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MBP + external monitor complaint

H

hallaisen

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 28, 2006
209
0
I've been using mac laptops the last 3-4 years now, and absolutely love everything about them except for 1 thing: ease of use with external monitors.

Right now I'm on a 1-year old MBP and I use it quite often with my external monitor. I do not, however, use it much with my HD-tv as it is too frustrating to use macs with external screens. My problem is that I have to close my laptop and wake it up again after Ive connected the monitor/tv cable, and its bugging me to no end. Sometimes it refuses to wake up (usually if i try to use it with my TV) and I have to restart it to get the external display working. Other times I have been away from my mac for a while after using it with the external display, and when I wake it up the laptop-display wakes up as well, causing me to have to close the laptop and wake it up again with my wireless keyboard. It's really annoying to me cause I have to wait for a bit after I have closed it before it wakes up again.

What I wish for is a way to easily get the mac to send signals only to my external monitor, without having to close it and wake it up from sleep mode. I want to use the full resolution possibilities of the external display and do not care for the laptop display, especially when Im using it with my tv.

This is something I would've thought Apple would fix lightyears ago, but I cant seem to find a way to work around it. The problem has even become worse with the latest software update, as now it sometimes does not wake up from sleep mode if i disconnect it from the external display. Is there no workaround/fix for this, or am I just searching in the wrong places? It has been an annoyance to me for several years, so I would very happy to find a solution.

Cheers.

PS: for some reason I'm thinking that the laptop should be open even when I'm just using the external display, as I fear that it would overheat if its closed. Is this correct or am I paranoid?
 
hallaisen said:
I've been using mac laptops the last 3-4 years now, and absolutely love everything about them except for 1 thing: ease of use with external monitors.

Right now I'm on a 1-year old MBP and I use it quite often with my external monitor. I do not, however, use it much with my HD-tv as it is too frustrating to use macs with external screens. My problem is that I have to close my laptop and wake it up again after Ive connected the monitor/tv cable, and its bugging me to no end. Sometimes it refuses to wake up (usually if i try to use it with my TV) and I have to restart it to get the external display working. Other times I have been away from my mac for a while after using it with the external display, and when I wake it up the laptop-display wakes up as well, causing me to have to close the laptop and wake it up again with my wireless keyboard. It's really annoying to me cause I have to wait for a bit after I have closed it before it wakes up again.

What I wish for is a way to easily get the mac to send signals only to my external monitor, without having to close it and wake it up from sleep mode. I want to use the full resolution possibilities of the external display and do not care for the laptop display, especially when Im using it with my tv.

This is something I would've thought Apple would fix lightyears ago, but I cant seem to find a way to work around it. The problem has even become worse with the latest software update, as now it sometimes does not wake up from sleep mode if i disconnect it from the external display. Is there no workaround/fix for this, or am I just searching in the wrong places? It has been an annoyance to me for several years, so I would very happy to find a solution.

Cheers.

PS: for some reason I'm thinking that the laptop should be open even when I'm just using the external display, as I fear that it would overheat if its closed. Is this correct or am I paranoid?
Click to expand...

All I can say, is that it is unfortunate that you've had these problems. I just got my MDP adaptor and for me, its worked flawlessly. I have heard of some tv's having problems taking the signal from macbooks but luckily that didn't happen to me. I cant off to much advice in that sense but for you being paranoid, I wouldn't say that, but it really shouldn't make a difference weather or not you keep your laptop open when running it with an external.
 
I've never had any real problems with my MBP connecting to a tv, other than the one where it wouldn't stay awake with the lid closed, but that's because it doesn't stay awake if the laptop's power adapter isn't plugged in. ...Took me so freaking long to figure that one out
 
So keeping the lid closed doesn't ruin the fans' ability to cool off the machine? I was picturing a melted laptop screen if i forgot to keep it open :eek:
 
hallaisen said:
So keeping the lid closed doesn't ruin the fans' ability to cool off the machine? I was picturing a melted laptop screen if i forgot to keep it open :eek:
Click to expand...

lol, I was worried at first too, but it should really make no difference. There meant to be able to be run in clamshell mode.
 
Hah thats great news. Now, if only there was a key i could press to force the mac to only send picture signals to the external - and not to the laptop display. It just boggles my mind that Apple hasn't put in such a feature yet :mad:
 
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