Getting Macbook Brightness Control On iMac

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Hi All,
During the night I often download things or else have my computer running for some other reason. There is a problem of it sometimes being to bright (Even on minimum setting). I have used apps light Brightness Control and active corners to turn off the display however I would love functionality where I have control over the brightness in a similar way to a MacBook. By this, I pretty much want my display to turn off when my brightness is on minimum.

I have already searched around in the usual spots - Google, Apple Communities, here etc. but I was surprised to find nothing. I thought this would be quite a popular issue however apologies if it is a very frequently asked question.

Thanks in advance.
 
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I hope someone can help you. I've tried to find a solution myself.

I ended up setting the display power settings to the minimum time and using caffeine to override that when I'm actively using the Mac.

After using a MacBook for so long it always stuck me as odd that the same level of control wasn't available to the iMac display
 
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Way... way too many specs to list.
I just use a hot corner to power off the display, leaving the machine running. But maybe I'm missing something in what you're looking for...
 

chscag

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Not sure I quite understand the problem either. The brightness level on the iMac will dim quite low prior to it shutting off altogether. Of course that depends on the timer settings in power saver preferences. And as Mike noted, you can always use hot corners to shut the display off instantly.
 
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chas_m

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I wonder if perhaps the OP's shiny new iMac is an LED backlit LCD while his MacBook is, like mine, a "regular" LCD that is naturally a WHOLE LOT dimmer ...
 

chscag

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All new iMacs are LED backlighted and yes, they're much brighter than the older CCFL backlighted MacBooks. (My older MacBook is a 2008 model.) But even at that, I can get the level of brightness down to a comfortable level on my Mid 2011 iMac. Of course, one's comfort level is subjective. :p
 
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madwolfe
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Hi guys, sorry for the slow reply.
I just use a hot corner to power off the display, leaving the machine running. But maybe I'm missing something in what you're looking for...
I mentioned this solution in my initial post (I called them Active Corners for some silly reason though) and I did mention that they had helped me however if the mouse is bumped or a key is pressed, it will return to normal.

Not sure I quite understand the problem either. The brightness level on the iMac will dim quite low prior to it shutting off altogether. Of course that depends on the timer settings in power saver preferences. And as Mike noted, you can always use hot corners to shut the display off instantly.
Sorry about that, perhaps I could reiterate here: rather than having a timer which results in the display turning off, I would prefer an option like the MacBooks (~2010 MBP with SL to be specific). This would mean that when you dim the display and the sun with the boxes underneath appears on screen, when there are no boxes lit the display turns off. What currently happens is my display dims to a still quite high level.

All new iMacs are LED backlighted and yes, they're much brighter than the older CCFL backlighted MacBooks. (My older MacBook is a 2008 model.) But even at that, I can get the level of brightness down to a comfortable level on my Mid 2011 iMac. Of course, one's comfort level is subjective. :p
I was not really interested in attaining the 'perfect brightness' (I have a nifty tool called Shades that assists me with that) although thanks for the input. You can see above (In hopefully understandable terms) what I am hoping to achieve.
 
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madwolfe
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Is there anybody that has any ideas? Even modifying files in the library?
 

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