been holding out for not only a backlit keyboard but also a black keyboard for nearly 3 years now!! When the macbook air came out with the black keys I thought for sure they'd bring one out for the desktop! then when the mac mini came along with the black apple logo surely it was merely days away!?
Anyway; I had a macbook with black keys and had a quick look at the keyboard we have at work to make sure they were the same fit; to the untrained eye they look exactly the same! So I bought a replacement keyboard for the macbook with a full set of keys for a fairly reasonable price on eBay and a new shiny apple USB keyboard;
Turns out apple didn't want to make it that easy and after further research (taking various keys off and comparing) it turns out apple decided to make each and every keyboard ever so slightly different - whether it be randomly rotating some of the keys, or adding or removing nibs of plastic or simply moving the nibs 1mm out of the way - you name it - they've done it! There's no way you can ever put any of the keys from one model on another - even though they all look exactly the same from the top - damnit!
Anyway, I have the same macbook I ordered the keys and keyboard for so I'll keep them safely locked away in case of emergency so not entirely wasted!
So; failed on that respect I figured I could settle with a silicone skin with the black keys instead - countless hours later is turns out that apple provide 2 types of keyboard, the US version and the ISO european (they also do the asian version too) and the skins you can buy ONLY fit the specific models - it also turns out nobody does a black ISO european skin, I can have blue or pink though!?!? I really do like what apple does but the moment you step out of their control zone you're screwed and from recent reading the moment you try and do it yourself on a global scale they come in and throw the counterfit book at you - boo hoo apple!
Big fail all round, well, almost; The wired keyboard is really nice to type on - it's also quite a bit smaller than the wireless one in depth as well as hight; It just looks so out of place amongst my black screens, black mouse, black iphone, black headphones, black printer and black usb sticks. ah well; functionality is what's important right? bleh...
+1 for a black backlit keyboard!! C'mon apple!!!! hehe.
Anyway; I had a macbook with black keys and had a quick look at the keyboard we have at work to make sure they were the same fit; to the untrained eye they look exactly the same! So I bought a replacement keyboard for the macbook with a full set of keys for a fairly reasonable price on eBay and a new shiny apple USB keyboard;
Turns out apple didn't want to make it that easy and after further research (taking various keys off and comparing) it turns out apple decided to make each and every keyboard ever so slightly different - whether it be randomly rotating some of the keys, or adding or removing nibs of plastic or simply moving the nibs 1mm out of the way - you name it - they've done it! There's no way you can ever put any of the keys from one model on another - even though they all look exactly the same from the top - damnit!
Anyway, I have the same macbook I ordered the keys and keyboard for so I'll keep them safely locked away in case of emergency so not entirely wasted!
So; failed on that respect I figured I could settle with a silicone skin with the black keys instead - countless hours later is turns out that apple provide 2 types of keyboard, the US version and the ISO european (they also do the asian version too) and the skins you can buy ONLY fit the specific models - it also turns out nobody does a black ISO european skin, I can have blue or pink though!?!? I really do like what apple does but the moment you step out of their control zone you're screwed and from recent reading the moment you try and do it yourself on a global scale they come in and throw the counterfit book at you - boo hoo apple!
Big fail all round, well, almost; The wired keyboard is really nice to type on - it's also quite a bit smaller than the wireless one in depth as well as hight; It just looks so out of place amongst my black screens, black mouse, black iphone, black headphones, black printer and black usb sticks. ah well; functionality is what's important right? bleh...
+1 for a black backlit keyboard!! C'mon apple!!!! hehe.
Noticed apple pulled the usb version of the keyboard; was hoping an update would be imminent but it just looks like they decided to narrow down their product range even further; heh. Here's hoping to an update in the new year with the new iMacs :-D.
I'm happy that apple should do whatever they see fit but there are so few companies that even compete with the aesthetics of apple kit that if apple don't offer it - it doesn't exist. I have found chinese companies that will produce what I want but they need to do runs of 1,000s and I just don't have the cash to buy them all and try selling them on; Plus I'm not sure apple would let me get away with selling kit that even closely resembles stuff they used to sell :-D.
I'm happy that apple should do whatever they see fit but there are so few companies that even compete with the aesthetics of apple kit that if apple don't offer it - it doesn't exist. I have found chinese companies that will produce what I want but they need to do runs of 1,000s and I just don't have the cash to buy them all and try selling them on; Plus I'm not sure apple would let me get away with selling kit that even closely resembles stuff they used to sell :-D.
Also, one shouldn't NEED to see the keys, I understand if your older person, maybe a grandparents or such. But, if your a competant adult and you can't type without looking at the keyboard, common. Lets get a keyboard cover and a copy of Mario Teaches typing and get to work.
Nevermind the backlight why do Apple refuse to print the symbols on ALL the modifier keys not just Command. If i had a dollar for the billion or so times ive been asked what the symbols in the menus related too I'd be richer than Steve Jobs, and I'd buy Apple an kick him and some of the his team in the ass for some of the stupidity that goes on there. Fist shaking moments argh.