OS X Mavericks: Using brightness controls with vintage and obsolete displays

You may notice when using older Apple displays with Mavericks that you cannot adjust your display's brightness using its built-in controls. Additionally, the Brightness slider may no longer appear in the Displays pane of System Preferences.

This article has been archived and is no longer updated by Apple.

The following vintage and obsolete displays are not supported with OS X Mavericks v10.9 or later:

  • Apple Studio Display 15-inch ADC
  • Apple Studio Display 17-inch ADC
  • Apple Cinema Display 20-inch ADC
  • Apple Cinema Display 22-inch ADC
  • Apple Cinema Display 23-inch ADC
  • Apple Studio Display 15-inch DVI
  • Apple Cinema Display (Original) DVI

These displays were designed to work with older hardware that is incompatible with OS X Mavericks. To avoid incompatibility issues, use a newer display that includes a DVI, VGA, HDMI, Mini DisplayPort, or Thunderbolt connector with Mavericks.

You can identify these displays by their exterior design. Each of the older displays listed above has a clear and graphite-colored plastic bezel, and a clear plastic foot. Modern Apple displays include an aluminum bezel and foot.

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