# Turn off iMac monitor



## mala (Nov 19, 2003)

Hi, 
when I leave my iMac on during night, I'd like to turn off the monitor (it lights up the hole room!) maually, before the power saver does it after a while. How is that done? 

TIA 

Mans


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## djarran (Nov 19, 2003)

mala said:
			
		

> Hi,
> when I leave my iMac on during night, I'd like to turn off the monitor (it lights up the hole room!) maually, before the power saver does it after a while. How is that done?
> 
> TIA
> ...



Is this a flat screen (lcd) iMac? If so, then you should just be able to press the power button once, briefly, and the monitor will turn off.  Hold the power button down for too long (5 seconds), and you'll power down the entire system.

Dave


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Nov 19, 2003)

Alternatively, if you're using Panther or even Jaguar, you can make your computer sleep immediately from the Apple Menu or the log-in screen.


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## mala (Nov 19, 2003)

Well, it's not a flat screen iMac so I can't push the power button. And also, I don't want to put the thing to sleep, only turn off the monitor. Is thi possible?


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Nov 19, 2003)

I think the only possibility is to set the monitor to turn off in Energy Saver... you could set this to a very low value, like 5 minutes.

Other than that, I don't know of any other way to turn off the monitor only.


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## mala (Nov 19, 2003)

ElDiabloConCaca said:
			
		

> I think the only possibility is to set the monitor to turn off in Energy Saver... you could set this to a very low value, like 5 minutes.
> 
> Other than that, I don't know of any other way to turn off the monitor only.



Yes, but the problem is that I don't want this setting during daytime, only at night. But maybe You're right, maybe it's my best choice.

/Mala


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## EvenStranger (Nov 19, 2003)

mala said:
			
		

> Yes, but the problem is that I don't want this setting during daytime, only at night. But maybe You're right, maybe it's my best choice.
> 
> /Mala



simple solution:

How about a pure black screensaver? You can set up a hot corner, drag the cursor to it and the black screen will come up.

more complex solution:

Set up two locations, one for daytime, one for night. Change locations sometime in the evening so that the screen sleeps after a short time, and change locations back in the morning so the sleep setting is disabled.


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## ksv (Nov 19, 2003)

EvenStranger said:
			
		

> simple solution:
> 
> How about a pure black screensaver? You can set up a hot corner, drag the cursor to it and the black screen will come up.



The problem is that the backlight would still be on, hence it'd still emit some light and burn out just as quickly. But I don't have any better ideas..


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## Arden (Nov 19, 2003)

I also leave my iMac on at night, and I have to wait 5 minutes before the screen shuts off.  I'd say push Cmd-Shift-0 when you want to go to bed to put your computer to sleep as well.


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## Torxter (Jul 15, 2006)

ok, before you go to sleep, go to system prefs. and then energy options
drag the lower slider to 1 minute, and in 1 minute your display will turn off. That's what I do with my iMac (and that's in my room) and it works like a charm (like it wouldn't?).
That should work, unless it's only an iMac G5 option? :/


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## macoscam (Jul 29, 2009)

I found a better solution than all the others listed.  You can COMPLETELY dim the iMac screen immediately.

My specific problem is that I run QuicKeys macros all night and I'm noticing screen burn in on my iMac. I can't turn off the iMac's display without putting it completely to sleep; the brightness controls will only dim so far; and Energy Saver won't keep the screen dimmed because QuicKeys is causing my iMac to do continual activity (as if I was typing and moving the mouse all night). So a screensaver won't work, and the application Backdrop won't work because that would screw up my macros which need to switch back and forth between applications and keep the application it is working on in the foreground.

Came to the rescue: the preference panel, "Shades". Instead of a "backdrop" or foreground application and instead of a screensaver which detects activity to cause it to wake, Shades is a true screen dimmer, but with much more functionality. And for the iMac, it can COMPLETELY dim the screen to absolute darkness if you want.

It's FREE and a life saver for me, so I can run my QuicKeys macros all night and not get screen burn in on my iMac.

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/31515


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## ksv (Jul 29, 2009)

Nice, but this thread is almost six years old, and dimming the screen is probably no longer a problem : )


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