Do you actually use your backlit keyboard? (15 - 16 inch laptop)

I am in the process of building my Dell Precision M4700

Backlit keyboard is a $50 extra, but I am not sure whether to include it or not.

I do not use my laptop on my bed and my laptop stays on desks.

I have been using a 16 inch Asus laptop for the last three years, which does not have a backlit keyboard; and I did not have any issues with it.

What I want to know is: do you actually use your backlit keyboard? (And not the bed at night)

 

Handy during college when taking notes in dark rooms. I don't really need a backlight, but I do find myself using it. Handy for all the function keys, if nothing else.

 

Personal preference, but I think it's worth it. I'm a touch typist too at 60+ wpm. But you still occasionally need to see the keyboard for special key combos our odd keys you rarely use.

Beamed from my G2 Tricorder now Free

 

Yes all the time. For taking notes in lecture halls when there's a PowerPoint on and it's dark. For when I play atmospheric singleplayer games in a completely darkened room for total immersion.

 

Not a necessity, but it is very nice to have in a few situations and not having one during those times can be infuriating.

 

I use it sometimes, it is definitely useful in a poorly lit area.

 

I find it beneficial when I am working in the dark. I use it especially when I need to use special characters such as !@#$%^&* because I am not as proficient in typing these out quickly.

 

I am afraid that backlit keyboard is more likely to break than conventional keyboards.

Do they require more maintenance?

 

I've been using backlit keyboards on laptops and otherwise for years and have never had one go bad. In the unlikely event of a malfunction, your Precision includes three years of next-business day on-site warranty service so you'd be back up and running with minimal downtime.

Incidentally, I love the backlit keyboard on my MacBook Pro. I start most of my mornings before the sun comes up, and it's really handy to have as I can work in the dark without risking waking up my wife or son.

 

No , they don't require more maintenance.

BTW Dell Precisions are among the best built laptops on the market so there is a very low chance of the keyboard breaking. If for any reason the keyboard breaks , Dell's great business class warranty will take care of it the next business day after you call them.

 

On black keyboards it's definitely useful and i was using it all evenings but i have now a clear grey keyboard and never use it. I guess same thing apply to white keyboard. Better contrast on keys even at low brightness.

 

This one's a no-brainer OP. I have Logitech's K800 (for use when I'm at home) as well.

 

Disclaimer: I don't have a backlit keyboard. But as you were fine without one before (and I'm assuming then that you are a touch typer?), $50 seems like a rip-off to me. As long as it has the bumps on the F and J keys, it's usually pretty easy to re-orient yourself as a touch typer. And for the rare times when you need to insert a vertical pipe or need to find the Scroll Lock key for some reason, there's probably enough light from the screen to locate it, since you'll already know where most of the keys are, and the screen provides a lot of light in a dark room. Function keys, they're almost always in a row. You'll learn where the ones you use often are quickly enough.

Testing this now, it's not hard to read the keys on my non-backlit laptop well enough to find a rarely-used key (gray keys with black letters). Even easier with my desktop (black keys with white letters, also no backlighting). I'd rather keep the $50, assuming touch-typing skills.

I might get it if I were, for example, learning how to type with the Dvorak layout and needing to look down a lot to find out where keys were. But even when I was taking Russian in college, it wasn't difficult to find a decently-lit area for when I needed to type in Cyrillic.

 

On non-backlit keyboards that are used many hours every day, the lettering eventually wears off.
What happens on back-lit keyboards?

If the lettering is molded in the keytop, maybe the letters stay legible longer as the keytop wears down?
Can the different materials wear at different rates, resulting in a rough keytop surface?
(In an extreme case, such as if one material wears too thin to stay in place, or the materials de-laminated,
conceivably the rough surface might cause blisters.)

 

Some backlit keyboards wear, others not so much. It depends on how the key labels are made. It's not the lettering that wears out, it's the coating around the letters leaving you with a blob of light. This has so far happened to me only once and not on a laptop. My G73 which saw two years of intensive gaming still had perfect lettering on the WASD cluster.

 

Personally, I never really made use of the "back-lit" keyboard on my W520 (it's really a LED from the webcam area shining down on it, but same thing). Once your fingers gain muscle memory of the locations of the keys, a backlit keyboard is pretty much completely optional, and for $50 I think they're asking too much.

 

I like the backlit keyboard on my Alienware, kinda gimicky, but eh (though I don't think I can turn mine off lol). And in the almost 2 years I've owned this laptop, the keys haven't faded yet.

 

As a hunt and peck typist, absolutely...wish my desktop keyboard were backlit too. Also, one of the reviews I read on a recent Dell (6530 or 5530) reviews on Notebook Check thought the backlit keyboard was a bit better made than the unlit, not just a lighted version without lights...no way to confirm though.

 

If you click on the little triangle on the bottom right hand corner of the screen and then right click the icon of the Alien head, you can change the color to black which will turn off the keyboard backlight, as well as the light around the trackpad. Just did it to mine today .

 

I decided not to get the backlit keyboard after trying my mother's Macbook Air with the backlit keyboard.

I found that the light from the keyboard actually distracted me from what is happening on the screen. I might be a bit too sensitive too.. Hahaha

 

I have a g73 too and i agree with you.

 

Ditto. I keep the backlight of my keyboard on all the time. Never noticed any changes in color or brightness. Same thing with my cousin's Macbook Pro (2008 series). Her backlight is just as bright as the day she got it.

 

I love backlit keyboards but I don't find they help with typing or anything. For me it is just a flashy gimmick (albeit, a gimmick I enjoy)

I'm a decent typist and I usually get a good feel for my keyboard. I guess I learned something in Jr. High when the tech teacher was screaming about keeping your fingers on the home keys, even though I don't really have good typing form and mostly use my index fingers.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

 

On one of my laptops I have a backlit keyboard and enjoy it for some low light situations, but don't find it necessary. On my other laptop that lacks a backlit keyboard, I rarely encounter a situation where a backlit keyboard would have helped. However, this is because it's a touch screen and I can use the touch keyboard brought up on the screen or the screen is bright enough to illuminate the keys. If it weren't a touch screen, I think I would value a backlit keyboard much more.

 

Backlit keyboards are an aesthetic nice-to-have. Especially when they glow a nice color.

Otherwise, it isn't going to kill you one way or another whether you have a backlit keyboard.

 

Always on minimum brightness settings, these colorful things hurt my eyes D:

 

While I don't use it everyday, when I'm in a Powerpoint presentation its a godsend. This is one of those convenience features that's better to have an not need, than to need it and not have.

 

Once it gets dark my keyboard backlight comes on if i touch the keyboard and stays on as long as i keep typing or it will turn off within 10 seconds but i can change the time, it defensively makes an difference and i am glad i have it.

John.

 

I'm a big fan of backlit keyboards. I touch type decently well, and find the backlit keyboard nice for media and function controls. I don't need a backlit keyboard, but I wouldn't buy a laptop without one.