Most laptops nowadays have an adjustable brightness setting. This key feature is mainly for laptop use in various environments. For instance, you’ll need to increase your laptop’s screen brightness when the environment is too bright or too dim. It also helps you to focus more on your tasks, since light is more luminated to your eyes.
But how do you make your laptop screen brighter? In this guide, we’ll go over various methods to make your laptop’s screen more bright and sharper in terms of colors. This guide also applies to users who are wondering how to make their Chromebook screen brighter than max.
Read this guide to learn more.
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Methods to Make your Laptop Screen Brighter Than Max
Sometimes, you’ll need to have a brighter-than-normal setting on your laptop’s screen. Whether it’s due to a dark photo or video, a bright display can provide a much clearer perspective than a normal brightness setting.
Below, we’ll discuss some methods to make your laptop screen brighter than max. Make sure to follow every method to see which one worked well for your laptop screen.
Method #1: Manually Adjust the Display Brightness
Although your laptop automatically adjusts your screen brightness, it’s not always the brightest setting. The first method that you can try is by pressing the brightness hotkeys. Depending on your laptop, brightness keys are typically found on the Function keys on your laptop’s keyboard.
For instance, MacBooks have their brightness buttons at the F1 and F2 keys. While Windows laptops typically have it on the F4 and F5 keys—you’ll sometimes need to press the fn (Function key) + Brightness key to toggle this hotkey.
To adjust the display brightness of your laptop, follow these steps:
On Windows (via Settings):
- With your laptop turned on, press the Win + I keys to open the Settings app.
- Navigate to System > Display. Under the Brightness and Colour group, you’ll find the slider that controls the display brightness.
- Drag it towards the right edge to set it to maximum brightness. You can adjust it to the left to set it to normal.
On MacBook (via Control Center):
- Open your MacBook and click the Control Center icon (two stacked, black and white switches) on the top-right of the Menu bar.
- Under the Display group, you can adjust the brightness via a slider. Slide it to the right edge to set your MacBook’s display to full brightness.
Method #2: Calibrate your Laptop Screen
More often than not, your laptop screen should already be calibrated to the right standards. However, you can also calibrate it manually through your computer’s display settings. This will adjust all brightness and color settings so they can appear more accurate.
To calibrate your laptop screen in Windows, follow the steps below:
- Click the Search menu (magnifying glass icon) on the Menu bar and type in “calibrate display color”.
- Click Open. The Display Color Calibration wizard will now be launched. Select Next to start.
- The first adjustment will be on the gamma. To set it up accurately, minimize the visibility of the small dots inside the circle.
- Next, you’ll need to set up your screen’s brightness as well as the contrast, just follow the on-screen steps to achieve optimal brightness for your screen.
- Finally, you’ll set up your display’s colors; you will be asked to move the sliders until all colors cast are removed. You need to achieve a neutral gray on each bar to keep the colors properly calibrated.
- Next, you will have the option to compare the previous calibration with the new one. To see the previous calibration settings, click the Previous calibration button.
- If you’re content with the new calibration settings, click Finish to save all changes.
Method #3: Disable Adaptive Brightness
On most Windows computers, you’ll have an option to enable the adaptive brightness feature. This allows the computer to automatically adjust the brightness levels of your laptop screen based on your current environment, mostly to save power.
To disable adaptive brightness in Windows, do the following:
- Click the Search menu and type in “power options”.
- On the new window, expand the Display group and click on Enable adaptive brightness.
- Switch both settings to Off and click Apply.
- Select OK to close the window and see if the brightness levels are higher.
Alternatively, you can also disable this feature via the Display Settings; to do this, follow these steps:
- Press Win + I on the keyboard to open the Settings app.
- Go to System > Display. Under the Brightness and Color group, uncheck the “Change brightness automatically when lighting changes” and the “Automatically adjust contrast based on the displayed content to help improve battery” options.
- Restart your laptop and see if the screen brightness has improved.
Method #4: Use Third-party Applications (for Windows Laptops)
If all methods didn’t work, you can try to use trusted third-party brightness control software. These apps enable you to control the brightness and color configurations aside from your computer’s default settings.
Apps such as Desktop Lighter, RedShiftGUI, iBrightness Tray, and other similar apps give you more defined control on increasing your laptop’s screen brightness. Most of the time, these apps are free and safe for your computer—as long as they’re downloaded from their official websites.
Final Thoughts
Among the key features of the display, screens are their brightness. Displays that have a more controllable brightness setting are easier to use and have increased portability since you can bring and use them in any setting. When your environment gets too dark or too bright, it helps to have a laptop with an adjustable brightness setting.
Therefore, this guide can surely help you when you need your laptop’s brightness levels to be at their maximum. If your laptop does not respond well to changes in the display settings, it’s best to have it checked with an authorized service center.