Screen brightness under 10.5, WTF!!
Not the worst of complaints, considering your screen fades with age, albeit very very slowly these days. My new 24" iMac at "ZERO" bars of brightness is burning a hole in the back of my head, and I value my eyes. We're talking the same (or close to) brightness of my last Intel iMac at full brightness under Tiger. Apple has to tone down the backlight brightness in their next Leopard update. And I'm not the only one noticing this, Glenn Wolsey has the very same "issue". Another thing to add to the list for 10.5.1
Don't get me wrong, Leopard is quite stable, and rocks, but this brightness thing is a sure sign they ran out of time.
Don't get me wrong, Leopard is quite stable, and rocks, but this brightness thing is a sure sign they ran out of time.
Comments
Another thing to add to the list for 10.5.1
Don't get me wrong, Leopard is quite stable, and rocks, but this brightness thing is a sure sign they ran out of time.
I am not sure if this is Leopard specific. I was last month in a local store to check out the new aluminium iMacs they had on display (running Tiger) and I noticed the same brightness issue.
I am not sure if this is Leopard specific. I was last month in a local store to check out the new aluminium iMacs they had on display (running Tiger) and I noticed the same brightness issue.
At zero brightness setting? Some folks have said they noticed a brightness increase after upgrading to Leo, and not in a good way, but rather, in a waaay-too-bright kind of way.
At zero brightness setting? Some folks have said they noticed a brightness increase after upgrading to Leo, and not in a good way, but rather, in a waaay-too-bright kind of way.
I have no idea what Leopard brought in the iMac brightness. What I saw was under Tiger and yes, at exactly zero brightness (zero notches on display) the display was really bright. Which makes me think that probably this is how this display works, regardless of the controlling software. I don't know, there is probably some way to bring down its brightness in software, but if so why does Apple leaves it like that?
I have no idea what Leopard brought in the iMac brightness. What I saw was under Tiger and yes, at exactly zero brightness (zero notches on display) the display was really bright. Which makes me think that probably this is how this display works, regardless of the controlling software. I don't know, there is probably some way to bring down its brightness in software, but if so why does Apple leaves it like that?
They do stupid things all the time for no good reason, this iMac is waaaaaayy to bright under Leopard. I remember they messed up the volume with 10.4.9, this feels like one of this mess-ups. It is definitely not right, and yes, software "can" most definitely fix it.
Wait... at zero brightness it should turn off the backlighting altogether, like it does on my MacBook. There are times when I want to run my MacBook at night while I'm sleeping, and I certainy don't want that screen on. Are you saying that iMacs can't do this?
And no, an all-black screensaver is not the same thing, as there is still light leakage. There has to be a way to turn the backlighting off, hasn't there?
it dims down on the macbook pro. i have leopard. must be an imac problem.
There has to be a way to turn the backlighting off, hasn't there?
Yes there is, it's called sleeping the display, but I want use my computer.
it dims down on the macbook pro. i have leopard. must be an imac problem.
It dims down for me too, but not nearly enough. It's as if it should be another degree darker, it you take from maximum to minimum as x1, it should be x2 darker at zero setting, so then I could at least set it to 4 or 5 bars out of 16 without getting a bloomin' Xray.
Maybe you could try resetting your PRAM. Brightness gets stored in there.
Resetting the PRAM did some good, but it's still too bright for comfort at zero brightness. We all know, logically, zero brightness should be that little bit dimmer than you would ever need, so then you can come up in brightness to meet your own personal preference. In a perfect world medium brightness should feel normal on the eyes, zero should be too dim, and full should be too bright, and anywhere in between should be personal choice.
As of right now I'm convinced it's an "issue" with Leopard, be it Leopard isn't correctly taking into account the brightness of this new iMac's display or what have you (although I know Glenn Wolsey has this issue under a completely different Mac set-up), but the "issue" is definitely there, and it's "real".
Wait... at zero brightness it should turn off the backlighting altogether, like it does on my MacBook.
I think the desktops are different because laptops always have a brightness key attached whereas an iMac with a PC keyboard might not. If you reduced the brightness in the interface to zero, there would be no way to see what you were doing to put it back up so the desktops can't really go to zero. As Ireland said though, minimum brightness should be less than you'd need.
Even the old iMacs were too bright, I was playing a game on one and the screen went completely red and I had to look away from it because it was uncomfortable to look at. I reckon one reason why they'll be doing this is to provide enough brightness for the isight webcam, photobooth etc. but they should increase the brightness when its needed for that purpose.
It dims down for me too, but not nearly enough. It's as if it should be another degree darker, it you take from maximum to minimum as x1, it should be x2 darker at zero setting, so then I could at least set it to 4 or 5 bars out of 16 without getting a bloomin' Xray.
my zero = no light. i have to squint with all my might to see the details of the screen. it's completely dark.
my zero = no light. i have to squint with all my might to see the details of the screen. it's completely dark.
Good for you.
There's shareware available that gives a wider range of control for iMac screen brightness. It allows much dimmer settings. (Sorry, I can't remember the name.)
Thanks for you help anyway, but this is Apple's problem. They need to issue a damn fix very soon!!!
Good for you.
i'm just saying, it's not a problem with leopard if it doesn't do it on my computer, it's a problem with the imacs.
Resetting the PRAM did some good, but it's still too bright for comfort at zero brightness. We all know, logically, zero brightness should be that little bit dimmer than you would ever need, so then you can come up in brightness to meet your own personal preference. In a perfect world medium brightness should feel normal on the eyes, zero should be too dim, and full should be too bright, and anywhere in between should be personal choice.
As of right now I'm convinced it's an "issue" with Leopard, be it Leopard isn't correctly taking into account the brightness of this new iMac's display or what have you (although I know Glenn Wolsey has this issue under a completely different Mac set-up), but the "issue" is definitely there, and it's "real".
This has been an issue some people have mentioned BEFORE Leopard on the new Alu iMacs - anyone think the "answer" might be that Steve has cataracts developing, and told the iMac Dev team to "turn the fucking brightness up!!" I know some cancer treatment can lead to an earlier onset of cataracts- bizarre the stuff you pick up
Good for you.
guy was only trying to help.. If its only a few limited machines maybe its a production run issue with certain screens? is this on the new 2.8E iMac you got? did it come with Tiger installed? so you have seen the screen brightness change after a manual install of Leopard? or was Leopard pre-installed on it and so its all new iMac but like TOTALLY bright dude?
hope you don't have this issue
Linkythingy hope it is something addressable in a software update