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Snow Leopard changed the brightness range of MBP 13" ?

nicoplanet

nicoplanet

macrumors regular
Original poster
UPDATE: this issue seems to only affect MBP 13" with 9CC2 panel (AU Optronics), and is not a gamma issue.

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Not sure where to post this: it's about Snow Leopard, but concerns only MacBook (Pro) 13" apparently.

Here is my question : after a clean install of Snow Leopard on my MacBook Pro 13" (9CC2 panel), it seems that Snow Leopard definitely change the brightness range on the MacBook Pro 13" ! 😱

The range was much "wider" with Leopard, and allow me to set brightness to a dimmer level...
Now, the brightness is on the bright side, and can't be set really dim (not as far as before...).
And that's not great for my battery life! 🙁

Any other experience with MacBook Pro 13" brightness settings ?
Hope Apple will fix that as soon as possible... :apple: 😕

Bests from France,
Nicolas
 
It didnt change your brightness. It changed gamma to 2.2. Leopard was 1.8. This affects all MBPs as well as desktops. My 15" looks better with the 2.2 gamma setting.
 
ARK said:
It didnt change your brightness. It changed gamma to 2.2. Leopard was 1.8. This affects all MBPs as well as desktops. My 15" looks better with the 2.2 gamma setting.
Click to expand...

Not sure it's gamma related, since I use 2.2 gamma (Spyder calibration) since many years now, in my custom profiles.

The problem is different: actually, I have at home my MacBook Pro 13" (9CC2) and my brother's one (9CC2 too).

Both laptop are set a the same visual level of brightness: the Snow leopard one (my own MBP) is a level 1, but my brother's one is set at level 8 (but both show same brightness!).

When both are set to level 1, my brother's one is really (really!) less bright (but less power eater).
And when both are set to level 16, they show the same max level of brightness (logical, it's the same panel!)

This situation wasn't the same when I was using Leopard: the brightness of both computers was exactly the same, for each level 😕
 
He's not imagining it and it's not a gamma issue either. I have the problem too (9CC2). What a bizarre problem—who knew that a panel could affect the software like that?
 
nicoplanet said:
Both of you are 9CC2 users?
And both of you encounter the same issue with backlight level?
Click to expand...

I have the 9cc2 as well with the same issue. If anything when I first bought the machine the panel was a bit too dark bit since updating to SL it is incredibly bright. It does seem to affect battery life somewhat as well as the lowest possible setting is still too bright. I posted this on apple's forums as well over a week ago and it got a very limited response. I believe this is because it is affecting only the 9cc2 panel. So I have a panel that is brighter than before SL which is good but too bright for optimum battery life. So should I be complaining?
 
teerexx52 said:
I have the 9cc2 as well with the same issue. If anything when I first bought the machine the panel was a bit too dark bit since updating to SL it is incredibly bright. It does seem to affect battery life somewhat as well as the lowest possible setting is still too bright. I posted this on apple's forums as well over a week ago and it got a very limited response. I believe this is because it is affecting only the 9cc2 panel. So I have a panel that is brighter than before SL which is good but too bright for optimum battery life. So should I be complaining?
Click to expand...

In fact, the lower level is equivalent to level 8, so this is a problem since you don't have the ability to dim the display enough...

When this bug will be fixed, you could keep the current level of brightness with keeping level above 8: then, it'll be the exact same thing as your current situation...

In fact, this bug simply prevent us to adjust the screen as "dim" as other MBP 13" panels. 🙄
 
nicoplanet said:
In fact, the lower level is equivalent to level 8, so this is a problem since you don't have the ability to dim the display enough...

When this bug will be fixed, you could keep the current level of brightness with keeping level above 8: then, it'll be the exact same thing as your current situation...

In fact, this bug simply prevent us to adjust the screen as "dim" as other MBP 13" panels. 🙄
Click to expand...

Yes, that would be great. Still with the response here in these forums and if it is restricted to the 9cc2 panel will we see a fix? Should I take this to an Apple Store?
 
I've always ran my gamma at 2.2 so when I upgraded, I hadn't noticed anything. The best approach especially if color accuracy is the name of the game is to get spyder3 pro and calibrate them display properly.
 
teerexx52 said:
Yes, that would be great. Still with the response here in these forums and if it is restricted to the 9cc2 panel will we see a fix? Should I take this to an Apple Store?
Click to expand...

No, it's a software problem. If you change your MBP and have a 9CBD for example, it'll be fine, but Apple have to fix this ASAP with a software update.

I had the same problem when I cloned my MB unibody (2008) system to my brand new MBP 13" (mid 2009). Apple offered a special build of 10.5.7 with these models, and my clone that was made with the standard 10.5.7 version, and exhibits the exact same issue. I think they fixed it with 10.5.8, so don't worry too much about that! 😉 They just need to have the feedback! 😀

maflynn said:
I've always ran my gamma at 2.2 so when I upgraded, I hadn't noticed anything. The best approach especially if color accuracy is the name of the game is to get spyder3 pro and calibrate them display properly.
Click to expand...

The backlight brightness issue is not gamma related in any way.
 
There is no DisplayVendorID file for 9CC2 panel in Snow Leopard (both on iMac and MBP). That's probably the reason of the "no detection" on the display in 10.6...

If you want, you can check this here: /System -> Library -> Displays -> Overrides

I've loaded the version from THIS website, but it doesn't seem to fix the backlight level issue.

I think there is a trail to follow with "IOBackLightDisplay", but I have my limits in this exploration.
Hope someones with more skills can go ahead! 😀
 
teerexx52 said:
Did anyone find the 9cc2 not bright enough in 10.5 leopard? I thought it could have been a bit brighter
Click to expand...

I don't remember, do you find it too bright now in 10.6? Do you think Leopard under-utilized the brightness potential of 9cc2 and simply shifted the range towards the brighter in Snow Leopard?
 
reservedegotist said:
I don't remember, do you find it too bright now in 10.6? Do you think Leopard under-utilized the brightness potential of 9cc2 and simply shifted the range towards the brighter in Snow Leopard?
Click to expand...

Well I thought that was possible but then I am no expert in such things.
 
I have just picked up another 13" MBP and it has the same 9cc2 screen, my older june one has a lg screen and is most certainly dimmer at 1 setting. This new AUO screen is really really bright.
 
shoppy said:
I have just picked up another 13" MBP and it has the same 9cc2 screen, my older june one has a lg screen and is most certainly dimmer at 1 setting. This new AUO screen is really really bright.
Click to expand...

This is related to a snow leopard bug that occur with this panel 9CC2.
There is no problem with other panels, or with 9CC2 and Leopard.

Hope they'll fix it soon... 😀
 
Well I guess I have a 9CC2 display because my 13" MBP is definitely affected by this. I noticed it IMMEDIATELY after I installed SL. Changing the level of brightness gives a much lesser change in brightness than when using Leopard, to where the minimum brightness level on SL is about the same as the halfway brightness level on Leopard.

This is really annoying since I tend to leave my brightness down to get better battery life when I'm at school all day. Hope this is fixed soon.
 
reservedegotist said:
I don't remember, do you find it too bright now in 10.6? Do you think Leopard under-utilized the brightness potential of 9cc2 and simply shifted the range towards the brighter in Snow Leopard?
Click to expand...

To be clear, no one is saying that it's now brighter at the highest setting; it's the same as in Leopard. It just doesn't get as dim.
 
I'm having the exact same problem, I just checked and my screen is the 9cc2. It is most definitely brighter after SL install, I also compared this with my friends 13" MBP with SL today and my one notch brightness on my mbp is about 8 notches on his. This has been killing my battery life which was my main concern.

Also, is anyone experiencing weird battery health percentage, for example, at 100% charge my battery health is 97% while the lowest it dropped to was 95%. The weird thing about it is that it goes back up and down again...I calibrated my battery every week or so since I bought it and it only has 8 cycles!! =( I'm using coconut battery and istat pro.
 
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