Hey guys,
So I have a Macbook Air 2011 and currently hooked up to the 27in Thunderbolt Cinema Display. I love the huge screen but the only thing that is driving me nuts is that I cannot adjust the screen brightness on the Thunderbolt Display. I'm not mirroring the screen but I need to figure this out before I end up breaking my cinema display.. any help would be Very much appreciated!!
Thanks and Happy Holidays!
Yong
Thunderbolt Display-OTHER, Mac OS X (10.7.2)
By the way, I did try the brighness keys on the keyboard... it only adjusted the brightness on my MBA tho. Just wanted to make it clear that I'm not that of a 'tard!
Did you try disconnecting and reconnecting the display?
I have the same issue now and then, reconnecting makes it work. Sometimes I even have to restart.
I was having this same problem but with the LED Cinema Display so I am not sure if the Thunderbolt issue is the same. In my case I did not have the USB cable connected to my Mac. Once the USB was connected the brightness controls showed up in the options under System Preferences > Displays
That proves that the problem is USB. I think speakers, camera, microphone and ethernet are also USB adapters inside the display.
You should be able to adjust the brightness of any Apple screen attached to your MBA in your System Preferences "Displays" panel.
Also, if you use the MBA in "clamshell mode" (i. e. connect the external display and use it with your MBA "closed"), the brightness keys on your keyboard should automatically control the brightness of your Thunderbold Display.
Hope this helps.
I am new to the mac world and have just purchased a macbook pro 17 closed conected to the 27 inch thunderbolt display. Operating in bootcamp using my cad program. I cant seem to adjust the brightness and it is giving me sore eyes and a headache after prelonged use.
KKJacks, that is the exact solution. I was having same problem with 13" MBA connected to Apple Cinema Display. Brightness controls from Mac external keyboard would not work with adjusting the cinema display. In my case I have the MBA in clamshell mode but I only connect the power and thunderbolt cables. I don't usually connect the USB cable.
I attached the USB cable from the cinema display and voila, brightness controls now work from the keyboard.
Well done, totally fixed it for me. It's not necessarily intuitive to think that the USB cable would need to be attached to enable brightness controls from a wireless keyboard, so I'm glad I came across this!
Turns out you can also control it from a wireless keyboard (not sure why the brightness shortcut on that one only controls the external display though).
Also, it's lucky I have a wireless keyboard, because I don't have a USB component in my display cable (just power and Thunderbolt).
Thanks!
-Jim
I know this question is old, but I came across an additional answer today, so I thought I would share it here so others would find the answer:
If you press CTRL-F1 or CTRL-F2, you can raise and lower the brightness of an external display connected to your Macbook, in addition to System Preferences > Displays.
Cheers,
David
adjust screen brightness
