A little IMac help please.

davev

Newer IMac owner, and it does one thing that drives me nuts.
After about a minute or two, if you haven't moved the mouse or hit a key,
the monitor dims a bit. I HATE THIS. But I can't figure out how to turn this
function off.

Now remember, I'm new to the Mac, so please explain it to slowly.

Thanks in advance.

jmathew

davev wrote:

Newer IMac owner, and it does one thing that drives me nuts.
After about a minute or two, if you haven't moved the mouse or hit a key,
the monitor dims a bit. I HATE THIS. But I can't figure out how to turn this
function off.

Now remember, I'm new to the Mac, so please explain it to slowly.

Thanks in advance.

Go to System Preferences -> Energy Saver -> Uncheck the box that says "Automatically reduce brightness of the display....."

davev

jmathew wrote:

Go to System Preferences -> Energy Saver -> Uncheck the box that says "Automatically reduce brightness of the display....."

Great Idea. This box has already been unchecked.
I even checked it, rebooted, unchecked it again, then rebooted, it still
dims after a couple of minutes.

Thanks for trying
.

DavidTO

davev wrote:

Great Idea. This box has already been unchecked.
I even checked it, rebooted, unchecked it again, then rebooted, it still
dims after a couple of minutes.

Thanks for trying
.

Well, I'm pretty fanatical about having a short lag before my screen goes to sleep. I don't use a screen saver, just have the thing shut off. I figger it's like a light bulb, and I don't wanna burn it out.

Having said that, I've never paid much attention to what's bothering you, since I kinda like it.

But: how long have you set before your display goes to sleep? Does that have any affect? I'll check around further, too, and see if I can get you a better answer.

davev

DavidTO wrote:

Well, I'm pretty fanatical about having a short lag before my screen goes to sleep. I don't use a screen saver, just have the thing shut off. I figger it's like a light bulb, and I don't wanna burn it out.

Having said that, I've never paid much attention to what's bothering you, since I kinda like it.

But: how long have you set before your display goes to sleep? Does that have any affect? I'll check around further, too, and see if I can get you a better answer.

I guess I don't read fast enough. There are times with this larger screen
(1600 x 1000 something like that) that sometimes the screen dims while
I'm reading a doc. I really don't like that. On the PC I was using a 1024 x 768
size screen. There wasn't near as much info on that screen as there is on this one.

My set up.
Screen saver: 8 minutes
Display sleep: 11 minutes
Computer sleep 15 minutes.

Don't ask why, it's just the way I have it set up.

Thanks.

DavidTO

Not the best answer, mebbe, but there's Jiggle.

colourbox

I believe, but am not sure, that the screen dims at the halfway point to Display Sleep. If it's set for 11 minutes, it might dim at 5.5 minutes. There's no need to set Computer Sleep to as low as 15 minutes on a desktop; mine's set for 1 hour. When I work in Photoshop I have both Display Sleep and Computer Sleep set for at least 1 hour so that my CRT doesn't sleep and cool down from its proper calibration temperature.

Try turning up the Display Sleep time and see if that makes a difference.

gus

On the main page for pmset ..there is a line that says 'when on AC power dont half-dim the display'

cabbey

gus wrote:

On the main page for pmset ..there is a line that says 'when on AC power dont half-dim the display'

That sounds like exactly the right option to solve the problem davev is talking about (my powerbook used to do that too, drove me insane). However, that option should only be present on portable machines, IMac's aren't portables so should not have any of those options available on the control panel.

A quick trip in to any of the 4 apple stores you guys have up there in the twin cities should hopefully rectify it. And don't forget you can call ahead and schedule a time at the 'genius bar'.

wxwax

DavidTO wrote:

Well, I'm pretty fanatical about having a short lag before my screen goes to sleep. I don't use a screen saver, just have the thing shut off. I figger it's like a light bulb, and I don't wanna burn it out.

Hmmm. It is rather annoying to be playing viddie and have the screen dim.

davev

Thanks for the help guys. I think colourbox had it right. I had the settings to low.

I have readjusted the settings to:

Screen saver: 10 minutes
Display sleep: 20 minutes
Computer sleep 30 minutes.

I have the "dim screen" unchecked

It now no longer dims at all before the screen saver kicks in.
Now I can watch a video without it dimming halfway through.

So, thanks again guys.

wxwax

I noticed I'd missed the dropdown menu at the top of that dialogue box. You have to tell it if your new settings are for when the machine is running off the battery or the power adaptor.

davev

wxwax wrote:

I noticed I'd missed the dropdown menu at the top of that dialogue box. You have to tell it if your new settings are for when the machine is running off the battery or the power adaptor.

That's for a notebook, my IMac is a desktop. It don't have a battery.

DavidTO

wxwax wrote:

Hmmm. It is rather annoying to be playing viddie and have the screen dim.

It doesn't dim if you're playing video from a standalone player, AFAIK. It does, though if you're watching in your internet browser.

wxwax

DavidTO wrote:

It doesn't dim if you're playing video from a standalone player, AFAIK. It does, though if you're watching in your internet browser.

Correct.

patch29

DavidTO wrote:

It doesn't dim if you're playing video from a standalone player, AFAIK. It does, though if you're watching in your internet browser.

It does it for me on my Macbook and it is frustrating, when the option is unchecked.