anybody know how to make the screen dim while idle

[bigtiger]

I currently have a mac powerbook g4. I like the feature that screen will go to dim after some idle time.

Is this feature supported in x60s? anybody?

[sugo]

Yes. The Power Manager utility provided by Lenovo in Windows XP allows you to dim the screen after X minutes of idle. This is a separate setting from turning the display off.

[bigtiger]

thanks, found it. But in AC settings, it does not let me to choose dim. only "Always bright".

[nogen]

Thats true. The only option is to turn the screen off completely after a certain amount of time. This can be found under display properties -> screen saver -> power options.
I don't realy understand why the screen should be dimmed contra off on AC anyway. Once you start working on it again you will get full brightness regardless. And power saving shouldn't be an issue either.

[proaudioguy]

It always seemed to me you would want your screen off as much as possible to save the LCD itself from long term age. They have a limited useful life, so wouldn't dimming or shutting off the LCD when not in use help keep it going longer as far as brightness and contrast, etc? Also it seems that letting the screen saver go black is not the same as having power management shut it off.

Am I all wrong about this? It's just intuition. The only thing i know for sure is that the LCDs have a relatively short useful life. I'm about to start my 6th year on my A31 and I swear it's not as bright as it once was.

[rkawakami]

I think I read somewhere that turning on a fluorescent lamp (FL) for short periods actually reduces the life slightly. It's the startup surge that leads to reduced lifespan so the recommendation was to leave FLs on if you know you are going to turn it back on within a short period of time. Setting the screen saver to save power could also be leading to shorter life. Note that this was in reference to standard household FL with the large ballast systems. Not sure if this also applies to CCFL in LCD displays.

Reducing the brightness may be the best thing to do. If it decreases the power drain AND stresses the lamp less, then that's good all around.