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I have a dual boot Lenovo W520 system, with Windows 7 and Ubuntu 14.04. In Ubuntu, when I set the brightness to the lowest value, the backlight actually turns off, which is a brilliant battery saver.

On Windows, I could install the bulky Lenovo Power Manager which turns off the screen with Fn+F3, but I'm trying to keep my laptop completely bloatware free. Can I somehow adjust the minimum brightness in Windows (e.g., in the registry?) Or is this a driver thing, and did I just luck out with Ubuntu not using Lenovo's PM drivers?

I have seen How can I dim my computer screen beyond the minimum? but that question is about eye strain: they all just make the pixels 'dark' rather than the backlight. I want to set the screen backlight to zero, to save battery life.

Added note from barlop

The OP reasons, not unreasonably, that it seems the software that appears to reduce brightness, e.g. flux/dimmer, doesn't reduce the backlight, hence the taskbar doesn't get darkened, so he reasons that it is darkening the pixels. So if anybody does want to recommend software, then it should reduce the brightness of the taskbar too. And ultimately his concern/interest is battery life rather than eye strain. So a neutral density filter / vinyl sheet, or sunglasses, don't apply to his case.

Community
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Sanchises
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2 Answers2

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You could create a new default brightness which will be lower than what you have, leaving you to use the hardware of your monitor to increase/decrease.

In Windows 7 you can click the start button and type in Display Color Calibration

From this wizard, the second screen will let you adjust the gamma which will provide you with a default brighntness which may suffice.

You also have the option to change the color balanace, if you move all the dials to half way this will also reduce the brightness over all

Dave
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  1. Click the Power Options button in your System Tray. The icon looks like a battery. This will only be present if you are using a laptop. If the Power Options button is not there and you are using a laptop, open the Control Panel from the Start menu and select "Power Options". Desktop computers do not have a brightness slider as brightness is considered a power saving option for laptop batteries.

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  1. Click the "Adjust screen brightness" link. This will open the Power Options window.

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  1. Adjust the slider at the bottom. This will adjust the brightness of your screen. Low brightness will extend your battery life.

you can reference wikihow to get another ways

NoName
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