Joined Jul 2004
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Forum Thread
Power users: how important is a backlit keyboard to you?
September 1, 2015 at
08:09 AM
Debating in this thread about the usefulness of a backlit keyboard, so I thought I'd ask you power users: how important is a backlit laptop keyboard to you?
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If you don't touch type, think of it as a motivation to learn
If you don't touch type, think of it as a motivation to learn
Being a power user I would think that you would already have most if not all of the regular keys memorized and would be able to type without looking at the keyboard...I think of the backlit keyboard more of a novelty than a necessity. If you are in a dim lit environment doing IT work a backlit keyboard might be more beneficial to you than it would be to me however.
Being a power user I would think that you would already have most if not all of the regular keys memorized and would be able to type without looking at the keyboard...I think of the backlit keyboard more of a novelty than a necessity. If you are in a dim lit environment doing IT work a backlit keyboard might be more beneficial to you than it would be to me however.
I have spent many a year in IT and while I can touch type, I find I make a LOT more mistakes doing so and have become a very fast non-touch typist as such lol. I suppose if I was forced to do only touch typing I could get better, but I never found that worthwhile as I was always hitting Ctrl this or Fn that.
As to back lit keyboards...they are a nice to have. I tend to like to work in a darker office or room and was Ops manager for quite some time so not having to turn on some harsh room lights at 3 AM in the morning I always found to be a benefit lol. Turn on the backlit keys to the lowest setting so you can recline in your chair and not have to squint to find a key when you need to. As to not buying a laptop without one, I would tend to think it is a nice to have but not a deal breaker. If you are buying a higher end laptop, it probably comes with it in most cases these days.
It probably helps that I do most of my real work on Linux. Most of the classic Unix apps are optimized to keep your hands on the home row, so you have to go more out if your way to get a fn key heavy workflow. Windows apps love their function keys. I'm not sure you could ever completely disentangle them
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Personally, I love the ambient lighting they provide, and give the laptop a very high end look. I wouldn't buy a laptop without backlit keys at this point because I would feel like I'm using a cheap laptop each time. Even though I touch type, it also helps to have the f keys illuminated.
Actually, your comment exemplifies what I'm talking about: users who don't care about feature X or topic Y and ridicule those who do care about them. I'm open minded enough to acknowledge that some people don't care about the specific feature, but I'm not narrow as to say that because I don't care about it, therefore it isn't necessary at all--and if you do find it important then you must be stupid.