I have sensory issues. How can I find an external monitor that isn't too bright?

Question

I have sensory issues which make bright lights very painful. Some monitors are too bright to look at. I chose a Macbook Air, in part because Apple allowed me to dim the screen, but I wanted to find an external monitor so I could use the Macbook as a desktop as well as a laptop. I recently tried an Aoc monitor, but it doesn't allow me to dim the screen enough without special software. I would rather not have to use extreme settings [Brightness 0] and special software [Easy on the Eyes] to dim the screen. I had tried comparing brightness in-store, locally, but I guess I couldn't tell because the store was full of bright lights, and because I was wearing sunglasses to cope with the bright lights. Can anyone suggest ways to find better more accessible monitors?

Answer 1

There are two ways.  Likely if you have the money, the Apple monitor would likely be the best options since it powers your macbook and other stuff as well.  It is expensive though.  For a nonApple monitor the feature you are looking for is called backlight level.  The brightness control doesn't actually control brightness as might be expected because it modifies the signal.  The backlight level however does control the brightness of the backlight itself, like the buttons on a real mac.  You won't be able to use the buttons on the keyboard though.  So when you go shopping, make the salesman show you this feature in the store in the monitors interface and you should be good to go. 
Also, if you are sensitive to bright light, did you know about the ability to assign a single key on the keyboard to invert the screen instantly?  I prefer white text on black myself.