LCD question
Dear Professor LJ,
If I understand correctly, an laptop LCD screen consists of a single backlight, and in front of that a lot of pixels. I don't know what the pixels are made of (crystals, I guess), but when you send current across one it starts blocking light. Does that mean that if the backlight is on, displaying a black screen actually consumes more power than displaying a white one?
I just got a utility for my computer that allows you to make the screen dimmer than is possible with the built-in brightness controls (something I often want to do when working in the dark). But instead of dimming the backlight, like when you adjust brightness in the OS, this utility fades the screen to a glowy black that I'm pretty sure means the backlight is on and the LCD is blocking it. Does that mean it's actually draining my battery more quickly?
If I understand correctly, an laptop LCD screen consists of a single backlight, and in front of that a lot of pixels. I don't know what the pixels are made of (crystals, I guess), but when you send current across one it starts blocking light. Does that mean that if the backlight is on, displaying a black screen actually consumes more power than displaying a white one?
I just got a utility for my computer that allows you to make the screen dimmer than is possible with the built-in brightness controls (something I often want to do when working in the dark). But instead of dimming the backlight, like when you adjust brightness in the OS, this utility fades the screen to a glowy black that I'm pretty sure means the backlight is on and the LCD is blocking it. Does that mean it's actually draining my battery more quickly?