How to Calibrate the Color Settings on a Laptop Monitor
By Gissimee Doe
Calibrating the color settings on your laptop’s monitor will ensure that you get the best possible visual experience from the monitor. This is especially important if you use your laptop to edit pictures or do graphic design. It will also improve your experience when viewing videos and playing graphics-heavy computer games. You can use Display Color Calibration in Windows to quickly calibrate your monitor. If your monitor shipped with special calibration software, you should use that instead of Display Color Calibration for the best results.
Display Color Calibration
Display Color Calibration lets you adjust your laptop monitor’s display color by changing certain color settings. The actual settings that you can change depend on your monitor. Not all settings are available for all monitor models. You can access Display Color Calibration from the Windows Control Panel by typing “display color” (without quotes) in the Search box. Click on “Calibrate display color” under the “Display” heading in the search results to launch Display Color Calibration in a new window.
Basic Color Settings
You’ll need to reset your monitor to its basic color settings to perform an accurate calibration. The Display Color Calibration wizard will prompt you to click on your monitor’s “Menu” button, which will vary depending on its manufacturer and model. You may need to check the documentation that came with your laptop to find out whether it has one and where it’s located. Set your color display to “sRGB” or set your color temperature to “D65” or “6500.” Set your gamma value to “2.2.” If you can’t find the menu button or change the basic color settings, skip this step in the wizard.
Changing the Settings
The Display Color Calibration wizard will show you how to adjust your gamma with a visual display of what good gamma looks like. Read the instructions carefully and click on the “Next” button to adjust your gamma settings. Gamma has to do with the intensity of the light emitted by your monitor. Use the slider to adjust your gamma. Click through the wizard to adjust your brightness settings, which will determine how shadows and dark colors are displayed on your monitor. Set your contrast to the default factory setting, as your laptop has an LCD monitor. Adjust your brightness by pressing the “FN” key and the appropriate brightness function keys which has either an up or down arrow and a sun icon ("F6" and "F7" on some keyboards).
Viewing the Calibration
When you’ve finished changing your settings, you’ll be able to view your new calibration and compare it to your previous calibration to see which one looks better. When you get to the page in the wizard indicating that “You've successfully created a new calibration,” click on “Previous calibration” to see your previous display, and click on “Current calibration” to see your new display. Click on “Finish” to use the new calibration and click on “Cancel” to go back to your previous calibration.
References
Writer Bio
Gissimee Doe has been writing for over 11 years on a range of subjects and interests. Her favorite genres are horror, science fiction, adventure and food. Doe maintains a number of fashion and style blogs and is currently working on her first novel. She holds a Bachelor of Science in computer science and a Master of Science in computer-based management information systems.