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This is how you enable external display with open Macbook Pro in Lion!

wikus said:
Does this work for Snow Leopard as well???
Click to expand...

In SL if you connect an external display, close the laptop lid to put it to sleep, wake the laptop with an external keyboard or mouse and then open the lid again the laptop screen stays off anyway.
 
alFR said:
In SL if you connect an external display, close the laptop lid to put it to sleep, wake the laptop with an external keyboard or mouse and then open the lid again the laptop screen stays off anyway.
Click to expand...

Hmmm... thats actually better than running the terminal command and rebooting.
 
This Terminal command makes my computer go to sleep mode in 5 seconds after waking up, only a full restart can keep it on.
 
This doesn't appear to be working for me, ran the first terminal command and entered password then restarted. It still was using the internal display. What do I have to do to get this to work or does it no longer work under 10.7.2?
 
Thanks so much for this. Now i'm one step closer to fully migrating to Lion from SL. Dunno what Apple were thinking messing with the feature in the first instance.
 
Last edited:
I somewhat fail to appreciate which problem this solves.

I can mirror displays, in which case the screen with the smaller resolution determines the overall resolution apparently. Then turn brightness to zero.

Then I can not mirror displays, in which case I have two, the built in and the external display. Again turn brightness to zero.

I guess what is missing is an option to have only one display, e.g. similar to what happens in mirror mode, but running with the native resolution of the external screen. Am I right?

Why would you want to keep the MBP open but the display dark?
 
Jrv said:
Alternatively, keep pressing the brightness button...


And now someone probably feels stupid...
Click to expand...

Not the same. If you move your mouse to the left/right all the way, your mouse would disappear onto the other screen. Sounds like this turns off the laptop screen entirely, which avoids this. The advantage is that you 1) don't lose resources running a screen that is not used and 2) better air circulation with the lid open.
 
other than "air circulation" what other advatages are there by doing this instead of clamshell?

i just purchased a 24" samsung LED monitor, and the purpuse of it is to convert my MBP to a desktop while i work at my desk, i have no intentions of using two monitors at the same time, just the 24" as the only display.
 
Like has already been said; you don't have to split your VRAM and your mouse doesn't inadvertently fly off to the notebook screen repeatedly.
 
iisforiphone said:
is that in resposne to my question?
Click to expand...

I think it was, however, I don't think it's what you were asking. I took your question as: open-with-integrated-display-disabled vs. closed

In that case, the only things being considered are 1) heat (like you already identified) and 2) someone mentioned WiFi speeds (never heard this before, I'd be really curious)

:)
 
D.T. said:
I think it was, however, I don't think it's what you were asking. I took your question as: open-with-integrated-display-disabled vs. closed

In that case, the only things being considered are 1) heat (like you already identified) and 2) someone mentioned WiFi speeds (never heard this before, I'd be really curious)

:)
Click to expand...

thanks

and do i have to pick mirror display? or does clamshell mode automatically switch from the MBP display to the external display
 
iisforiphone said:
other than "air circulation" what other advatages are there by doing this instead of clamshell?
Click to expand...

iisforiphone said:
is that in resposne to my question?
Click to expand...

Yours and another user above. But i now realize what you were really asking and D.T. has it right. Heat and maybe Wi-Fi. Mostly Heat.

iisforiphone said:
thanks

and do i have to pick mirror display? or does clamshell mode automatically switch from the MBP display to the external display
Click to expand...
Clamshell mode automatically switches but open lid mode, in Lion, without the above hack, won't. It'll assume you want to use both screens unlike Snow Leopard.
 
daneoni said:
Yours and another user above. But i now realize what you were really asking and D.T. has it right. Heat and maybe Wi-Fi. Mostly Heat.


Clamshell mode automatically switches but open lid mode, in Lion, without the above hack, won't. It'll assume you want to use both screens unlike Snow Leopard.
Click to expand...

Thanks
 
Is there a way to keep the laptop from going to sleep? This worked but when I came back to my computer, it went to sleep.

Thanks for figuring this out!
 
Sorry to post this again.

Is there any way to keep the laptop from going to sleep? The command works well as I have the laptop open and the monitor is off. However, the laptop goes to sleep when I'm idle for like 10 minutes. The Sys Pref says do not sleep if plugged in too.
 
Broken now

After the 10.8.2 update just released I can't get anything to turn off the laptop's built-in display. 2011 MacBook Air.

Previously I had applied the "sudo nvram boot-args="iog=0x0"" solution and it worked like a charm.

Sleepily noticed my internal screen on, re-applied the nvram command to no effect.

Pissed that there is not an option to turn off the internal screen:
1. to decrease vram usage
2. i like using the built-in keyboard
3. i love using the built-in trackpad
4. i don't like just dimming the screen
 
I have a mid 2013 r-mbp which typically serves as a desktop replacement. I have it hooked to a thunderbolt display.

When I run the laptop in camshell mode (closed) I do notice a couple degree temperature increase and I do not like the heat transferring directly into the laptop display.

So what I do is keep the laptop open, but put a small magnet right below the left side speaker (i use a piece of microfiber cloth inbetween the magnet and computer to prevent any scratches).

This tricks the laptop into thinking its in clamshell mode, gives me the benefits of extra cooling and the computer is using less resources driving two high resolution displays.
 
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