As a side note, the issue is generally poor contrast rather than poor brightness. For a CRT, the contrast on your monitor should be set to maximum (and possibly for flatscreens too, but I don't know much about them having only owned one for a couple of weeks - they're just not nice).
Macs are more likely to have correct default colour settings because they're used by artists who:
1) Need the settings to be right. 2) Are less likely to know how to change them.
But the software brightness/contrast settings on PCs can be changed if you know how. (I would tell you, but I only ever do it through Photoshop. It can be done without, though, because Beatrice has managed it !)
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Macs are more likely to have correct default colour settings because they're used by artists who:
1) Need the settings to be right.
2) Are less likely to know how to change them.
But the software brightness/contrast settings on PCs can be changed if you know how. (I would tell you, but I only ever do it through Photoshop. It can be done without, though, because Beatrice has managed it !)