Turning off MBP Display, no clamshell mode

[EEXOOO]

Ok I suck at copy and paste. So what I did was what the article said. Then after the external display is on and everything then open your laptop. The screen should not come on.

This is what I meant to quote originally from the article:

You have been extremely helpful, I'm really thankful for that.

I tried the above a couple of times more and sadly it doesn't work. I'm sure the above refers to SL as the date of the article is 17th May 2011 which is before the release of Lion. From what I read, this "feature" is "broken" in Lion and the only way to go about it is to trick the MBP in thinking it has it's lid closed. This can be done by placing a piece of magnet at the bottom left of the left speakers for 2011 15" MBPs.

 

[Ronnoco]

You have been extremely helpful, I'm really thankful for that.

I tried the above a couple of times more and sadly it doesn't work. I'm sure the above refers to SL as the date of the article is 17th May 2011 which is before the release of Lion. From what I read, this "feature" is "broken" in Lion and the only way to go about it is to trick the MBP in thinking it has it's lid closed. This can be done by placing a piece of magnet at the bottom left of the left speakers for 2011 15" MBPs.

This works with the mid 2010 MBP's as well...I would think most all of the "UniBody" MBP's have the magnets built in below the left speaker...

 

[snowman1]

You have been extremely helpful, I'm really thankful for that.

I tried the above a couple of times more and sadly it doesn't work. I'm sure the above refers to SL as the date of the article is 17th May 2011 which is before the release of Lion. From what I read, this "feature" is "broken" in Lion and the only way to go about it is to trick the MBP in thinking it has it's lid closed. This can be done by placing a piece of magnet at the bottom left of the left speakers for 2011 15" MBPs.

I hope that this works for you...but you will need a bluetooth mouse or keyboard.

First, you'll need to revert Lion to the previous display behavior found in Snow Leopard. This can be achieved with a terminal command:
sudo nvram boot-args="iog=0x0"

Then, restart your computer. Connect an external display to your computer. Connect a BLUETOOTH mouse or keyboard. Close the lid of your computer (the computer will go to SLEEP now). CLick the bluetooth mouse or touch the keyboard. The computer will wake up. The external monitor will wake too. Open your computer's monitor, and the MBP monitor will remain off. Voila! "Clamshell" mode with an open lid. I hope this works for you.

 

[ct2k7]

If I would ever need to be in the situation, I'd just turn the brightness way down, to level 0.

 

[Wattser93]

Download SwitchResX. It does exactly what you're looking for. You get a free 10 day trial and after that it's pretty expensive.

I use it so I can run dual monitor between my TV and my MBP, with my dock and everything on my TV and the MBP display as the secondary. It also allows you to turn off the MBP monitor with the screen still open. It definitely reduces heat, and in turn, the fan noises when using it for extended periods of time.