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by wodenokoto 4269 days ago
Can't you just turn the brightness down to zero?
1 comments
locomoco 4269 days ago
Yes, but it's not the same as turning the display off. The GPU is still outputting signal to the Macbook Pro screen.
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nkurz 4269 days ago
Wow, I hadn't considered that. It might explain why I get terrible battery life when playing movies on a TV over HDMI with the screen "turned off" by dimming it down to zero. Thanks for the hint.
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locomoco 4269 days ago
Along with the battery suck, it also generates more heat as the GPU has to output 2 signals.
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Karunamon 4269 days ago
what the.. why? The screen is unusable without the backlight.
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jevinskie 4269 days ago
Perhaps latency? Suppose it takes 0.5-1 second to switch between "Off" and "Lowest brightness" when turning On/Off the GPU, that could create a bad experience when every other brightness change is instantaneous. Though it is a great power optimization idea, if the (unknown to me) downsides aren't too bad!
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