x201s screen dims & recovers despite power saving settings

Did you turn off the contrast lowering power saving feature as discussed in this thread?

 

Yes, I did...

 

Well, if it's not the contrast lowering feature of the brightness lowering feature, then I'm stumped, and I don't know if anybody else has experienced it and had it not be one of those features. Are you on Win 7?

 

ddensity's suggestion worked for me! It seemed to be dropping the brightness when I switched to cmd.exe, and raising it again when I switched to a text editor. Maybe it's trying to be smart based on the kind of application which is focused?

 

I have this issue as wll So it is confirmed a software issue right? No point in returning it?

Will try ddensitys suggestion now. Are there any negative effects by using his solution at all? (battery life, etc.)

 

Hello everyone,

As I have recently acquired a X200s, I am trying to work out a good contrast theme to make up for the poor display quality. I am well aware of the dynamic contrast change that the Intel Display Power Saving Technology introduces depending on the setting.

My system's configuration is: SL9400, WXGA with WWAN antennas (I am mentioning this as I firmly believe my system to have a CCFL display and not a LED one), Intel 5300, BT, 2Gb RAM, 160GB 5400rpm and I think that's about it regarding the major power hogs. I did some tests using BattStat to measure consumption in Watts. Here are the findings:

Power settings with CPU at forced lowest, screen at 0/15 brightness, all radios off, no SD card in slot, system at idle.

Intel Power Plan set to Max Battery, Display Power Saving Technology disabled, achieved 5.5W

Set to Max Performance, DPST disabled, achieved 6.5W

There was NO dynamic contrast change at either of these two power plans. Only when I enabled DPST I noticed the contrast changing when alternating between my black desktop and a notepad window. The effect is VERY noticeable especially in the taskbar where all text is completely washed out when the focus is on the black desktop, with the contrast returning to normal when in Notepad.

It is important to note that the dynamic contrast is enabled no matter what the DPST setting is, it is less pronounced on Max Performance though but it is still there.

Anyone who wishes their contrast to remain the same and reduce consumption should use Max Battery in Intel Power Plan settings and DISABLE the DPST.

So anyone who fears that they have a defective machine then you should install the latest drivers from System Update and disable DPST to determine if this is the cause of the changing contrast. Because the perceived change looks very similar to a brightness change you are led to believe that there is a fault with your display but I am sure it's the Intel power management to blame so before parting with your machine make sure to check that.

Also the DPST setting is absent when on AC power but don't assume it is disabled as there is always the possibility of a driver/software flaw, make sure you do your tests on battery and try to replicate my results.

And once you've solved your problem, don't forget to enjoy your all-day computing Thinkpad!