Macbook Pro Screen Dimming

I knew I wasn't going crazy. I could have sworn that I saw the screen dim itself when unplugged, despite me keeping the brightness half-way. What happened was that I gently moved my finger across the webcam to remove a bit of lint that was on it, when all of a sudden the screen dimmed. It went back to normal once I removed my finger to stop covering it.

I'm new to Macs in general (especially the MBP), so I have to ask, is this common? What are the uses for it? Is there a way to turn it off?

Kind of neat, nonetheless.

haha yeah this is normal! One of my favourite features as well!

It just means that you don't have a really really bright screen in darker areas thus reducing eye strain!

If you go to System preferences and then Displays there should be an option at the bottom of the window saying 'Automatically adjust brightness as ambient light changes' just untick the box to disable it!

G3XOI said:

haha yeah this is normal! One of my favourite features as well!

It just means that you don't have a really really bright screen in darker areas thus reducing eye strain!

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Just like on the iPhone. Autobrightness is definitely a step up ;D

And only on MacbookPro, not on my MAcbook grrr lol

OnceYouGoMac said:

And only on MacbookPro, not on my MAcbook grrr lol

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My Macbook does it

My Macbook does it too.

Oh..hmm. And you say System Preferences, Displays, and there is just a tick box on the bottom of the first screen?

The new Macbooks must not have it, as it is not an option anywhere that I can see.

OnceYouGoMac said:

Oh..hmm. And you say System Preferences, Displays, and there is just a tick box on the bottom of the first screen?

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Yeah that's right! I am using a dual-screen set up so mine looks like this: