Display Settings: Dell QuickSet Help for Microsoft Windows Vista

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# Display Settings

Dell™ QuickSet Help for Microsoft® Windows Vista™

Controlling Brightness

Conserving Battery Power With Display Power Management

Selecting Display Configurations

Hot Keys

## Controlling Brightness

### Ambient Light Sensor

| NOTE: This feature may not be available on certain computers.

The ambient light sensor detects available environmental light and automatically increases or decreases the display backlighting to compensate for low-light and high-light environments. You can press the <Fn> and left-arrow key combination to enable or disable this feature.

The ambient light sensor feature is disabled when your computer is shipped to you. If you enable the ambient light sensor and then use any of the display brightness key combinations (see "Hot Keys"), the sensor is disabled and the display brightness is increased or decreased accordingly. When you disable the ambient light sensor feature by using either of the display brightness key combinations, the Brightness Meter indicates the ambient light sensor enabled/disabled status.

Dell™ QuickSet allows you to enable or disable the ambient light sensor feature. You can also adjust maximum and minimum brightness settings that are activated when you enable the ambient light sensor feature.

To enable or adjust the ambient light sensor feature using Dell QuickSet:

1. Double-click the icon in the taskbar.
2. In the QuickSet main menu, click Panel Brightness Settings.
3. Click the Ambient Light Sensor tab.
4. Click Enable Ambient Light Sensor so that a check mark is displayed in the check box, and click OK.
5. To adjust the minimum and maximum brightness levels, click and drag the brightness sliders to your desired settings.

You can disable the ambient light sensor feature in QuickSet by deselecting the Disable Ambient Light Sensor check box.

### Keyboard Illumination

Some computers feature keyboard illumination. A notebook may have several LEDs built into the LCD lid that project light onto the keyboard. By pressing the <Fn><®> keys, you may cycle through the following keyboard illumination options: Always On, Always Off, or Auto Mode. In Auto Mode, the keyboard illumination LEDs automatically turn on or off, depending on the ambient light level.

### Brightness Meter

The Brightness Meter shows the current brightness setting for your display. The meter is displayed on your screen when you use the display brightness key combinations (<Fn> and the up- or down-arrow key) to increase or decrease the display backlighting.

1 | Brightness Meter

You can enable (or disable) the Brightness Meter so that it does (or does not) appear on your screen when you adjust screen brightness:

1. Click the icon in the taskbar.
2. If you want to disable the Brightness Meter so that it does not appear on your screen when you press the key combinations to adjust screen brightness, click Disable On Screen Brightness Meter so that a check mark is displayed.

If you want to enable the Brightness Meter so that it is displayed on your screen when you adjust brightness, click Disable On Screen Brightness Meter so that a check mark does not appear.

| NOTE: By default, the Brightness Meter is displayed in the lower-right corner of your screen. You can click and drag the meter to a new location, and the meter subsequently always is displayed at the new location.

| NOTE: Keyboard combinations for adjusting the brightness of your screen only affect the display on your portable computer, not the monitors that you attach to your portable computer or the docking device. If your computer is in CRT-only mode and you try to change the brightness level, the Brightness Meter is displayed, but the brightness level on the monitor does not change.

You can press the following keys (key combinations) to adjust display brightness:

- Press <Fn> and the up-arrow key to increase brightness on the integrated display only (not on an external monitor).
- Press <Fn> and the down-arrow key to decrease brightness on the integrated display only (not on an external monitor).

## Conserving Battery Power With Display Power Management

| NOTE: The display power management features are only available when your computer is operating on battery power. When your computer is connected to an electrical outlet, your computer's display's performance is always maximized.

### LED Intensity

You can adjust the brightness of the LEDs on your computer.

To set LED intensity, do the following:

1. Do one of the following:
   - Double-click the Power Options icon in the Control Panel.
   - Double-click the Battery icon in the system tray.
2. Select a power plan.
3. Adjust the LED intensity.

### Display Backlight Level

| NOTE: This feature may not be available on certain computers.

Enabling the Intel® Display Power Saving Technology (DPST) feature allows your computer to dynamically adjust the display backlight level to a value that optimizes both image quality and battery power conservation.

To enable the DPST feature:

1. Double-click the icon in the taskbar.
2. In the QuickSet main menu, click Panel Brightness Settings.
3. Click the DPST tab.
4. Select the Enabled option from the Intel® DPST on battery mode drop-down menu.
5. Using the slider bar, choose the "aggressiveness" level that best suits your needs.

Aggressiveness level 1 provides maximum image quality, but it makes greater demands on the battery operating time. Aggressiveness level 5 allows maximum battery-power conservation, but it minimizes backlighting to the display.

1. Click the Apply DPST button to see the effect of the level setting you chose in step 2.

You may reset the aggressiveness level as many times as you like, clicking the Apply DPST button each time to see the different effect.

1. Click Next when you have found the best DPST level setting, and continue with the Power Management Wizard.

## Selecting Display Configurations

| NOTE: This feature may not be available on certain computers.

Press <Fn><F8> to view a list of available display configurations. You can highlight and cycle through the options by holding down <Fn><F8> and alternately releasing and pressing <F8>. When you highlight the display configuration you want, release both keys.

| NOTE: You can press <Fn><F8> to also activate Presentation Mode, but only if the mode is first enabled through the QuickSet Display Settings option.

Depending on the hardware connected to your computer, the following options may be available to you.

| NOTE: Options other than those shown below may also be available to you; not all available configurations are represented below.

## Hot Keys

Feature | Hot Key | Function
--- | --- | ---
Brightness Meter | <Fn> and up-arrow key <Fn> and down-arrow key | Increases display brightness Decreases display brightness
ambient light sensor* | <Fn> and left-arrow key | Enables or disables the ambient light sensor feature
keyboard illumination* | <Fn> and right-arrow key | Cycles keyboard illumination LEDs through Always On® Always Off® Auto Mode
Volume Meter* | <Fn><Page Up> <Fn><Page Dn> <Fn><End> | Increases speaker volume Decrease speaker volume Mutes the speaker volume; toggles on and off
wireless activity indicators* | <Fn><F2> (available only on computers that do not have a wireless switch) | Displays icons depicting on/off state of wireless network connections (Mobile Broadband, Bluetooth®, or Wi-Fi)
Battery Meter | <Fn><F3> | Displays the Battery Meter on the screen
display configurations* | <Fn><F8> | Lists available display configurations
Hibernate* | <Fn><F1> | Puts your computer in hibernate mode NOTE: If hibernate mode is not enabled in your computer's power settings, QuickSet notifies you, and you need to enable hibernate mode for the hot key to function.
CD/DVD eject* | <Fn><F10> | Ejects discs from your CD/DVD drives

* This feature may not be available on certain computers.

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