Monitor calibration question

[whatnext]

my monitor has stopped agreeing with my printer, which, as you know, just isn't "on" for digi scrapping. i'm starting to wonder what you guys have been seeing when i post my pages! anyway. i have an HP laptop that has a program built in that's supposed to walk you through calibrating the monitor. (Adobe Gamma) but on step one they're telling me to adjust the brightness/contrast, etc. how do i access THAT on a laptop? i went into the "display" section of Control Panel and i don't see where i can do this. i HATE trying to figure stuff like this out. can anyone at least get me to the starting gate on this?

[anxela]

HP... Let me check out some internet thingies...

I found this on some forums:

It is possible to change contrast... Hp laptops have either Intel mobile graphics or Nvidia graphics.
On your desktop click on the task bar to 'show hidden icons' so you can see all icons on the taskbar.

Intel:

If it's intel there should be a blue 'square' icon... hold mouse over and it will have title 'Intel graphics media accelerator', double left click on it and menu appears, click on 1st item 'graphics properties' and it brings up a window where you can adjust gamma brightness contrast.

Nvidia:

If it's Nvidia look in the task bar and there should be a green square icon 'Nvidia settings' single left click for popup menu then click on 'colour correction' to bring up window with brightness contrast etc.

If you're running Vista (or XP) you can also access the intel/Nvidia graphics from the control panel.

Other suggestions:
You should have access to the contrast settings within the ATI Catalyst Control Center. (Depends on what your graphics card is.) Normally you can get to the control center by right clicking on the desktop or through Display Properties -> Settings -> Advanced. Under the color option, you can vary the gamma, brightness, and contrast.

You might want to check this link out, too: adjust-brightness-hp-laptop-computer.html

[cheska99]

Scott Kelby has a section on callibrating your monitor in his CS4 book (and probably earlier books, too). But essentially he says you can't do it without a callibrator. I use the one from xrite (on Scott's recommendation--well, the man is a god, isn't he?) and find it works great. I tried the Spyder and thought the software was really lacking.

[AmyJ]

I love having my monitor calibrated. I have the eye-one that also does luminate light. I know what I'm looking at is what I should get.

I just got a new printer and in a week's time haven't even printed a picture which I can't believe. I've cussed my previous printer for several years now. It does not come out with the right colors no matter what! My parents have the same printer and I could print there no problem, I could order prints and they looked right, I even printed on my MIL's new printer and they came out beautiful. But my old one, not at all.

While Staples is having their $50 off with trade-in or printer, I jumped on the opportunity to get a new one. And now, I've been too busy to even run it through it's paces.