Turn off display when connected to an external monitor (to save gpu)?

[benyben123]

Hi.
I am a newbie to this.
Coming from windows, when I used to connect my laptop to my external 1080p display, all I would do is go to Display Settings, and chose "show only on X" (or something like that).

This would save resources on the GPU (and you can really feel that).

I am trying to do the same with my slow 2015 MBA.

I can't seem to find this!

Thx for the help.

 

[IngerMan]

Hi.
I am a newbie to this.
Coming from windows, when I used to connect my laptop to my external 1080p display, all I would do is go to Display Settings, and chose "show only on X" (or something like that).

This would save resources on the GPU (and you can really feel that).

I am trying to do the same with my slow 2015 MBA.

I can't seem to find this!

Thx for the help.

Are you saying you still want to use the keyboard and track pad?

Clamshell mode is probably the most popular choice.

Connect a display to your Mac - Apple Support

Mac computers support one or more external displays, depending on the Mac model. Here's how to connect an external display.

support.apple.com

 

[Jimmy James]

This is something I always appreciated about my old windows laptop. You could select monitor and use Only an external with the laptop open.

With Mac it seems like you need to use in clamshell, effectively using the screen like a big mechanical switch.

 

[benyben123]

This is something that really threw me off when I started using this MBA after using Win laptops forever. It seems to obvious to me that you could shut off the internal display (it also saves on the GPU and battery).

Yet it seems this isn't even an option on the mac!

Weird.

 

[CheesePuff]

This is something that really threw me off when I started using this MBA after using Win laptops forever. It seems to obvious to me that you could shut off the internal display (it also saves on the GPU and battery).

Yet it seems this isn't even an option on the mac!

Weird.

It is, its called clamshell mode. You need to just close the lid when connected to an external display. Of course you will then need to use an external mouse and keyboard. It's how I operate my MacBook Pro most of the time.