Dell XPS 15 (9550): Can I set display brightness to 0% (completely black/off) somehow?

Hello,

I have a simple question regarding my Dell XPS 15 (9550) running Windows 10 - I am used from the old MacBook Pro that it is possible to dim the screen down to a level where it is completely black/off using the F11/F12 keys. I find that very convenient. Can I configure my Dell 9550 to be able to do the same? Maybe using some extra tools/drivers or some such? Currently the "zero" setting of the screen brightness dimming buttons means the screen is still on while being somewhat dark.

Thanks in advance,
Matt

 

Not with the F11 key, but you can with the F7 key if you enable the option in BIOS for "Unobtrusive mode" (disabled by default). This switches off the screen and all power lights ... but unfortunately also the sound.

 

Hi,
thanks for the reply, but I couldn't find this option in the 9550's BIOS.
Anyways, the setting wouldn't help me much since my wish is to keep the sound on while dimming the display to 0% brightness (i.e. completely black)...
Any other thoughts on the issue?

 

I found a satisfying solution. There is a small freeware utlilty tray icon, that allows assigning the "Monitor off" command to a custom hot key: http://www.dekisoft.com/mou.php

I configured it to shut the monitor down with Strg + 0 and run on windows startup and that solved my issue.

 

Personally, I just let Power Options take care of it. (Right-click Start, Power Options.) It will turn off display after N minutes of keyboard/trackpad inactivity. Can be set to different values for A/C and battery and as low as 1 minute. Display turns back on with trackpad or keyboard activity. Alternatively, if I want display always on I just switch to a different Plan with those settings.



Or, if I'm using only an external monitor, set Single Display to the external monitor using settings under Display, Multiple Displays in Intel HD Graphics Control Panel. This turns off the laptops panel.