MacBook as desktop - Lid open or closed?

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When you are using your macbook or macbook pro on your desk hooked up to an external display, Do you keep the macbook's lid open as an extra display or do you close it and just use the one display?

What are your reasons for doing this?

Im just curiouse as to how you set your macbook up as a "desktop" machine?

Thanks.
 
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I normally leave mine open, because I prefer multiple monitors.
 
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I usually leave it open and put my email app and messenger app in there so they are always visible. Then I have my 30" external screen setup for all my terminals, browsers, and WoW instances. Generally on a macbook pro I have 2-3 SSH connections via terminal, 3 browsers, adium, entourage, a sftp client, 2 WoW accounts in windowed mode, textedit, and itunes all running at once in various parts of my screen. 30" is a godsend.
 
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Leave it open if you have the desk space, theres no downside to having two screens, and if you want you can make it so your external is the primary with the dock etc. Also I find that my laptop runs cooler when its open, then when I run it closed with just an external screen.
 
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Open. My displays are arranged vertically since my external is elevated and it looks to me as if I have one continuous display. Plus it's nice if my right hand is not right near the external mouse, or if, say I'm eating a sandwich or something at my desk while reading a website to have access to the trackpad/internal keyboard for two-finger scrolling, quitting something, switching screens with my left hand. I usually set the wireless bluetooth keyboard aside when doing that to keep crumbs and stuff out of it.
 
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Open, helps keeping the beast cooler!!
 
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It depends on my mood or what I'm doing. Sometimes its closed hidden behind my external monitor and then other times it sits on top of my printer open.
 

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When you are using your macbook or macbook pro on your desk hooked up to an external display, Do you keep the macbook's lid open as an extra display or do you close it and just use the one display?

What are your reasons for doing this?

Im just curiouse as to how you set your macbook up as a "desktop" machine?

Thanks.

I purchased an aluminum keyboard and mighty mouse for my MacBook - using them allows me to operate the MacBook as a desktop machine when at home. I have a Samsung 22" Syncmaster which I use as an external display.

What I do is put the MacBook to sleep by closing the cover, turn on the Samsung, tap the external keyboard, and my external display turns on with its recommended resolution. That keeps the MacBook display off. I then open the cover to allow the machine to cool better.

If I wanted both displays on at the same time I could easily do so, however, with both displays turned on the resolution (for both displays) defaults to the MacBook's maximum for its internal display.

If you own a MacBook Pro instead of a MacBook (as I do) your resulting resolution will be better for both displays since the Pro uses dedicated graphics.

Regards.
 
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I'm pretty sure it's better for the machine if the lid is OPEN. The fans suck air in through the keyboard (you can see this by covering the keyboard with cling wrap while the computer is on). Closing the lid restricts airflow, which for any computer is bad.
 
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If I wanted both displays on at the same time I could easily do so, however, with both displays turned on the resolution (for both displays) defaults to the MacBook's maximum for its internal display.

You can change that...
 
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After playing around I have decided it's more practical to keep the lid open.
It seems as if everyone else is also doing this.
 
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if i dont want two displays, i close the lid.

if i find im needed extra space, i open it.

I just wish OSX had a little better monitor management as far as switching back and forth from Open to closed. I hate turning the machine on and off to achieve this. Sometimes i just unplug the dvi cable from the side, but honestly, thats a not a great solution.
 
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I'm pretty sure it's better for the machine if the lid is OPEN. The fans suck air in through the keyboard (you can see this by covering the keyboard with cling wrap while the computer is on). Closing the lid restricts airflow, which for any computer is bad.

It is designed to run with the lid closed. It is not bad for the laptop at all to do this.
 
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I always left mine closed for one reason. It was the only way I could get my 4:3 monitor to display at its native resolution (1600*1200).
 
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I do this if I'm watching a movie - plug in the mini dvi, hook it up to the S-Video on my TV (sound for my tv, ipod and macbook are already going thru some home-theater-type speakers).
For something like that, you HAVE to close the lid - a movie and a mini-movie is distracting :p

Something I found useful for the above scenario (and probably useful for external monitors, too):
After hooking up the mini-dvi connector and closing the lid, the tv would go blank, too.
Just plug in a USB device (mouse, flashdrive, whatever).
After a couple seconds, the TV/monitor will come back on with mouse & remote functioning.
 
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I do this if I'm watching a movie - plug in the mini dvi, hook it up to the S-Video on my TV (sound for my tv, ipod and macbook are already going thru some home-theater-type speakers).
For something like that, you HAVE to close the lid - a movie and a mini-movie is distracting :p

I don't have to close the lid to watch a movie. DVD player, Quicktime (well, QTAmateur in my case), etc. all obediently play the movie in the external screen, leaving the lower screen available for...well, not much other than showing my pretty background. The Dock goes away when I play a movie full screen. But no mini-movie.

But then again, I use Spaces, so if I'm watching a movie and, say, get an email I just pause it, flip over to the space Mail is in, check what it is, then flip back to resume.
 
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I don't have to close the lid to watch a movie. DVD player, Quicktime (well, QTAmateur in my case), etc. all obediently play the movie in the external screen, leaving the lower screen available for...well, not much other than showing my pretty background. The Dock goes away when I play a movie full screen. But no mini-movie.

But then again, I use Spaces, so if I'm watching a movie and, say, get an email I just pause it, flip over to the space Mail is in, check what it is, then flip back to resume.

It may very well do that, but my routine is, well, so routine, that I don't pay attention. It's a distraction thing. Watch a movie... HEY, let's go ride bikes!
 
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Lid open with all my comms on the Macbook Pro screen (Skype, email, ichat, Netnewswire etc.). Always operated like this and it works for me.
 
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I always left mine closed for one reason. It was the only way I could get my 4:3 monitor to display at its native resolution (1600*1200).

I'm pretty sure you can change this in the settings.
 

nZa


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If you have the desk space, I'm not really sure why you wouldn't want two monitors, unless you're one of those people who is terrified that your screen is going to die if it stays on one unnecessary minute.
 

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