Is there a quick way to blank the screen???

[Sit]

Is there a quick way to blank the screen??? For instance I do something on the desktop and am done but want to leave the computer on.... music playing.... but have the screen go blank to preserve the battery. In the past there have been some "screen savers" where you move the mouse cursor to a certain corner and that turns off the screen. Some key sequence would be good too.

Any ideas?

Thanks

 

[mlknez]

Window Key +L locks the screen

 

[Sit]

Thanks for the reply. Maybe that's an option in screen locking.... not sure. I do not want to lock the computer though. I just want to blank the screen to save the battery. This would be similar to a "Power Saver Plan" that immediately turns off the display on command.

 

[ArnoldC]

I just press the Power Button and screen blanks out and music continues to play.
Sent from my Windows Phone 8S by HTC using Board Express

 

[apoc_reg]

Thanks for the reply. Maybe that's an option in screen locking.... not sure. I do not want to lock the computer though. I just want to blank the screen to save the battery. This would be similar to a "Power Saver Plan" that immediately turns off the display on command.

Sorry for being dumb (waiting for my pro still) but surely you can just set up a saver plan like you would in windows on a desktop?

 

[TrentonT]

Just goto your desktop > click the battery icon in system tray and select "more power options" Set what you want but I find the power button press works best for me

 

[Sit]

I just press the Power Button and screen blanks out and music continues to play.
Sent from my Windows Phone 8S by HTC using Board Express

I press my power button and the computer sleeps.... unless its functionality can be changed.

 

[Sit]

Just goto your desktop > click the battery icon in system tray and select "more power options" Set what you want but I find the power button press works best for me

Thanks for the idea but I want to leave those settings as I have them. An example of my thoughts.... Like Pandora needs to be clicked, I then want to click it then go immediately back to a dark screen.

 

[Sit]

Sorry for being dumb (waiting for my pro still) but surely you can just set up a saver plan like you would in windows on a desktop?

You're not dumb. I've explored those plans and I am using them too. I just can't seem to make one of them work as I've described above without loosing what they bring to the surface pro experience.

 

[Intangir]

I would also love to find a way to do this. The closest I can think of would be to create a custom "music" power option. Then set it to turn off the display after 1 minute, and also use every power saving option possible to further extend the life. Also, set the maximum cpu usage to something incredibly low.

I don't know of any programs that would do this automatically though :/. For the moment I am still using my Android tablet for music because it automatically keeps playing music and gps directions.

 

[J515OP]

Part of the problem is you are using a Surface Pro which on the current Intel chip does not support any sort of connected standby or ultra power efficient mode. You basically have awake w/screen on, awake w/ screen off, sleep, hibernate and off. This doesn't make the Pro with a core i5 processor the most efficient mp3 player. However, it seems that is understood and the basic question is how to quickly turn the screen off.

Since you are running Windows 8 you can get a program which will let you set a hot corner as you already mentioned. The issue with that is it will only run from the desktop so you must return to the desktop from the music app (or use split view) to have the hot corner work and shut the screen down. Another option is to create a custom keyboard shortcut which will run the command to turn the screen off or switch to a low power profile with a quick screen time out. This is probably going to be your best option since a keyboard shortcut should work from both Modern UI and desktop and is quick and easy. The limitation here is that you need to have a keyboard to perform the shortcut combo (not so good if you are using in touch tablet mode).

 

[Sit]

Part of the problem is you are using a Surface Pro which on the current Intel chip does not support any sort of connected standby or ultra power efficient mode. You basically have awake w/screen on, awake w/ screen off, sleep, hibernate and off. This doesn't make the Pro with a core i5 processor the most efficient mp3 player. However, it seems that is understood and the basic question is how to quickly turn the screen off.

Since you are running Windows 8 you can get a program which will let you set a hot corner as you already mentioned. The issue with that is it will only run from the desktop so you must return to the desktop from the music app (or use split view) to have the hot corner work and shut the screen down. Another option is to create a custom keyboard shortcut which will run the command to turn the screen off or switch to a low power profile with a quick screen time out. This is probably going to be your best option since a keyboard shortcut should work from both Modern UI and desktop and is quick and easy. The limitation here is that you need to have a keyboard to perform the shortcut combo (not so good if you are using in touch tablet mode).

Many good thoughts here. Yes the Intel chip is power hungry.... can't wait until late spring when they are suppose to have a new chip out that is suppose to be less power hungry.... we'll see how computer manufactures implement it and then how well it actually works.

I think the program idea is what is needed and that is really what I had hoped was out there already.