Will Lenovo ever abandon the thinklight for a backlit keyboard?

3) Folks (like me) who use their ThinkPad in bed with the screen open almost 180 degrees. In this case, the ThinkLight doesn't do a great job of illuminating the keyboard.

 

than there is no use you getting the Macbooks/pro with backlight keyboard, because the LCD can't even open to that far.

 

Yeah, not too many laptops will even open to 180. Of those only a few have a backlight. (ex. hp 8740w).

 

That is correct, but on a pitch black airplane, those overhead lights (regardless of plane type) will be disturbing to the passengers in the vicinity. They may not be entitled to complain about it, but nonetheless I choose not to turn it on out of courtesy. People are usually trying to sleep on the night flights and the ThinkLight is perfect in these cases.

I am on long red eye flights at least once a month, plus I often work in bed next time to my wife (while she is sleeping) during night hours, so ThinkLight is a feature I use all the time.

 

This is true of many laptop designs, not just macbooks.

 

I'm trying to imagine how you're using it. When I'm in bed I either have the thinkpad on the bed and I'm on my stomach, meaning the screen is open the same as it would be on a table, or the thinkpad is on my chest and the screen is at an acute angle with the keyboard. How are you using it that you open it so much?

 

That's a good question, haha.

 

And to think some people chuckled at me when I said that the thinklight played a role in my purchase decision of my T410 (My first ever thinkpad).

 

Let them chuckle all they want. You are the one benefiting from it

 

get a 5 dollar usb led light like this one.



Problem solved

 

I simply pointed out that the ThinkLight design is sub-optimal for my use-case.

 

I would never buy a laptop with a backlit keyboard. Too distracting and eats up power. I can type by touch so I guess that factors into my thoughts about it too. I rarely use the Thinklight but I'm glad it's there.

 

Why not Braille stickers? You can learn to read braille and won't need to use a light as the same time.

 

Well, actually, it's no big deal. The cover will slide on the smooth metal palmrest and close without anything breaking. This will also turn the light off. It might not lock but that's it. Tested on my laptop.

And, more on topic, I'm also in the thinklight side. I'm not a big fan of backlit keyboard.

 

that is a good one. I personally find the keyboard backlight distracting sometimes.

 

I like the thinklight. It came in handy when there was a power outage in my area. I don't think a backlit keyboard would have preformed better than the thinklight in that situation.

 

Srsly? None of you can touch-type in the dark?

I think to do the backlight portion of a keyboard right, Lenovo would probably compromise the keyboard-feel quality, which would kill it for me. I rarely use the ThinkLight, I think maybe three times in two years, and I'd find a backlit keyboard distracting.

 

lol for me i still have trouble finding the right number keys on the first try or finding some of the symbols and punctuation marks in the dark. i think that the either light will help with this

 

The only reason I'm sticking with an E6510 is the backlit keyboard. the day lenovo decides to sell one, I'll be back.

 

A backlit keyboard is high-up on my list of desirable necessities in my laptop.

Bronsky

 

When I am hot on a document, my eyes focus on the words on the screen and my fingers dance like crazy on the keyboard. It's basically black characters on white background, and all I care about is keyboard performance, which ThinkPads never fail to deliver.

These days, however, other than producing, reviewing and editing texts, I browse muḷticolor, multimedia web pages. This, I do every day of the week and many times a day. For work. Now, I need a decent display.

Lenovo should offer ThinkPads with respectable display options.

I never use my ThinkLights, and I don't need backlit keyboards.

 

To reiterate a post I made earlier in this thread and referencing others, I had a backlit keyboard on my old Dell XPS M1730, and have owned several ThinkPads.

The main problem for me with a backlit keyboard is the fact there is little to no ambient light produced. I couldn't work with the M1730 very well in dark conditions due to this; I started getting eyestrain pretty easily with that system. After getting a T41 as a lighter secondary system, the problem went away.

For me at least, it'll be a sad day when the ThinkLight goes away... although I think the engineers at Lenovo understand this crucial fact and I doubt we'll see the ThinkLight go away anytime soon.

 

I don't think Lenovo would abandon thinklight, this is the Thinkpad trademark.... even HP have got onboard of including such device.

 

Coming from laptops such as Alienware m11x and m17x, I actually found ThinkLight just fine. It helps me quite a bit when I'm typing in the dark so I am happy its functional and does what it is supposed to do - even if it looks a bit spartan compared to Alienwares.

 

Ive used ThinkLight couple of times, its been useful, tho I wouldnt mind it being better integrated so I dont have to see LED itself and only light it shines on the keyboard.
R400 mode here.
Never used backlit keyboard so cant comment on how much better or worse it is compared to ThinkLight.

 

Macbook Pro has the backlight keyboard, which is useful in circumstances where you need to look at the keys. But having the backlit keyboard would usually mean any keyboard replacement would have to done at the depot, which is somewhat a PITA.

 

For me, I've been typing since middle school so I have no need for the thinklight or backlit keys, with the exception of finding odd characters at times.

 

Since TP's screen is far from being the brightest its nice to see keyboard illuminated if the rest of the room is dark, that way I find my eyes need to focus less harder when looking at the screen light only.
If you get the point
My eyes are good, but I dont like to sit there blinded by the screen while the rest is dark all around.

 

Get rid of thinklight? Please, nooo! I'm using it as a notification for few various apps

 

A painfully honest assessment. Ah, we do need ThinkLight to compensate for sub-par ThinkScreen.

 

I beg to differ. My T410s LED screen is extremely bright. I seldom use it on full brightness while most of the time keeping it midway. The only time I use it on full brightness is if I am outdoors and its sunny and it does a heck of a job then.

Just recently I was skyping with my gf while in a dimly lit coffee shop. she complained that she couldn't see me. All I had to do was just increase the brightness to full and she thought I had somehow managed to turn on some light at the coffee shop

 

My T410's screen is also very bright. I have to have it set at 67% in a bright room.

 

I think both would be best. The thinklight is cheap and lights your hands as well as the keys. kinda important on cramped kb
lighted kb is good if spill protection isn't compromised.