Apple Event: May 7th at 7 am PT

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Level 1

10 points

Snow Leopard changed the brightness range of MBP 13" ?

This is my question : after a clean install of Snow Leopard on my MacBook Pro 13" (9CC2 panel), it seems that Snow Leopard definitely change the brightness range on the MacBook Pro 13" !

The range was much "wider" with Leopard, and allow me to set brightness to a dimmer level...
Now, the brightness is on the bright side, and can't be set really dim (not as far as before...).
And that's not great for my battery life!

Any other experience with MacBook Pro 13" brightness settings ?
Hope Apple will fix that as soon as possible...

Bests from France,
Nicolas

MacBook Pro 13" 2.53Ghz, Mac OS X (10.6)

Posted on Sep 2, 2009 3:05 PM

Best reply

A A P L

Level 7

21,746 points

Posted on Sep 2, 2009 3:13 PM

See this:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3712

View in context

112 replies

NiCOOo Author

Level 1

10 points

Sep 3, 2009 6:56 AM in response to NiCOOo

Some update, from another topic.

There is no DisplayVendorID file for 9CC2 panel in Snow Leopard (both on iMac and MBP). That's probably the reason of the "no detection" on the display in 10.6...

If you want, you can check this in SL: /System -> Library -> Displays -> Overrides

I've loaded the version from (thanks to pumppi):
http://www.opensource.apple.com/source/AppleDisplays/AppleDisplays-1151.0.0/Over rides/DisplayVendorID-610/

...but it doesn't seem to fix the backlight level issue!

I think there is a trail to follow with " IOBackLightDisplay", but I have my limits in this exploration.
Hope someones with more skills can go ahead! 😀

uriaha

Level 1

0 points

Sep 3, 2009 9:25 AM in response to NiCOOo

NiCOOo wrote:
Well, not sure my english is good enough, but I have at home my MacBook Pro 13" (9CC2) and my brother's one (9CC2 too).

Both laptop are set a the same visual level of brightness: the Snow leopard one (my own MBP) is a level 1, but my brother's one is set at level 8 (but both show same brightness).

When both are set to level 1, my brother's one is really (really!) less bright (but less power eater).

Any chance you could post a picture of your brother's MBP and yours, side-by-side, both at brightness level 1?

NiCOOo Author

Level 1

10 points

Sep 3, 2009 10:46 AM in response to uriaha

I'll try to do that tomorrow 🙂

direwolf8

Level 4

1,280 points

Sep 3, 2009 11:33 AM in response to NiCOOo

Besides being very subjective, that could be a normal variance in the LCD panels. I have two identical Dell 22" LD monitors side by side, from the same manufacturing run and their appearance isn't nearly the same with identical settings (and I can't get them to be identical no matter how they're set).

NiCOOo Author

Level 1

10 points

Sep 3, 2009 12:43 PM in response to direwolf8

No, I've noticed the problem before having my brother's MBP 13" at home.
11The difference is clear, on my own display... (before / after SL)

be.ba

Level 1

0 points

Sep 3, 2009 1:08 PM in response to NiCOOo

It's obviously a bug in the AppleBacklight.kext kernel extension of Snow Leopard.

When you replace /System/Library/Extensions/AppleBacklight.kext (Snow Leopard version 170.0.2) with the version 1.6.0 from Leopard 10.5.8, after a reboot you have again the brightness levels on your MacBook Pro 13" known from Leopard.

I've opened a bug report at Apple, problem ID 7195636 - I don't know if Apple engineers read this discussions...

BTW, when you want to automate the brightness adjustment of your MacBook Pro in conjunction with a LED Cinema Display, maybe my BrightnessSync preference pane helps. It's still beta, but it works fine with Snow Leopard. See http://www.bernhard-baehr.de/ => BrightnessSync.

Sep 3, 2009 1:33 PM in response to NiCOOo

NiCOOo: I just had a clean install of Snow Leopard on my MacBook Pro 13", and I have the exact same problem. It doesn't really bother me that much because I keep my screen brighter, but I do think this isn't a case specific issue and seen that it has affect a lot of people.

uriaha

Level 1

0 points

Sep 3, 2009 2:25 PM in response to direwolf8

I had some extra time today, so I set my MBP to dual-boot Leopard and Snow Leopard. I then compared screen brightness in 10.5 to 10.6 at low, medium, and high brightness, as adjusted by the function keys. Exposure and white balance were set manually and held constant across images. As others have suggested, the minimum brightness on Snow Leopard is roughly equal to the mid-point on Leopard. We weren't crazy! 🙂

You can see the results here:
http://i26.tinypic.com/2ep7uae.jpg

Message was edited by: uriaha

NiCOOo Author

Level 1

10 points

Sep 3, 2009 2:34 PM in response to Pandaholic

@ Pandaholic,

Yes, in my opinion, some thousand of MBP 9CC2 panel owners have this exact problem 😉
Just to confirm, can you check if you have the 9CC2 panel on your MBP 13"?

@ uriaha

Thanks for your excellent shot! That's exactly what I'm talking about: hope Apple could fix this ASAP.
By the way: 9CC2 panel too for your laptop?

Sep 3, 2009 2:51 PM in response to NiCOOo

How do I tell if its a 9cc2 panel?

NiCOOo Author

Level 1

10 points

Sep 3, 2009 3:01 PM in response to Pandaholic

Go to Color Sync Utility > Displays > Open Displays > Click Color LCD > At "Factory Profile" on the right side of the window click on Open > in the new window scroll to the second last entry and click on "Apple display make..." > there you've got manufacturer and model.

You can also go to Pref. Panel > Monitor > Color > Select the profile on top (Display or Color LCD) and open it > Go to line mmod > Look at the model number after 0000

Hope this help!

uriaha

Level 1

0 points

Sep 3, 2009 3:19 PM in response to NiCOOo

Yep, 9CC2 panel for me.

Sep 3, 2009 6:17 PM in response to NiCOOo

Ya, mine is a 9CC2.

NiCOOo Author

Level 1

10 points

Sep 4, 2009 12:50 AM in response to Pandaholic

There is one thing to do know dear 9CC2 owners: 🙂

http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html

Hope they'll hear us, and fix it soon...

NiCOOo Author

Level 1

10 points

Sep 4, 2009 4:37 PM in response to be.ba

Hi be.ba,

Excellent idea! AppleBacklight.kext is probably a good trail to follow.
But I've tryed your option, and it killed my backilght settings! (the ability to adjust backlight, from F1-F2 and also Preference panel) 😟

For now, I'm trying to repair permissions, hoping it'll put everything in order after having restored the original file.

I've contacted Apple too, and gave them your bug report number: apparently, you forgot a number in it? Can you check it, and give me back the correct bug report number you have?

The tech I talked to was interested by this option!

Thanks 😉

Snow Leopard changed the brightness range of MBP 13" ?