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0 pointslocomoco11y ago0 comments

Yes, but it's not the same as turning the display off. The GPU is still outputting signal to the Macbook Pro screen.

0 comments

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.

locomocoOP11y ago

Along with the battery suck, it also generates more heat as the GPU has to output 2 signals.

Karunamon11y ago

what the.. why? The screen is unusable without the backlight.

jevinskie11y 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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