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Where do you set the behavior for lid closing on a Powerbook?

spercharged69

spercharged69

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 10, 2003
651
574
New York, NY
When I close the lid of my Powerbook, I want it to remain on with the screen off, when I press the power button I want it to go to sleep. I know exactly how to do this on a PC, but can you do it with a Mac?

I'm running OS 10.2.8
 
You can't! :)

Close the lid the machine goes to sleep.

If you want to wake it up without opening the lid then you have to plug in an external monitor and a USB device.
 
if you want the machine to go to sleep, then adjust the hot corners and energy saver settings in the syst. pref. you can put it to sleep whenever you want, just like pushing the power button.

as others wrote, you can wake up the PB from its sleep with the lid closed by clicking or moving your mouse/keyboard.

well, it may seem "silly" to you, coming from windows, but it's how things are with PB, so i guess you just have to get used to it...
 
Why is it silly?

Why is this "silly"? Why would you close the lid if you didn't want it to go to sleep? Sleep uses only a tiny amount more power than having the computer off. It offers instant return to previous work. Also, repeatedly turning on and off any system is unnecessary wear and tear. Apple is trying to encourage sleeping over shutdown.

The only time you would want the screen closed and not have the computer off or asleep is when connecting to an external display under mirror mode, which Apple has taken care of.

When you hit the Power Button, you get options. You can use this to turn your computer off. This was done to give easy access to sleep w/o close and restart. Also it prevents accidental shutdowns.

Do you really need to have the computer do something other than sleep upon closing the lid? Is this incredibly useful feature really silly?

On a side note, you should really get Panther. It's awesome! I've never experienced any bugs with it.
 
Re: Why is it silly?

Originally posted by titaniumducky
Why is this "silly"? Why would you close the lid if you didn't want it to go to sleep? Sleep uses only a tiny amount more power than having the computer off. It offers instant return to previous work. Also, repeatedly turning on and off any system is unnecessary wear and tear. Apple is trying to encourage sleeping over shutdown.

The only time you would want the screen closed and not have the computer off or asleep is when connecting to an external display under mirror mode, which Apple has taken care of.

When you hit the Power Button, you get options. You can use this to turn your computer off. This was done to give easy access to sleep w/o close and restart. Also it prevents accidental shutdowns.

Do you really need to have the computer do something other than sleep upon closing the lid? Is this incredibly useful feature really silly?

On a side note, you should really get Panther. It's awesome! I've never experienced any bugs with it.
Click to expand...

Well, it is silly since other OSs offer you the ability and options of running a laptop with the screen closed without having anything attached. You can setup many more options for what a powerbutton does or what happens when the screen closes (tailoring it to your needs.) This comes up enough on forums that obviously it is a concern. Here's an example where it can come in useful:

If you're at Starbucks working on something processor intensive or downloading something over wireless and want to go grab another coffee, wouldn't it be better just to shut the screen and carry it as you walk to the counter to grab your next cup? I wouldn't want to carry my laptop with the screen open (it's cumbersome) and I'm not going to leave my laptop at my table unprotected. I can come up with many scenarios where a closed laptop operation is useful without an external keyboard and screen are attached.

Just because your life doesn't demand more options, doesn't mean there aren't others who need such abilities on a day to day basis.

My guess is sooner or later Apple with incorporate these abilities in the OS. They're just a little slow to the gate on power management options.

BTW, this: "Also, repeatedly turning on and off any system is unnecessary wear and tear. " is bogus. The actual action of closing the lid is the most damaging since the inverter cable gets flexed each time.
 
well its NOT silly because it prevents the idiots out there from doing to themselves what half the dell users at my school do (they technically "require" all the law students have dell laptios). Toss them in their bags while they are still trying to write/read something and crash their hard drives. If they automatically went to sleep that wouldnt happen.

i dont see any other reason youd want your powerbook running without a monitor attached to use it...even then with heat issues i wouldnt do that ofter or for long. Its a laptop :rolleyes:
 
There is one way...

Well, if it really is important to you, there is one way...

It wouldn't destroy your laptop, but it probably isn't something you'd care enough to do. There is a magnet somewhere which triggers sleep when there is force on it (at least that is what I understand). If this is correct, you may be able to block the magnet somehow and stop this.

Also, there may be a hidden preference file. If you can find this, you may be able to change this behavior.

These are the only options which might work that I can think of.
 
My reasoning for wanting the powerbook to remain on when I close it is similar to the starbucks example from above. It's no big deal, it's just a minor inconvinience to have to finish downloads, reconnect to iChat, etc before closing the laptop. Out of habit from using windows laptops I close the screen of my powerbook all the time when I step away from it, just something I'll have to learn not to do :)
 
Originally posted by uhlawboi80
well its NOT silly because it prevents the idiots out there from doing to themselves what half the dell users at my school do (they technically "require" all the law students have dell laptios). Toss them in their bags while they are still trying to write/read something and crash their hard drives. If they automatically went to sleep that wouldnt happen.

i dont see any other reason youd want your powerbook running without a monitor attached to use it...even then with heat issues i wouldnt do that ofter or for long. Its a laptop :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

I've been leaving laptops on with the screen closed for the past 8+ years I've owned laptops without any problems...

My main laptop, a Sager 5680, I haven't powered down since I recieved it a few months ago, which includes trips to and from work. What difference does it make if it's a laptop or a desktop? I see no reason other than the extra $2 worth of power a month it uses not to leave them on 24/7.
 
If it means that much to you, why not just not close the lid all the way? You could close it like 90-95% of the way so it is still easy to carry it with you to get your coffee or whatever while it is still on. Otherwise, just wake it up when you are done and continue. iChat and downloads should reconnect on their own without you having to do a single thing, so there shouldn't be much of an inconvenience from waking it up from sleep while it was in the middle of something.
 
Originally posted by Powerbook G5
If it means that much to you, why not just not close the lid all the way? You could close it like 90-95% of the way so it is still easy to carry it with you to get your coffee or whatever while it is still on. Otherwise, just wake it up when you are done and continue. iChat and downloads should reconnect on their own without you having to do a single thing, so there shouldn't be much of an inconvenience from waking it up from sleep while it was in the middle of something.
Click to expand...

That's what I'll do, I guess. I don't know, I'm just fairly suprised that a very basic windows power management feature which I've been taking for granted since Windows 95 doesn't exist in the Mac world... that's all.
 
I'm personally glad. Lid closed operation is dangerous for laptops. Moving a laptop around when it is on is risky for the HD and there is a great potential for overheating when the lid is closed. In 99.9% of the cases, no one would need it to be on when the lid is closed, so the fact that it goes to sleep and wakes up automatically whenever the lid is closed or opened is of great convenience and a subtle feature that I enjoy about my PowerBook.
 
Having my PowerBook stay on when I close my lid would be a bug instead of a feature in my opinion. It is dangerous to move your laptop when it is on and it can and will overheat much easier.
 
Originally posted by Powerbook G5
Having my PowerBook stay on when I close my lid would be a bug instead of a feature in my opinion. It is dangerous to move your laptop when it is on and it can and will overheat much easier.
Click to expand...

I'm talking having a control panel like this:

power.gif


Good for you if you like your laptop to sleep when you close the lid, I personally don't, and wish I could set up my powerbook like the above image. As long as I've owned laptops, I've never had one overheat or have a hard drive crash...

Where are you getting this information about it being dangerous? An Apple whitepaper on the matter, or are you just pulling stuff out of your ass?
 
Dude, there is no reason to be throwing along insults. It's common knowledge the danger of moving your computer when your HD is trying to access information. The spindle is in danger of hitting the platter, which is only a matter of a hair length from it, and one scratch could be fatal to it. I know that Windows has the feature, it's not like I haven't used Windows for years, but just because Windows has it doesn't mean that it's safe for you to do.
 
You dont need to be nasty about it, but all previous Apple Powerbooks have dissipated quite a bit of heat through the keyboards, and therefore the top of the machine. Even Apple recommends, if you would have taken the time to read the manual before flaming people, that you not leave the lid closed while using the computer. However, if you start the computer up or wake it from sleep with the lid closed, when you get to the desktop you can re-open the lid and the monitor will remain off while still allowing heat to dissipate thru the top of the machine.
 
Originally posted by Powerbook G5
I'm personally glad. Lid closed operation is dangerous for laptops. Moving a laptop around when it is on is risky for the HD and there is a great potential for overheating when the lid is closed. In 99.9% of the cases, no one would need it to be on when the lid is closed, so the fact that it goes to sleep and wakes up automatically whenever the lid is closed or opened is of great convenience and a subtle feature that I enjoy about my PowerBook.
Click to expand...

It may be dangerous for the powerbooks, but works fine on most PC laptops. I do it all the time with my Dell. Often because of the carrying it to the next room kind of thing. Closing it most of the way is sort of pain because if I'm holding it more than delicately, it's going to close all the way anyways. Mostly I do it to keep the dust of the screen while it's plugged into the network, but I'm actually controlling it through remote desktop.

I've also done stuff like close the lid and let it keep rendering as I drive home. Closed it's not going to tip over, but keeps on chugging on the render. I've even stuffed it in the laptop bag and left it running. I just left the top of the bag unzipped so that the fans weren't blocked, no problems. It's a nice option to have. On my Dell, I can have it sleep, shutdown, or do nothing when I close the lid. I can see where I would miss that feature if I moved over to a powerbook.
 
yeah, no need to get nasty...

with PB, i've found that it's not really an inconvenience to put the machine all the way to sleep. you can leave iChat up - it will reconnect automatically after it wakes up. and it takes about a second to wake up anyway, not much lost there.

i agree that a feature panel like the one in windows wouldn't be a bad idea. but the reality is, it's not currently available, so...

personally, i like the laptop to fall asleep whenever i close it. i wouldn't want to lose my battery power if i had forgotten about changing the close lid preference and the computer stays awake. so it's more of a philosophical difference between OS X and Windows. having had the feature in Windows but not in OS X, i can understand you may feel like something is missing... but i think the fact most PBs have far fewer (and/or less noisier) fans may have something to do with the fact the machine cannot operate with the lid closed on the road. if such is the case (i am not sure if it is...), i'd personally prefer a quiet laptop that can't process while closed than a loud one that can. that's just my opinion because i don't render on the go, etc.

lastly, many of us here uses windows on everyday basis. just because we don't agree with you on something about windows doesn't make it right for you to start talking to us as if we have no clue what we are talking about in terms of windows. quite the opposite is usually true.
 
ok, first...pull WHAT out of his ass? if you want to start being rude - do you know ANYTHING about hard drives? moving them or jolting them while they are writing to the disk can crash them.

and an easy way to end this thread...you cant do what you want on a powerbook, never seen anyone who had a hack to do it either. Dont think apples going to be making it so you can anytime soon either.

oh, and if you hit the power button you get a sleep option on the screen so its not like you have to go through some big process to get it to sleep.
 
Re: Where do you set the behavior for lid closing on a Powerbook?

Originally posted by io_burn
When I close the lid of my Powerbook, I want it to remain on with the screen off, when I press the power button I want it to go to sleep. I know exactly how to do this on a PC, but can you do it with a Mac?
Click to expand...

I'm going to take a different tact than the other posters and tell you... the answer is YES..

Although it will require a hardware mod. I did it to my old iBook 466 g3.. and I didn't experience a melted display or a broken hard drive (but of course I wasn't stupid enough to actually move it or put it in a back pack while it was on like this)..

My reason was so that I could use the iBook as a DVD player with a big screen TV without the danger of leaving the computer screen up.. scratches, knocking it over, liquid spills from party going friends etc...

In the iBook, the mouse pad button was attached to the power management board for the battery. There was a simple "reed" switch which is a distinct glass tube with two very very close metal strips inside it. When the lid which has a magnet comes close to it, the magnetivity brings the two metals together closing the switch.. therefore use of a magnet will not fool this feature as one post suggested, but will instantly put the sleep mode in effect with the lid open!

The way to do this is to simply break or desolder and remove the switch. Alternatively, you could try to open the display case (not recommended) and remove the magnet..

That is guaranteed 100% to be the fix if you really want this functionality.. But I do think with the current g4s at 1GHz and higher that it's not a good idea, because they really do put out way to much heat. I've noticed even my 867 12" PBook G4 often is running in reduced speed mode just to bring the heat back in line. Course mine is first generation, perhaps the last refresh has better heat displacement?

Oh, the final piece of this is that pressing the power button will already result in a prompt asking you if you want it to sleep... so that end is already handled as well.. I think there is an option+button type press that will instantly sleep it as well..
 
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