Just picked up a macbook pro - question about screen dimming

[NYU02]

I just picked up a the macbook pro and I love it but I had a quick question about the screen and how it dimms at wierd times.

I like the screen to be on the brightest possible setting but some times it dimms to a lower level. Why is that? Does it have to do with the light in my room?

Is there a way to change it?

Thanks,
NYU02

 

[Megatron]

Yep, it's the ambient light sensor. It adjusts the screen brightness and the back-lit keyboard based on ambient light. Sometimes if your hand blocks the light source it will dim the screen.

For the display, go to system preferences > displays > display panel > checkbox for "automatically adjust display for ambient light changes".

If you want to turn the back-lit keyboard off, go to system preferences > keyboard + mouse > keyboard panel > checkbox for "Illuminate keyboard in low light conditions."

 

[d_and_n5000]

I'm thinking that that is because of the Ambient Light Sensor. Basically, it adjusts the display brightness based on how much light is present in the room. It also turns the keyboard backlight on and off with this sensor. You could probably turn the sensor off, but I am not sure how.

edit: beaten to the punch by Megatron, and with more information, no less.

 

[KeepAppleHonest]

HEY! IT IS A BUG!

THIS IS A BUG! The screen dims every time you change profiles whether or not the system preferences are properly configured or not.

People who use MacForums DO NOT NEED other people giving them how to lessons on the system preferences. IGNORE the apple employees masquerading as community members and giving overly simplistic and useless answers so that you feel like an idiot.

Apple failed to acknowledge the NVidia graphics problem until it was too late. They failed to acknowledge the macbook pro core 2 duo logic board issue. And they are pretending that this and other bugs do not exist by making other forum readers think that it is YOUR FAULT.

Make some more noise. Mac OS X 10.5.8 can't even retain its own system preferences. Do not accept these overly simplistic answers as gospel. ITS NOT YOUR FAULT. And Apple Computer needs to stop acting like the Bush administration.

 

[omgitscro]

HEY! IT IS A BUG!

THIS IS A BUG! The screen dims every time you change profiles whether or not the system preferences are properly configured or not.

People who use MacForums DO NOT NEED other people giving them how to lessons on the system preferences. IGNORE the apple employees masquerading as community members and giving overly simplistic and useless answers so that you feel like an idiot.

Apple failed to acknowledge the NVidia graphics problem until it was too late. They failed to acknowledge the macbook pro core 2 duo logic board issue. And they are pretending that this and other bugs do not exist by making other forum readers think that it is YOUR FAULT.

Make some more noise. Mac OS X 10.5.8 can't even retain its own system preferences. Do not accept these overly simplistic answers as gospel. ITS NOT YOUR FAULT. And Apple Computer needs to stop acting like the Bush administration.

Yeah, that answer definitely helped out more than the previous two did. We give "simplistic" answers, because OS X functions on simplicity. Considering the amount of switchers on this forum, a lot of times these questions can be solved by toggling a simple checkbox in system preferences, or even simpler than that. Not every problem needs to have an impossibly difficult solution, that'd just be creating more confusion, wouldn't it?

 

[Ixesin]

HEY! IT IS A BUG!

THIS IS A BUG! The screen dims every time you change profiles whether or not the system preferences are properly configured or not.

People who use MacForums DO NOT NEED other people giving them how to lessons on the system preferences. IGNORE the apple employees masquerading as community members and giving overly simplistic and useless answers so that you feel like an idiot.

Apple failed to acknowledge the NVidia graphics problem until it was too late. They failed to acknowledge the macbook pro core 2 duo logic board issue. And they are pretending that this and other bugs do not exist by making other forum readers think that it is YOUR FAULT.

Make some more noise. Mac OS X 10.5.8 can't even retain its own system preferences. Do not accept these overly simplistic answers as gospel. ITS NOT YOUR FAULT. And Apple Computer needs to stop acting like the Bush administration.

Are you sure you weren't part of the Bush administration, because you seem to be chatting nonsense like him.