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Deacon-Blues

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 15, 2012
670
853
California
I have a buddy I am trying to help with his setup. He’s new to Mac but I’m not sure about his particular issue. He has a new MacBok Pro 16” which he has on a stand, connected to two other external monitors via a Dell D6000 Dock. His issue is that while usually he keeps the MBP in clamshell mode, at times he does open it to use the integrated webcam for work, but the MBP screen does not wake up. It stays black.

If he starts with the MBP open, all three screens work fine. But once the lid has been closed, the MBP screen will not wake up until he restarts the computer. Could anyone hazard a guess as to what the issue might be? Thanks!
 

chscag

macrumors 601
Feb 17, 2008
4,622
1,946
Fort Worth, Texas
It's been awhile since I used clamshell mode, but I seem to remember that my MacBook acted the same way. I was going to suggest that it was normal but your friend is using a Dell dock which may also play a part. Sounds like he has a nice setup, by the way. :)
 

ssmed

macrumors 6502a
Sep 28, 2009
885
423
UK
Interesting. My laptop screen (2019 13 inch) starts up as soon as the lid is opened when attached to one monitor (all the time at my desk) and when attached to two (occasionally).

Does your friend have access to other adapters to see what happens when the dock is not involved?
 

recoil80

macrumors 68040
Jul 16, 2014
3,117
2,756
My 16" always wakes up when I open it with an external monitor.
I leave it in clamshell mode all the time, I'm joining hangouts meetings with my iPad at the moment as I don't feel like buying a USB webcam just for a a few video calls.
I hope next version of macOS will add the ability to use an iOS device as camera for video calls instead of the integrated web cam, that would solve the problem with clamshell mode and for people with Mac Mini, and the camera of an iOS device is way better than the 720p they put on laptops.
 
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