MBA Screen Usability at 50% Brightness

[turbotoes]

That would work if the MBA had one.

Am I the only one that mostly uses the MBA at 1 notch of brightness ? (just above the screen being shut off ?).

As the OP was talking about buying a 2011 MBA, which does have an ambient light sensor that is what I was referring to

 

[misterneums]

I personally cannot use the screen at full brightness. It hurts my eyes...

 

[blairh]

Anything lower than 75% brightness (12/16 bars) forces me to strain my eyes. I'm 31 yrs old by the way and wear glasses or contact lenses. I have no other eye problems. So when people say they use it at 50% brightness or lower, I'm very surprised.

 

[mickier]

For me, I find that after I dim the screen, it appears to "bloom" back partially - so I find that I am very happy most of the time on only one bar brightness...

Sometimes, I actually wish that there was a dimmer setting - something between one bar and 0...

And than I often get 6 hours on the battery just doing light work and surfing (no flash installed).

 

[Sounds Good]

Speaking of a very bright screen...

How does the MBA do outdoors on a sunny day? Most laptop screens fail here -- what about the MBA?

Thanks.

 

[DigitalFirefly]

Anything lower than 75% brightness (12/16 bars) forces me to strain my eyes. I'm 31 yrs old by the way and wear glasses or contact lenses. I have no other eye problems. So when people say they use it at 50% brightness or lower, I'm very surprised.

I'm 31 also with glasses/contacts. I almost always run mine at full brightness. I'll turn it down a couple notches if I'm in complete darkness. 75% is as low as I could ever go.

 

[franmatt80]

Speaking of a very bright screen...

How does the MBA do outdoors on a sunny day? Most laptop screens fail here -- what about the MBA?

Thanks.

Pretty good in my opinion (sitting outside in bright sunshine, typing this with no problems ) Much, much better than my iPad/MBP/iPhone... Loving this screen.

 

[Sounds Good]

Much, much better than my iPad/MBP/iPhone...

Ahh, good to know... thanks!

 

[onthecouchagain]

I use my screen at near full brightness (maybe two or three notches from max) when I'm in a lit area or lit room. However, in the middle of the night in the darkness, if I'm using it, I drop the brightness down to about 50%. It's blinding at night, but in the day time, I can't use it any lower than a few notches from max. It's just too gloomy.

 

[amitdoc2b]

I'm 31 also with glasses/contacts. I almost always run mine at full brightness. I'll turn it down a couple notches if I'm in complete darkness. 75% is as low as I could ever go.

I agree, I actually think the screen is not bright enough if it requires me to keep it at full brightness all the time. If I needed to conserve battery I'd go as low as 5 spots below the max, but anything more than that and its like really dim and annoying. I actually find it annoying more than even 2 spots from the max, but yes.. I always keep it on full brightness.

 

[blairh]

Speaking of a very bright screen...

How does the MBA do outdoors on a sunny day? Most laptop screens fail here -- what about the MBA?

Thanks.

One of my favorite things about the MBA has always been the silver bezel, which allows for a glossy screen without the amazingly annoying glare/reflections of the edge-to-edge glass featured on the MacBook Pro's.

 

[Azathoth]

Hello everyone, long-time lurker, first-time poster.

I'm currently deciding whether or not to replace my Alu MacBook Pro with a MacBook Air. To that end I went to my local Apple store to take a look and get an idea of whether I could live with the screen size of the 11".

Also, if you own an Air do you find its screen usable at 50% in your home, on trains, on airplanes etc?

The human eye is very adaptable, so it's hard to generalise but here's my two cents.

I use a 2010 MBP15 (matte) but the screen brightness is very similar to the MBA 2011. In my bright office I need to run it at full brightness in order to prevent eyestrain.

On public transport (trains, planes) then out of the sun I can run at 70% brightness.

My home, when lit by 2 halogen 50W bulbs - moderately dark level for photo editing - which non-photo editors might regard as the light level that is suitable for a date after 9pm that gives a "bring out the wine, Pink Floyd and let's start making out". But I digress - under such conditions of light the MBP is set to 60% brightness to get 120cd/m2.

In bed - assuming there is no date - then 1/15 brightness is enough.

For classrooms, I would guess that 13/15 is the right brightness level.