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Turn off MacBook Pro's internal display?

W

wickedking94

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 27, 2010
271
4
I wan't to turn off my MBP's internal display for when it's connected to my external display so its not wasting video memory on my internal display. I have to keep the lid open though so I can use the built in keyboard and so it is properly ventilated.

I've tried all the other methods like the mission control hot corners and the terminal command to shut off the internal display but neither of those methods seem to work on OS 10.8.2

And no I'm not sticking a magnet on my computer to trick it into turning off the display.

Just another example of how apple gives no control to us for anything.
 
Unfortunatly that didn't work. I tried the options to sleep display and sleep the lid but neither turned off my internal display without also turning off my external display. Thanks though.
 
My Macbook Pro Retina allows you to completely turn the display off by clicking the screen backlight button all the way down. I don't know what you have or how it works on other systems.
 
The statement about control is a bit dramatic. They give you a button to control it - turn the brightness all the way down and the backlight goes off.
 
Suggest: Get a wired or wireless Apple keyboard, mouse and/or trackpad. And get a Bookarc from TwelveSouth. Put the MBP into the Bookarc in claimshell mode where it will naturally radiate heat in all directions and minimize power consumption by not turning on the internal display. You can reclaim a lot of deskspace if your desk had a pullout drawer for the keyboard and mouse.
 
MCAsan said:
Suggest: Get a wired or wireless Apple keyboard, mouse and/or trackpad. And get a Bookarc from TwelveSouth. Put the MBP into the Bookarc in claimshell mode where it will naturally radiate heat in all directions and minimize power consumption by not turning on the internal display. You can reclaim a lot of deskspace if your desk had a pullout drawer for the keyboard and mouse.
Click to expand...

See the problem with that idea is I have to buy a keyboard and this bookarc thing. I shouldn't have to spend money on a bunch of crap when it could easily be done if apple would give users more control.

And im not looking to turn off the backlight, I already do that. Im looking to completely shut it off so my GPU isn't wasting memory on 2 displays.

And I've already tried the terminal code to completely shut off the screen it doesn't appear to work on ML.
 
Well I'm fairly certain this is a lost cause unless i spend more money on a 1700$ computer.

If you plotted out my satisfaction with apple over the past 2 years since I got my MBP it would be a steep decline all the way through the bottom of the graph.

AppleLogic: Our users are to stupid to handle useful features so well make useless crap like gatekeeper and game center to distract them.

----------
Trojita said:
My Macbook Pro Retina allows you to completely turn the display off by clicking the screen backlight button all the way down. I don't know what you have or how it works on other systems.
Click to expand...

Mines a 13" mid 2010 MBP
 
Okay I thought of a solution in case anyone else want's to try it:

1. Very carefully open your MacBook all the way.

2. Then place you MacBook on your knee.

3. Hold your MacBook firmly against you knee.

4. Very quickly bring your knee up and hit your MacBook right on the hinge.

5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 as many times as necessary to remove the screen from your MacBook.

6. Don't buy another laptop ever again.
 
wickedking94 said:
Did I not say in my first post that I wasn't sticking magnets on my MacBook?
Click to expand...

wickedking94 said:
And no I'm not sticking a magnet on my computer to trick it into turning off the display.

Just another example of how apple gives no control to us for anything.
Click to expand...
Apologies wicked one, just like how Apple gives us control over our lives, I had chosen to glance through the majority of your first post, and gave my best solution to the topic title.

When you have control over your Mac, can you share with me how you can turn off the display of other laptops without closing the screen?
 
Yeah on both of my brothers PCs when they plug in an external display it pops up and option window and one of the options is to shut off the internal display while its still open. I can even do this when running windows 7 on bootcamp.
 
Nice Troll

Fry-man22 said:
The statement about control is a bit dramatic. They give you a button to control it - turn the brightness all the way down and the backlight goes off.
Click to expand...

Nice condescending tone, thanks for your helpfulness.

You do realize that turning the brightness down doesn't stop the GPU from exerting power to that screen, and that your menu bars lag when you have a 2009 macbook running 10.8.2. with two active displays?

I am glad I don't have this problem anymore as mountain lion fried my integrated gpu from overheat since I couldn't switch off the native display. Yes, I had the lid open in a cold room.

So think before the next time you spout off on something you have no clue about, a lot of us would like to know the answer.
 
I don't have a second display to try this on my 13" MBP, but here is what I used to do on my 2006 and 2007 15" models:

1. Set the external display as the primary display.
2. Setup your dual display system to mirror displays(I'm not 100% sure you can do this with 2 displays at different resolutions.
3. Turn the brightness on your built in display down.

Since it is mirrored you won't be using (as much) GPU power to push the second display.
 
Turn on display mirroring. I'm pretty sure that fixes the problem completely.
 
wickedking94 said:
Yeah on both of my brothers PCs when they plug in an external display it pops up and option window and one of the options is to shut off the internal display while its still open. I can even do this when running windows 7 on bootcamp.
Click to expand...

Does this use the GPU still? Is it mirroring?

Mirroring should minimize GPU usage so that it uses the same as normal, just once for the MacBook plus the external display instead of driving both. Then turn the backlight off if you don't want it to be on.
 
wickedking94 said:
Okay I thought of a solution in case anyone else want's to try it:

1. Very carefully open your MacBook all the way.

2. Then place you MacBook on your knee.

3. Hold your MacBook firmly against you knee.

4. Very quickly bring your knee up and hit your MacBook right on the hinge.

5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 as many times as necessary to remove the screen from your MacBook.

6. Don't buy another laptop ever again.
Click to expand...

This one is a classic.
 
The 13" RMBP's screen does turn off when it's closed, and it still drives the external monitor. I think it's a firmware thing specific to the model that was updated (or should I say downgraded) with a Lion update for some Macs.
 
wewefwef said:
Nice condescending tone, thanks for your helpfulness.

You do realize that turning the brightness down doesn't stop the GPU from exerting power to that screen, and that your menu bars lag when you have a 2009 macbook running 10.8.2. with two active displays?

I am glad I don't have this problem anymore as mountain lion fried my integrated gpu from overheat since I couldn't switch off the native display. Yes, I had the lid open in a cold room.

So think before the next time you spout off on something you have no clue about, a lot of us would like to know the answer.
Click to expand...

Seriously, you joined the forums and bumped a two month old thread just to post that?
 
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