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Comment by JoshTriplett | Hacker News Reader

I don't understand the attraction of backlighting in "programmer" keyboards. Seems like it would only benefit people who look at the keyboard. Which explains why it's popular on consumer laptops, but not why any computer professional would want it.

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I wouldn't think so either until I received my first one - its surprisingly useful. In fact my current backlit mechanical keyboard is one of my favorite purchases in the past few years for me - for something I use so much, spending $100-$200 is as much of a no-brainer as a great office chair.

You didn't explain what makes it so useful, though.

Because I'm a touch typist I keep my back-lights toggled off.

Media keys. In the dark I can't see them without backlighting.

I like the red backlight in my Max Blackbird at its lowest setting. Not essential, but kind of nice.

What I really like about it, which for some reason is relatively rare in mechanical keyboards, is the built-in USB hub. Nice for a mouse or headset dongle, especially on a port-starved machine like a Surface Pro.

I don't look at it while coding, but what about when you need to adjust the volume when watching a film?

You don't _have_ to stare at your keyboard for that. You just don't have it memorized.

On the CODE keyboard your VolUp/VolDown is PgUp/PgDn, combined with the Fn key.

You get a lot of hints on key position from your peripheral vision. I can touch type without much trouble for basic English sentences and the like, but when I code in low light (late at night, at home, with the lights dimmed way down so that I get to bed earlier and it doesn't bother other people), it's annoying to find some of the special keys I use frequently in navigating code: PgUp/PgDn/Home/End (numeric keypad on a laptop), Insert, Fkeys, backslash, etc.

When I bought my laptop, backlit keyboards weren't standard. Now they are and I'm looking forward to getting a new one.

I've never had a backlighted keyboard. But I must admit, sometimes when it's dark I have to look closely at the keyboard to find the key I want, at least to orient myself when I first touch the keyboard.

The 'f' and 'j' keys usually have little bumps on them, or are more deeply recessed than the other keys, so you can find them by touch.

Not everyone is a touch-typist (although I recently put in the effort to finally learn - highly recommended).

Also, there are some weird keys out of reach from the home row you may need every now and then - the fn keys on a Mac being a good example. Turning volume up/down in very low lighting is a pain if you can't see the keys.

That said, I found the blue LEDs of the Macbook keyboard backlight to be too bright when used in combination with flux on lowest screen brightness, so I wrote a small command line app to reduce it below the minimum normally permitted by the function keys: https://github.com/drhaynes/brightness.c

According to a friend who had cancer as a child, chemotherapy causes you to lose sensitivity in your extremities over time (nerve issues?). I'm guessing the feel of the 'f' and 'j' keys don't help him much.

I usually need backlighting if I'm trying to find a special character.

I've found it's a nice little ritual to start and end the day-- get into work, turn on the keyboard; go home, turn it off. My one complaint is that the black paint on the home keys started to wear off about five months after I got it; now, a little over a year later, the S/D/K/L keys are very smudged. I wrote to ask about it and their response was basically "Yeah, that happens." They offered to replace them (within the first year), but I figured they'd just wear through again. (Maybe I have unusually corrosive fingertips?)

Exactly. In fact I'm not sure why going a step further isn't more popular. Some of the Das Keyboards do so and completely remove all symbols from the keycaps. Looks pretty cool and I haven't had issues using it, apart from the non-ergo layout. (Please, someone, make a MS Ergo layout with mechanical switches and take my money.)

I like having light on my keyboard. Something about that area not being dark. If it's not lit, it throws me off. Not sure why.

Agreed, I wouldn't call it a necessity but its kind of an aesthetic thing for me. It's not exactly a deal breaker but for a couple of extra bucks on an expensive keyboard why not just shell it out.

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