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Puevlo

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 21, 2011
633
1
I read that although the battery in the iPad 3 is bigger since the retina display uses up more power the battery life ends up slightly less. So how can I turn off the retina display and just have a normal display like the iPad 2? I couldn't find anything in settings. Thanks.
 
Rubbish Question ! A Slap Indeed !

To be fair the OP might have assumed this can be done on an iPad because you can indeed adjust the resolution on a desktop/laptop computer--as you know.

Not sure why 10 people had to make the same point that it can't be done though. Not everyone who comes here to ask a question has an extensive knowledge.
 
I read that although the battery in the iPad 3 is bigger since the retina display uses up more power the battery life ends up slightly less. So how can I turn off the retina display and just have a normal display like the iPad 2? I couldn't find anything in settings. Thanks.

Most of the answers here haven't been exactly helpful, so I'm going to answer your question assuming it's a real inquiry.

The reason the iPad 3 uses more battery than the iPad 2 is that there are more physical pixels in its display. Even assuming you could change the screen resolution on the iPad (which you can't), the lower resolution setting would still draw the same amount of power because it's using the same number of pixels to draw a blurrier picture. If you're in search of extra battery life, I'd recommend setting the brightness a little lower or turning off LTE or Wi-Fi when you don't need it.
 
The reason for the larger battery is mostly because the higher pixel density display requires a more powerful backlight to achieve the same brightness.

That's a function of the physical density of "stuff" in the display panel that light must pass through. You can't change that via a software setting.

The best you could do to increase battery life regarding the display would be to lower the screen brightness.
 
To be fair the OP might have assumed this can be done on an iPad because you can indeed adjust the resolution on a desktop/laptop computer--as you know.

Not sure why 10 people had to make the same point that it can't be done though. Not everyone who comes here to ask a question has an extensive knowledge.

The problem is that adjusting the resolution of the display doesn't make a difference in terms of power usage, even on a normal computer. The power draw is from lighting up 4 times as many pixels. Even if you set the resolution low so you're not trying to control them separately they're still there. It may reduce the GPU utilization a bit, but the display is going to have a similar current draw regardless of the resolution it's set to on an LCD. Software can't change the number of pixels on the display.
 
MOD NOTE

Let's keep this thread on topic. Remember, there are various level of technical aptitude on these forums. Any further insults , off topic posts will be dealt with individually.
 
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