M11x-R2 just arrived, screen is washed out

I have read about the "reflectiveness" of the M11x screen and I can deal with that; what I have to admit I am more than a bit disappointed in is the overall brightness of the screen.

I have 6 laptop/netbooks in my house and they M11x screen is the worst for brightness. Its so washed out, it almost feels like its not getting enough power. My G73 screen has an idle mode where the screen gets less bright if you don't use it for a minute or so (prior to any screen saver), this is what the M11x is like.

I have:
Asus G73
Asus UL80A
Dell Latitude D630
HP Probook 6440b
AW M11x-R2
Asus EEeePC 10" Netbook

I tried to go to the Nvidia controls for color as their is a brightness slider but fails to do anything but wash it out more.

I'm not sure what I can do if anything, any thoughts?

 

m11x is certainly the worst screen I've ever seen on a portable computer like device. A shame considering the price.

 

Thats not normal , my screen is reflective but is bright, sharp and colors are rich and vibrant .

 

Not that this helps you, but I'm very satisfied with my screen and its brightness. I'm coming from an MSI laptop though, so no idea how those rate, but this thing is great. Maybe contact Dell and tell them something is wrong?

 

I have other 2 machines and the m11x has the best quality screen/bright, sure, is way to reflective, but you get used to it:

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b245/VIdaluko/DSC09271.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b245/VIdaluko/DSC09268.jpg

All 3 have max bright, the left one is a Dell Inspiron 1525 and the right one is a Compaq netbook....

 

Is there some setting I might be missing?

Also how do I tell what kind of screen I have?

 

No, not really. I notice it constantly and is the one thing I truly hate about this otherwise great notebook.

 

It's weird, but I've noticed that my screen gets really washed out when I run in balanced mode. When I set the power to power saver or performance however, the screen becomes crisp and vibrant again.

 

Ok figured it out, the power plan was on "balanced". Once I selected "high performance" it brightened up to what I would consider normal.

Didn't see the option for "high performance" initially as its not available until you select show additional plans.

Thank goodness I figured this out on my own to be honest while I was on the phone with Dell/AW. My first taste of the Dell/AW support team has left me scared. I had some time as it took 3 transfers and numerous readings of my "express code", spellings of my name (its not that difficult), email address etc., and trying to explain the word "screen" was not "screw".

 

You know, all the power modes are just adjusting is the brightness, which you can do by hitting the FN + one of the F-keys on the top.

 

Generally speaking probably, but in this case you're wrong. Setting the power to balanced literally makes the screen become washed out for a while. It becomes really apparent if you have a dark desktop background and immediately open a window that uses a lot of light colors.

 

You know what I mean, you get used to it, like you have no more choice, is not like the reflective goes away with the time or something...

After 2 years with that Dell Inspiron (with a similar reflective screen) you get "used" to it....

 

Then tell me what else it is adjusting......

I've never heard of the power modes adjusting other screen brightness/color settings.

If you can show me, then I'll be glad to admit I'm wrong, however I've never heard of it adjusting other screen settings on the laptop.

 

I'm guessing it's something about the way the m11x handles it. I'm not sure if I can catch on video but I'll try when I get back home. If you want to try it yourself do the following:

-Set power to balanced
-Change your background do something dark, like black or dark gray
-Leave it on that background for a minute or two
-Open up a browser like Firefox (that's were I first noticed it) with the default page set to something bright like google or a blank page.

Pay attention to the navigation bar. It literally looks washed out and the screen takes a few seconds to get back to normal. This only seems to happen when my system is set to balanced mode.

 

Odd, the color of the bar does change.

 

Lmao I'm astounded nobody has mentioned the Digital Vibrance setting.

Control Panel -> NVIDIA Control Panel -> Adjust Desktop Color Settings

Scroll down to Apply the following Enhancements: and set Digital Vibrance to 60-90% depending on your preference. I wouldn't go above or below that because otherwise the color appears too strong or washed out.

The problem you are experiencing is that it's probably set to a really low value (<50%), it was exactly the same way when I first got my M11x.

EDIT: As for the problem where it gets dimmer after time, there is a setting for that too. Right click the power icon in the bottom-right hand corner (Either a battery or a battery with a plug) and click "Power Options". Choose High Performance (I think you said you already did, but there's more to do here!) then click "Change Plan Settings". You will then have the option of telling the computer when to dim the display (including never).

Hope this helps.

 

The R2 doesn't have any nvidia desktop color settings because the IGP handles video output to the display for both cards.

 

Ah. I was not aware of this, plus the OP did not specify which version he had.

IN THAT CASE, calibrating the monitor may apply here?

Control Panel -> Display -> Calibrate color

 

/me points to the title of the thread.

 

LOL i was once got this problem and created a thread asking for sollution here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/536283-brightness-problem.html
And finally fixed it thanks to namaiki. If you dont want to read the whole thread, then just disable this function: http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/827/imagesp.png

 

when you describe "wash-out" do you mean a somewhat of a "saturation" effect on welcome screen and sometimes when opening/closing apps?

 

isnt it kind of weird that the screen changes colors (as TC described) when going from balanced to High performance?

 

Ah, that seems like the culprit right there. Thanks!