I just connected my 15" MacBook Pro to an external monitor and purchased a keyboard for my MacBook. I also attach a mouse to my MacBook. When I close the lid completely the MacBook stops displaying on my external monitor. Is there a system preference or something else that I can change to prevent this from happening? I'm hoping to use my MacBook as my desktop too. ADubin
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Keep MacBook Operational When the Lid is Closed
- Thread starter ADubin
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There's two possibilities. One; you can hit a key on the keyboard or external mouse to wake the computer and use it as you would a desktop. This is because the Macbook goes to sleep when you close the lid. Second; you can use a program called InsomniaX to stop the Mac from going to sleep when you close the lid, thus carrying on as before.
You can also download a program called Caffeine that will do roughly the same thing that InsomniaX does, but with the press of a cute little button.
The problem with insomniax is if you say don't sleep the MBP, and close the lid, the screen of the MBP won't be turned off..
What I do is connect the Cinema Display to the MBP, close the lid and click the mouse till the Cinema display switches on remaining the MBP screen turned off, then I open the lid so the MBP doesn't get hot.
Apple says something like I just said: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3131
Yes, is a pain in the ass.
When I used to use my MBP with an external monitor when the lid is closed I used to open the lid, turn it on, then quickly close the lid again and it would output the video to the external monitor and have the laptop screen turned off. Alternatively I would shut the lid and it would wake up using a keyboard or mouse connected, although that didn't always work... :/
You can turn off your MBP screen by setting the brightness to 0 when it is connected to a monitor.
If the machine is brought up from sleep with the lid open then the display will remain in play until the user changes the configuration. If you turn down the brightness all the way to zero you can still see the actual LCD is active.