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I have a Dell Precision M2800, which comes with the usual Intel 4600 as well as an AMD FirePro W4170M GPUs. The OS is Win 8.1 with the latest drivers for everything. Bios is fully updated (A06).

Dell has a "feature" called Dell Intelligent Display, which dims the screen according to the brightness of the displayed data. Not to be confused with the Adaptive Brightness feature of Windows.

This feature is annoying as hell. Everytime I switch tabs on my browser, or switch an IDE, The screen dims or brightness.

The way to turn this off should be through Dell's Battery Meter. But alas, the Precision line comes with an app called "Dell Command | Power Manager", and this feature is not present there. The Battery Meter app is not compatible with my laptop.

I see a lot of woe around this feature expressed over the Interwebs, but no official answer from Dell.

Anyone has any experience with this?

P.S. One of Dell's laptops strongest sell points is their "Pro support". Well - it's a joke. The 24hrz immediate response is ofcourse ignored, and both the Morocan and Greece call centers are not staffed by knowledgable, or even caring people. Beware!

EDIT 1: @BreakThrough suggested How to disable auto brightening LCD. Well, my Intel control panel looks like this:

Grrrrr Grrrrr2

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  • Strangely enough, you need to disable this through the Intel GPU configuration. See the question How to disable auto brightening LCD for how to do this (this answer in particular). Jun 24, 2015 at 6:25
  • I've edited my question
    – Vaiden
    Jun 24, 2015 at 6:42
  • I'm not on my laptop currently so I can't check directly, but I know the option is hidden in there somewhere... Try the drop-down arrow right beside "Power". You might also want to enable the 'advanced' settings (try the Options & Support tab). Also note you have to do it for both the Plugged In, as well as On Battery Power modes. The UI isn't exactly intuitive, but you will find it if you search for it long enough. Jun 24, 2015 at 6:55
  • @Breakthrough: None of these exist in my Intel(R) HD Graphics Control Panel. Please look at my screenshot. I've also tried that drop-down arrow right beside "Power".
    – Vaiden
    Jun 24, 2015 at 11:34
  • Vaiden, in the drop down, you should see "Plugged In" and "Battery". Click "Battery", and you should see an additional option appear called "Display Power Saving Technology"; disable this, and the automatic brightness changing should be disabled. Jun 30, 2015 at 19:05

1 Answer 1

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Under Intel(R) HD Graphics Control Panel, go to Power, under Display Power Saving Technology, choose Disable, Apply

Here is what Display Power Saving Technology does:

Intel GPU model may include the Display Power Saving Technology feature that can save the computer's power consumption by optimizing picture contrast on the internal LCD.

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  • None of these exist in my Intel(R) HD Graphics Control Panel. Please look at my screenshot. I've also tried that drop-down arrow right beside "Power"
    – Vaiden
    Jun 24, 2015 at 11:27
  • I've also downloaded the latest drivers (from 29/05/2015).
    – Vaiden
    Jun 24, 2015 at 11:33

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