Backlit Keyboard to Return in New MacBook Air?

mbaback
Photo of original MacBook Air by kimb0lene

The backlit keyboard will reportedly be making a return to the MacBook Air with the new 2011 models that are quickly approaching release. The seemingly minor feature omission for the 2010 MacBook Air has generated a good bit of backlash on Apple's own support forums.

AppleInsider claims that the imminent MacBook Air refresh will bring back this popular feature:

According to people familiar with the matter, backlit keyboards will join the string of hardware enhancements planned for the new 11.6- and 13.3-inch notebooks, which are also expected to adopt high-speed Thunderbolt ports, an upgrade to Intel's Sandy Bridge architecture, and possibly high-speed 400MBps flash memory.

The backlight provides illumination to the keyboard in the dark (as pictured above). The feature is also present in all of Apple's current MacBook Pro notebooks.

The MacBook Air is expected to be released soon with part numbers already leaked on Monday. Apple is rumored to have delayed the MacBook Air release until OS X Lion was ready and shipping.

Related Roundup: MacBook Air
Related Forum: MacBook Air

Popular Stories

iPhone SE 4 Vertical Camera Feature

iPhone SE 4 Rumored to Use Same Rear Chassis as iPhone 16

Friday July 19, 2024 7:16 am PDT by
Apple will adopt the same rear chassis manufacturing process for the iPhone SE 4 that it is using for the upcoming standard iPhone 16, claims a new rumor coming out of China. According to the Weibo-based leaker "Fixed Focus Digital," the backplate manufacturing process for the iPhone SE 4 is "exactly the same" as the standard model in Apple's upcoming iPhone 16 lineup, which is expected to...
iPhone 17 Plus Feature

iPhone 17 Lineup Specs Detail Display Upgrade and New High-End Model

Monday July 22, 2024 4:33 am PDT by
Key details about the overall specifications of the iPhone 17 lineup have been shared by the leaker known as "Ice Universe," clarifying several important aspects of next year's devices. Reports in recent months have converged in agreement that Apple will discontinue the "Plus" iPhone model in 2025 while introducing an all-new iPhone 17 "Slim" model as an even more high-end option sitting...
iPhone 16 Pro Sizes Feature

iPhone 16 Series Is Just Two Months Away: Everything We Know

Monday July 15, 2024 4:44 am PDT by
Apple typically releases its new iPhone series around mid-September, which means we are about two months out from the launch of the iPhone 16. Like the iPhone 15 series, this year's lineup is expected to stick with four models – iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max – although there are plenty of design differences and new features to take into account. To bring ...
Apple TV Plus Feature 2 Magenta and Blue

Apple TV+ Curbs Costs After Expensive Projects Fail to Capture Viewers

Monday July 22, 2024 5:11 am PDT by
Apple is scaling back its Hollywood spending after investing over $20 billion in original programming with limited success, Bloomberg reports. This shift comes after the streaming service, which launched in 2019, struggled to capture a significant share of the market, accounting for only 0.2% of TV viewership in the U.S., compared to Netflix's 8%. Despite heavy investment, critical acclaim,...
bsod

Microsoft Blames European Commission for Major Worldwide Outage

Monday July 22, 2024 11:55 am PDT by
Last Friday, a major CrowdStrike outage impacted PCs running Microsoft Windows, causing worldwide issues affecting airlines, retailers, banks, hospitals, rail networks, and more. Computers were stuck in continuous recovery loops, rendering them unusable. The failure was caused by an update to the CrowdStrike Falcon antivirus software that auto-installed on Windows 10 PCs, but Mac and Linux...

Top Rated Comments

OllyW Avatar
170 months ago
Waste of battery life to me.
You can turn it off if you don't want to use it.
Score: 42 Votes (Like | Disagree)
shazzam Avatar
170 months ago
It's the little things that count :D
Score: 29 Votes (Like | Disagree)
xUKHCx Avatar
170 months ago
That circuitry still adds to inefficiency.

I'm surprised you are not also arguing about the extra weight.

The "inefficiency" will be negligible.
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
bchreng Avatar
170 months ago
I'm surprised you are not also arguing about the extra weight.

The "inefficiency" will be negligible.

The .1% it could've added to battery life and performance would've have made his day! How could you be so insensitive?!
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
wrkactjob Avatar
170 months ago
Wow! These newest Airs are going to sell like hot cakes!

Not that I have ever bought a hot cake, nor do I really know what a hot cake is?....in fact most of my favourite cakes are cold ones.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
bchreng Avatar
170 months ago
Queue the 'I-don't-need-it-because-I-can-type-in-the-dark-so-no-one-else-should-either' know-it-all in 3... 2... 1...
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)