Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
How to use external display only without closing MBP?
- Thread starter Philflow
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Extra movements, extra hassle. If I want to turn it on again I need to re open the lid.
I power off and on many times a day. And I don't want to use sleep mode. I don't want extra battery drain.
I said three times in the startpost that I don't want to close my lid.
Then someone says "try closing the lid".
I replied "I guess reading is not your thing".
I removed my comment because I wanted to avoid meaningless discussion. Not for other reasons.
I boot my computer ten times a day. That means 10 times opening and 10 times closing the lid.
In Windows I don't need to do anything. Much easier.
Nope. No heat problems at all.
Maybe you don't understand that I can't reach the power button when the lid is closed?
And just to be clear, I don't like to use sleep mode. I want to totally power off my system.
Aside from saving minuscule amounts of power, I can't think of a good reason not to use sleep mode. Especially if you boot your computer that many times a day, it takes you 10x longer to fully restart compared to just coming out of sleep mode which takes mere seconds.
I don't like unnecessary battery drain, even if it's only 3% per day in total. It means unnecessary cycles and unnecessary wear.
I also don't like the flashing light.
My MBP boots in 14 seconds, that's no problem for me.
If Windows can do it, so should Mac.
Thanks for assuming I didn't read. You clearly told us that you want to be able to use the computer in clamshell mode with the lid open and not the lid closed. It appears you're the one that forgot to mention you didn't want the exact "closing the lid" procedure. I guess you might need to go for Expressing Ideas 101 before coming back?
Now enjoy your unable-to-use-clamshell-mode-without-closing-the-lid life.
I guess I'll think thrice before helping people starting from now.
Maybe you don't understand you can turn off the computer without reaching the power button? (Detailed how-to not provided as someone will accuse me of not reading again)
Last edited:
Not with the parameters you've set. They only way I know would not meet all of your requirements so I think it can't be done.
Sorry...
oh, i completely understand. what i don't understand is you classifying opening the lid of a laptop as a "hassle."
Look, if the OP is asking a question, can't you all just answer whether it can be done or not, rather than questioning his/her motives and reasons behind everything?
OP isn't asking whether they should do turn off and turn on, and why this may or may not save battery. The OP isn't asking you to tell him/her what you define 'hassle' as.
Unless the OP has some sort of wake-on-LAN feature that has not been discussed here, I believe to turn on a MBP you need to press the power button.
Regardless, the OP just wants an answer, so credit to jlc1978 for providing that.
Just my daily rant.
OP isn't asking whether they should do turn off and turn on, and why this may or may not save battery. The OP isn't asking you to tell him/her what you define 'hassle' as.
Unless the OP has some sort of wake-on-LAN feature that has not been discussed here, I believe to turn on a MBP you need to press the power button.
Regardless, the OP just wants an answer, so credit to jlc1978 for providing that.
Just my daily rant.
Last edited:
I do this while I stream netflix onto my TV.
plug the second monitor into the macbook then open system prefs and click on display. there should be tab called arrangement, its only there when a second monitor is plugged in. click on that tab and you will see your two monitor screens with a white line above the main window. click on the white line and drag it to the second monitor, now your second monitor is the main display. turn the screen brightness down on the macbook all the way and thats it, you will not see anything on the macbook and your main display will be on the second display.
plug the second monitor into the macbook then open system prefs and click on display. there should be tab called arrangement, its only there when a second monitor is plugged in. click on that tab and you will see your two monitor screens with a white line above the main window. click on the white line and drag it to the second monitor, now your second monitor is the main display. turn the screen brightness down on the macbook all the way and thats it, you will not see anything on the macbook and your main display will be on the second display.
Thanks you for clarifying my thoughts so well.
Some days I boot my MBP ten times, somes times twenty. Opening the lid twenty times, closing the lid twenty times, when I'm working with Windows it's zero times.
I consider that a hassle yes.
If Windows can do it so well, I expected the same from OS X.
Yes thank you. This is the work around I already use.
It has two downsides: I need to turn down the brightness every time I turn on the MBP.
And when I turn off my monitor and on again, the MBP comes on with full brightness.
But this seems to be as good as it gets.
Last edited:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)
It is not possible. You can only put it in clamshell mode and then open your MacBook again. That was already mentioned before and seems to me to be the closest solution to your problem. there are no hacks or fixes for your problem.
It is not possible. You can only put it in clamshell mode and then open your MacBook again. That was already mentioned before and seems to me to be the closest solution to your problem. there are no hacks or fixes for your problem.
Any luck with it?
It says on their website: Dont unplug your TV any more when not used, dont close your MacBook lid when working on an external monitor
I'm no expert on the topic but I'm wondering if constantly booting up is wearing out the system faster than leaving it running? I know that's true of light bulbs and some electronic devices. The greatest stress on a system is during startup, increasing the number of startups wears things out faster. For example, on a MBP I would think that spinning up the HDD during a cold boot puts more stress on it than awakening from sleep but I could easily be wrong. (Obviously wouldn't apply to SSDs)
If it is true, wearing out the system from stress would seem to outweigh the minor power savings vs sleep.
If it is true, wearing out the system from stress would seem to outweigh the minor power savings vs sleep.
I'm not doing it for power savings. I don't want to cause unnecessary charge cycles and wear.
Even if we're only talking 3% discharge a day, I want to avoid it. And I don't like the flashing light.
When I turn my computer off I want it to be completely off and to not drain the battery in any way. That's my preference and I respect that other people might have different preferences.
And yes I use an SSD.
Not yet. Can't find how to access the menu. It sounds like it will do what I need.
Even if we're only talking 3% discharge a day, I want to avoid it. And I don't like the flashing light.
When I turn my computer off I want it to be completely off and to not drain the battery in any way. That's my preference and I respect that other people might have different preferences.
And yes I use an SSD.
Not yet. Can't find how to access the menu. It sounds like it will do what I need.
if you have to turn on your machine 20+ times a day then you are also causing more battery wear too. Turning on a computer will use more battery than in sleep mode if you do it so many times a day.
Powering up or down when on battery drains it even more than an hour of sleep would, especially doing it as often as you do. You're really not saving much of anything, just my opinion though.
Apart from clamshell mode as has been suggested, I do not think it is doable without some software tweaking.