I am just learning how to use my external monitor with my macbook pro, & went into system preferences, & notice I can control the dimness settings of the monitors & have my macbook pro screen dimmed down It seems to be able to dimmed all the way down to black. Does dimming the macbook pro screen help keep the macbook pro & screen cooler, or save wattage or energy?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
dimming macbook pro screen when using with monitor
- Thread starter Sossity
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
It should save a little bit of energy, although I don't believe that is the correct way to set everything up, because then it might only have your laptop screen as the primary monitor and therefore only have the dock and menu bar on it, not your external monitor. So you want to 'only' use your external monitor, and to do that, you plug the monitor in before booting up and then right after clicking the power button you close your laptop's lid. Your laptop should automatically detect that there is an external monitor there, and only use that. You shouldn't see the Apple logo lit up on the back of the laptop's screen. (If it is lit up, that means it is still using your laptops display.)