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austingndr

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 2, 2011
4
0
I have a macbook pro 15in. Every time I plug in my charger cable and thunderbolt cable from thunderbolt display and close the lid I get full screen resolution. If I take the charger out and leave the thunderbolt display cable in, the screen size shrinks. What is happening when I unplug the charger from laptop? Can I combat this problem with a setting? I really don't want to have to always plug in the charger every time I use my display for sake of battery life.
 
Nov 28, 2010
22,670
30
located
As far as I know, MBPs can run external displays while on battery, though I had contradicting experiences, for example, I could run an external LED wall while having the internal display work too while only on battery, but I couldn't run an external display while on battery.

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This should answer most, if not all, of your battery questions:
Apple Notebook Battery FAQ by GGJstudios
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laxman101

macrumors regular
May 6, 2011
117
1
In clamshell mode the MBP must be plugged in to get the full resolution on the external display. What is happening is the MBP is mirroring its display to to Thunderbolt display. There is no setting to turn it off.
 
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