Is Your Monitor (Especially iMac 24") Too Bright? Try "Shades" - FREE!

A number of iMac 24" users have complained that the screen can be too bright - even when dimmed the maximum amount.
A comparatively new forum member - tysohsg - posted details (on the iMac forum) of a free program called "Shades" which gives fine tuning right down to complete black.
Having nothing better to do (!!!!!!!!!!), I downloaded and tested it and found that it does everything anyone would desire with no apparent side effects.
It is operated by an inconspicuous slider which can be positioned anywhere on the screen either horizontally or vertically.
Alternatively you can get rid of the on-screen slider and operate it as a menu item - just like the audio volume control.
http://www.charcoaldesign.co.uk/shades
Ian.

Thanks Ian,
Always somethng to do when you are a busy man, Eh.
Al

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

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?

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.

24" IMAC Display Too Bright

I am still doing DD on changing from WinTel to Apple. I have viewed both the 20 inch and 24 inch models at a local reseller. I have heard of several complaints that the 24" is too bright. Is there any validity to this complaint? Can the Brightness be easily adjusted? And a third question are there advantages to using a local reseller rather than a purchase directly from Apple re the net?

Hello,
The iMac 24" isn't an iMac (Flat Panel) in Apple's eyes so those of us in this forum won't be nearly so familar with specific issues like the brightness of the display on the 24" iMac. You should re-post your question here.
Of course the local retailer you can speak to face-to-face about your requirements and return it for support in the very unlikely event you have any issues. The online store may well be a very little cheaper and will probably have better build-to-order option.
G4 (Flat Panel): Intel:
regards
mrtotes

24" imac screen too bright!!!

i Turned down the brightness as low as it can go, but it is still the brightess thing i ever saw! and it is hurting my eyes. Is there anything else i can do to stop that bright light from killing my eyes?

Thank you! I got a 24" iMac 2 wks ago and have been suffering eye, neck and back strain ever since. I'll try the above suggestions for the brightness. But the inability to lower the monitor to an ergonomically correct position is a serious oversight on Apple's part. I'm debating taking a saw to my very nice computer desk.

Is The 24" iMac Screen Too Bright For Longevity ?

I have just been in an Apple Store testing both the 20" and 24".
I had heard that the 24" screen was brighter but assumed that, like so many claims, it would only be a marginal difference.
I was amazed to see that it was considerably brighter, making the 20" look extremely dull by comparison.
I checked and found that both machines were on maximum brightness. Even set to minimum, the 24" seemed brighter.
I don't know about LCDs but with "normal" electric bulbs, over-running them can give a brilliant but brief life.
Are these new monitors naturally bright or are they being over-run and likely to burn out just after the warranty expires?
Ian.

I realise we are dealing with a different technology.
Does that mean that the brightness will have no detrimental effect on longevity?
Ian.

Monitor colors funny and too bright after 10.3.9 update.

Hello all. I updated to 10.3.9 last night. Now my monitor is way to bright and looks bad. I tried all the usual stuff. Any ideas? The monitor is a Samsung 793MB and it was great until the update. I tried the "detect monitor" and even tried to calibrate but it's still a little off.
233mhz Blondi 10.3.7 256MB ram,1.42 Ghz mini 512MB Mac OS X (10.3.9)

A bit of a long shot, but after suffering a color issue with my G4 mini yesterday, try unplugging the video connector(s) and then reconnecting firmly to ensure it all fits together tightly. Any slight looseness can cause color variations, brightness or contrast imbalance and even image stability issues.
Next, open the Universal Access preference pane and ensure that under the Seeing tab, the Display slider is set to Normal.

Monitor too bright

Hi,
I'm re-purposing a quad core 2.8Ghz Mac Pro with Mac OS 10.6.8.
I'm having a problem in that the monitor/screen image is too bright, even with the monitor controls set to minimum.
When I use the monito calibrator in System Prefs, the black/grey/white oval graphic is very very very light and washed out and there's no way I can adjust the monitor to get the black bit black.
This monitors (2 of them) worked perfectly on the G5 it came from, black was black white was paper-white and it worked well for photo editing - printed results were a good match with the image on the monitors. However when I plug them into this MacPro they're virtually unusable.
Window borders, furniture (buttons, tabs etc) and the desktop (Mac OS bits???) seem fine - it's just the inner part of windows (the bit controlled by the application rather than the Mac OS???) that is too biright and wahsed out.
It's as if the graphics card is misbehaving. Is there a way to "reset" the graphics card?
Note; I'm not sure if this actually has anything to do with it - I noticed this happening when I installed Illustrator CS2 (yes, I know, its old) and the installed asked permission to install Rosetta. It may be coicidence that I just noticed it at this stage or it may be the cause. How do I temorarily remove or disable Rosetta?
Both monitors can't suddently have become faulty, so I'm doscounting an issue with the monitors.
Mac OS 10.6.8, Quad 2.8 GHz Mac Pro
Monitors are connected with digital cables direct to the digi ports (no VGA converters)
Many thanks,
G.

Many thanks to both responders. Various points for both:
The graphics card is ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT.
The OS is a fresh install on a newly reformatted main drive. The old OS is on the secon'd drive but has been moved into a separate folder called "Old System".
Apps are all new/clean installs from original disks, then updates applied.
It seems implausible that the drive partitioning system is affecting the video output, is this likely to be the problem?
I know CS2 is old, but I don't have a choice and CS2 was running OK on the PPC Mac and these 2 monitors.
The problem is always present whether I have CS components running or not. Quark 8 is too bright, as is Preview and all other apps.
Does the graphics card have a non-volatile memory for settings? What if it has previously been config'd badly; can it be reset?
Can I uninstall Rosetta to see if this is the issue?
Thnaks again, both.
G.

Intel 20"iMac screen seems too bright

I just bought a 2Ghz, 2GB Ram, 20" intel iMac. The screen seems to be washed out/too bright even after the brightness is adjusted. Is this a common problem? What is the remedy?

I have the same issue. I do a lot of digital photography and my prints should look close to what I see on the screen. My older eMac and MDD G4 w/ a 20" flat LCD screen gave me excellent results. I was struggling with the color profile on this new iMac (2.4 GHz Intel w/ 20" GLOSSY screen). I got close selecting the Adobe 1998 profile and adjusting the brightness down to about 60%. This helped but I'm not 100% satisfied. I called Apple and one of the tech support engineers suggested I also go into the Universal Access setting and adjust the contrast ever so slightly. Again, this is moving in the right direction and I need to view this setting for a while before I say it's what I'm after. It does help. Also, go to birdphotographers.net and select forum and go all the way to the bottom of the screen, they have a great step wedge to verify you monitor settings, you should see all steps w/o saturation.
Good luck,
Rich
b.t.w. disregard my old profile-I'll do an update.

Colormunki calibrates my MacBook Pro monitor too bright.

I'm trying to calibrate my 15" MacBook Pro's monitor using a Colormunki Photo. I've different setting but the results are always way too bright. Anyone have and success or tips?

Turn off Zoom option in System prefs/ universal access/ seeing tab. Or press cmdopt (+/-) to adjust.
I'd turn it off just in case you hit it again.

Laptop monitor too bright

I set the brightness setting on my laptop monitor to the lowest setting, but it is still too bright. I fixed the desktop by putting a picture with dull colors on it. But the white websites on Firefox are hard on my eyes, way to bright. Can I change background color or brightness on Firefox screen?

The post reply was a link to a support article.
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/change-fonts-and-colors-websites-use

IMac 24" Display too bright

Even after dimming down the brightness of the iMacv 24 inch screen to lowest setting, I still find that its way too bright for my eyes. I have tried to use Shades for Mac OSX and it works fine, however for Windows Vista, I cant find any solution to dim down the brightness without changing my Color profile. Anyone out there can help me with this?

A recent Apple software update for the Alum iMacs may be addressing the brightness issue. In a previous post the following was said regarding the details of what's in the update...
After opening the installer package in "Pacifist" (an installer package viewer /extractor) utility), I >noted that revised ATI drivers (last revisions in iMac Software Update 1.0 a few weeks back) are the >main feature. The GLEngine translate item also updated together with a DisplayProductID-9c6a file.
The above may mean that the ATI HD2600 PRO video card may now run at full specification (a la >Vista)! The display product file may mean improvements to the 20" Al iMac's display..."
And in another post someone was also asking...
anyone notice their brightness lowered recently?
which also referenced this same Apple Update. Please let us know if it helps!
Here's a link to the update.... http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/imacsoftwareupdate11.html

14" imac 1.83GHz LCD screen suddenly too bright

My computer screen is suddenly too bright with a sort of a white washed look. I've checked the display settings and brightness in System Preferences and played with the greyscale and white on black options in the Universal Access panel, all to no avail.
I hooked up an LCD projector and the projected image is perfectly normal while the computer display is impossible to read. Even the most dim setting is too bright. Help!

Welcome to Apple Support Communities
System Preferences > Universal Access > Seeing tab > slide the Enhance contrast slider to Normal.

Desktop icons name too bright

Hello,
I have installed Yosemite on my iMac 21 end of 2010.
The only thing which i am unable to get use with is the color of icons on the desktop, and especially the names below each icon are too bright, and it is difficult to read them if the cursor is not on them.
Is there a way to decrease this brightness?
TIA

sure-go into accessibility under system preferences and there you will see adjustment of display contrast, otherwise go to display preferences and there change brightness. I know if you are able to do a re-calibration on your monitor (can you do that on an iMac??) then you can adjust the gamma, brightness, color gamut, etc from there
sorry, that's all I have
John B

Images on imac display too sharp/detailed

I just got my first imac and I've been learing the ins and outs. One thing that bothers me though is that when I'm visiting many web pages I find that images, thumbnails, movie clips, etc. are rendered with so much detail they tend to look distorted. I've been searching for a way to dial down the sharpness overall and I can't seem to make it happen. All I've been able to find are the display settings which jump from 1440x900 (which I'm using now) to 1152x720 (which is muddy and ugly). I enjoy the sharpness and clarity of my monitor when it comes to viewing text but for film clips and jpegs I prefer a softer focus.
Anyone else have this concern? Is there a way to fix it?
17" imac 2GHz intel Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Could adjusting the brightness and other settings, perhaps making a
custom profile in displays, changing contrast, etc could help.
The only other mention of displays being too bright and/or clear was
in reference to the new 24" iMac Intel® computer, and some posters
in a forum stated ideas, here: Decrease Brightness Further?
On my older iMacG4 1.25GHz 17" USB 2.0 I chose to adjust down the
brightness (keyboard buttons F14 - F15) to save the display backlight
from premature failure; even while having AppleCare coverage in effect.
To run an LCD or some VGAs too bright can be hard on your eyes when
sitting close and using the computer for longer periods of time.
Hope you find a happy medium and enjoy your new iMac!

Hp 2159m Monitor is Set to 100 Brightness and is Dull

Im' using Windows 8 - 64 bit. Brightness is set to 100 and is till too dull. How can I boost the brightness?

Hello Susankaye,
Welcome to the HP Forums, I hope you enjoy your experience! To help you get the most out of the HP Forums I would like to direct your attention to the HP Forums Guide First Time Here? Learn How to Post and More.
I understand that the brightness on your monitor is set to 100 and is too low and you are looking for help getting it brigher. I would be happy to assist you, but first I would encourage you to post your product number for your computer. I am linking an HP Support document below that will show you how to find your product number. As with this I can provide you with accurate information.
How Do I Find My Model Number or Product Number?
Please re-post with the requested information and I would be happy to provide you with assistance. Thank you for posting on the HP Forums. Have a great day!
Please click the "Thumbs Up" on the bottom right of this post to say thank you if you appreciate the support I provide!
Also be sure to mark my post as “Accept as Solution" if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others who face the same challenge find the same solution.
Dunidar
I work on behalf of HP
Find out a bit more about me by checking out my profile!
"Customers don’t expect you to be perfect. They do expect you to fix things when they go wrong." ~ Donald Porter

Is Your Monitor (Especially iMac 24") Too Bright? Try "Shades" - FREE!

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