The M-Tech Clevo resellers don't seem like the smartest bunch...

Taken from their page about why they *don't* offer backlit keyboards:

"The problem with lighted keyboards. As you know our competition is offering a lighted keyboard as a way to entice you to buy a product that is far from being top notch. Apparently many people really like the idea of having a lighted keyboard. We know you must be serious because why else would you buy one of these laptop especially considering the negative reviews out there. Daily we get emails asking (pretty much begging) us to offer a lighted keyboard. Here is what we have found out and what we feel is a compromise. Our R&D department informed us that they are well aware of lighted keyboards. They have been available for some time now. So why have we not used them? Safety concerns are the primary reasons. We are unable to determine just what safety concerns are at issue but on the other hand just hearing "safety concerns" was enough to give us pause. Does that mean M-Tech will never get lighted keyboards. Not necessarily. We are still pursuing the idea of a built in lighted keyboard. However, anything we put into our laptops has to be 100% safe and rock solid on stability. Does this mean that the competitions keyboard is unsafe. We cannot say, we do know however that those keyboards have a fairly high return for failure rate. As many people know, M-Tech has the lowest return rate amongst the laptop brands, so we cannot just put any product into our laptops (even if you scream for them) unless we can be certain they will be very stable and not hurt our overall return rate. We have a 1% or lower return rate and guard that jealously. Anything that would hurt that 1% figure is out of the question. So the lighted keyboard of our competition could be 100% safe and it would still not be suitable for our laptops because we hold much higher standards for our laptops. Don't distress though, we are still working on this issue and will let you know if we come up with a suitable quality lighted keyboard. When we do, you will be able to install it at a later date. Until then we have researched an External Mini Lighted keyboard by Bytec called the Zippy EL-610 (Zippy?). It has a relativly low price ($40+/-), it is very safe and packs easily into your M-Tech Laptop Carry Case. This may very well be your best alternative. This way there is no loss of productivity if your laptop keyboard were to fail. If you feel that since you would be using a external keyboard, you may as well go full sized, no problem Bytec makes a full size keyboard (SKB-2200L) as well. M-Tech will be making arrangements to carry this keyboard so you can add it to your laptop order. Until then, simply Google the word EL-610 Lighted Keyboard. We hope this informs you of the pro's and con's of a lighted keyboard and why at this time M-Tech does not offer a built in lighted keyboard."

They hold their laptops to a standard higher than 100% safety! I'll definitely be placing my order with them!

 

yeah they're not the sharpest tools in the shed. I called them up a couple of times because I believe they're located right where I am in Michigan or have a branch here...not helpful to say the least. Poor response time and not knowledgeable about the products. AND they are VERY full of themselves.