Does it save battery to have your desktop background set on a dark color?

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Do you think that a laptop consume less power when the color displayed on the screen is darker ? (And even less when the color is totally black) ?

I don't mean reducing the brightness or contrast settings but simply have a dark blue or dark green desktop (windows background color), and that parts of this desktop is visible (Grrr)

Pierre Watelet

Posted 2010-03-03T08:18:11.450

Reputation: 4 269

Answers

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No, because the LCD backlight is always on, even if all the light (or most of it) is blocked by the pixels in front of it (thus displaying black).

The newer LED-lit LCD screens could eventually save some energy, but not the side-lit LED screens. Check this out: Difference Side-Lit LED versus Direct LED.

Snark

Posted 2010-03-03T08:18:11.450

Reputation: 30 147

1You can save power by dimming the backlight (usually an Function + F# key combo) but you may want to still use a bright background color to keep the screen legible. – Chris Nava – 2010-03-03T16:17:51.430

Especially on mobile phones with AMOLED or Super AMOLED displays may save upto ~25% of Battery life! – math – 2012-01-03T16:12:33.950

Asked: 2010-03-03T08:18:11.450

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Active: 2010-08-05T03:22:00.290