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scouser75

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Oct 7, 2008
2,951
619
Guys, I don't know if I'm setting up the auto brightness wrong on my MBP M2.

I have auto brightness and True Tone set to ON. But when the light is dull or very dim, instead of the brightness going UP it dims right down to the point where I can hardly see the screen and struggle to see the cursor. I then have to manually increase the brightness.

I thought the brightness increased in dull light, and decreases in bright light.
 

JPack

macrumors G5
Mar 27, 2017
13,555
26,183
That's normal behavior for any device. If the ambient light is low, there is nothing to compete with the LCD. Why would the LCD brightness go high?

If you're in a library, do you crank up the volume? If you're at a party with lots of guests, do you turn down the music?
 

scouser75

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Oct 7, 2008
2,951
619
That's normal behavior for any device. If the ambient light is low, there is nothing to compete with the LCD. Why would the LCD brightness go high?

If you're in a library, do you crank up the volume? If you're at a party with lots of guests, do you turn down the music?
Thanks Jack. But surely that can't be right!

If you have a laptop, chances are high you're going to be working in varying lights therefore I'd have expected the MBP to auto increase brightness when it's dull and dark so I can actually see the screen - just like my iPhone does.

This evening the screen went so dull I really struggled to even find the brightness option at the top of the screen.
 

JPack

macrumors G5
Mar 27, 2017
13,555
26,183
iPhone also adjusts brightness down in a dark room. This is normal behavior. Your pupils dilate in a dark room to allow more light. You can manually increase the brightness if you prefer a higher threshold.
 

Nermal

Moderator
Staff member
Dec 7, 2002
21,014
4,592
New Zealand
JPack is correct. In a dark room, the screen doesn't need to produce as much light (it doesn't need to "compete" with sunlight, for example). Meanwhile when you're outside in the sun you need a lot of brightness to be able to see the screen.
 
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jake.au

macrumors member
Jun 24, 2018
62
372
Sydney, Australia
Try turn the brightness to minimum out in the sun, you won’t be able to see a thing. The brightness of your screen goes up and down together with the brightness of your environment.
 
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Rodan52

macrumors 6502
The screen brightness should go down in low lighting and up in bright lighting, that seems completely logical to me. If it were the other way around the screen brightness would go down when outside in bright daylight making the screen unreadable. Bright screen outside dull screen inside.
Obviously if that doesn't work for you just turn off auto and set to your requirements manually.
 

scouser75

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Oct 7, 2008
2,951
619
Thanks guys. Is there a way to set the auto Bright function so I have a minimum set in low light and then the auto brightness works from that setting?
 

Fishrrman

macrumors Penryn
Feb 20, 2009
29,248
13,324
I don't care for "automatic" adjustments.
I turn that off.
When I feel the screen needs a brightness adjustment, I just "do it myself" (easy to do on the MacBook Pro 14" by reaching up to the menu bar).

I'd suggest that the OP do the same.
 
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