Does disabling laptop keyboard backlight LEDs improve battery life?

On a laptop, if you press the key that turns on/off the backlight on the keyboard, does it improve battery life?

I ask this because I find myself instinctively disabling the LEDs when I don't need them, but I don't know why I do it.

Other than improving visibility at night, I don't see any advantages of having them on other than "it looks nice". But, I also don't see any disadvantages to them being on. In theory, it makes sense to just have them on full time.

If they're off, I really don't see how something so small can make a significant battery impact. Which brings me back to my question: does disabling the LED backlight on a laptop keyboard improve battery life?

Thanks!

P.S. I mean the backlight on the keyboard, not CapsLock and NumLock indicators.

tycrek

Posted 2017-01-18T20:45:32.517

Reputation: 227

Every additional device that uses power is going to reduce the time a battery charge lasts. Whether that time difference will be "significant" is up to you to decide. – Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 – 2017-01-18T20:58:27.097

The LED's are so small and use so little power that you would not notice any gain in your battery life. When someones battery is low, you don't see them turning off their keyboard backlight. You'll have more noticeable results by reducing something like the screen brightness. – DrZoo – 2017-01-18T22:07:23.713

Answers

Yes, but how much time you will gain with that, probably nothing very impressive. A LED doesn't have a big electricity consumption so, it will be a very small gain.

Michael

Posted 2017-01-18T20:45:32.517

Reputation: 181

I suppose that my answer is irrelevant considering my 5 year old laptop barely holds an hour and one half for a charge, but in my experience it depends on how many keys have the backlight and how bright it is. If you're on a MacBook it will basically not even dent your battery life, and something light screen brightness could have a much more significant drain on the battery. But if it seriously bothers you there should be an option to disable it. (That is dependent on your laptop.)

Caelin

Posted 2017-01-18T20:45:32.517

Reputation: 1

Yeah, back-lighting definitely increase battery consumption.

According to this video by linustechtips, turning on keyboard back-lighting consumes upto 16% more battery power than turning it off.

So turning off backlighting is a good idea if you are on battery power and dont require them.

Ande Yashwanth

Posted 2017-01-18T20:45:32.517

Reputation: 1