How to keep macbook on when its is closed

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Hey guys i forgot how to keep the my macbook laptop on while keeping it closed. I use an external monitor via mini DVI and connect it to 24 inch monitor. So i don't ever really look at my laptop screen. How do I keep it on with the laptop closed?
 
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Hey guys i forgot how to keep the my macbook laptop on while keeping it closed. I use an external monitor via mini DVI and connect it to 24 inch monitor. So i don't ever really look at my laptop screen. How do I keep it on with the laptop closed?

Look for a program called insomnia. I believe that keeps it from sleeping even though it's closed. I'd link it for ya but I'm at work :p

Also, you may want to use with caution. The Macbook dissipates heat through the keyboard so you may want to look at alternatives to keep it cool while closed.
 

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Hey guys i forgot how to keep the my macbook laptop on while keeping it closed. I use an external monitor via mini DVI and connect it to 24 inch monitor. So i don't ever really look at my laptop screen. How do I keep it on with the laptop closed?

Don't use software to keep your MacBook on when the lid is closed. For one, heat is dissipated partially up through the keyboard by convection. Keeping the lid closed all the time will raise the temperature a few degrees. For short periods of time it should be OK. Long term, not recommended.

You can operate your MacBook in clam shell mode easily:

1. Purchase an Apple external keyboard. ($49.99) and any good quality mouse. (I use a Logitech wired optical which cost $15.00 at Wal-Mart)

2. Hook up your external monitor via DVI or VGA mini cable. Attach the external keyboard to the MacBook and the mouse to the USB port on the keyboard.

3. Go into display preferences and set your external monitor to mirror mode and the correct native resolution.

4. Keep the external monitor off.

5. Close the lid of your MacBook and let it go to sleep.

6. Tap a key on the external keyboard. The MacBook wakes up but its internal monitor remains off.

7. Turn on the external monitor. It should display in its native resolution.

8. Open the lid on your MacBook. The internal monitor should remain off.

I do the exact same thing as above when I use my MacBook at home. It functions as a desktop.

Regards.
 
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Don't use software to keep your MacBook on when the lid is closed. For one, heat is dissipated partially up through the keyboard by convection. Keeping the lid closed all the time will raise the temperature a few degrees. For short periods of time it should be OK. Long term, not recommended.

You can operate your MacBook in clam shell mode easily:

1. Purchase an Apple external keyboard. ($49.99) and any good quality mouse. (I use a Logitech wired optical which cost $15.00 at Wal-Mart)

2. Hook up your external monitor via DVI or VGA mini cable. Attach the external keyboard to the MacBook and the mouse to the USB port on the keyboard.

3. Go into display preferences and set your external monitor to mirror mode and the correct native resolution.

4. Keep the external monitor off.

5. Close the lid of your MacBook and let it go to sleep.

6. Tap a key on the external keyboard. The MacBook wakes up but its internal monitor remains off.

7. Turn on the external monitor. It should display in its native resolution.

8. Open the lid on your MacBook. The internal monitor should remain off.

I do the exact same thing as above when I use my MacBook at home. It functions as a desktop.

Regards.

Thank You, that exactly what i needed to know. I do have an external logitech wireless mouse and keyboard, and i want to function my laptop as desktop too. thanks again.
 
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Don't use software to keep your MacBook on when the lid is closed. For one, heat is dissipated partially up through the keyboard by convection. Keeping the lid closed all the time will raise the temperature a few degrees. For short periods of time it should be OK. Long term, not recommended.

You can operate your MacBook in clam shell mode easily:

1. Purchase an Apple external keyboard. ($49.99) and any good quality mouse. (I use a Logitech wired optical which cost $15.00 at Wal-Mart)

2. Hook up your external monitor via DVI or VGA mini cable. Attach the external keyboard to the MacBook and the mouse to the USB port on the keyboard.

3. Go into display preferences and set your external monitor to mirror mode and the correct native resolution.

4. Keep the external monitor off.

5. Close the lid of your MacBook and let it go to sleep.

6. Tap a key on the external keyboard. The MacBook wakes up but its internal monitor remains off.

7. Turn on the external monitor. It should display in its native resolution.

8. Open the lid on your MacBook. The internal monitor should remain off.

I do the exact same thing as above when I use my MacBook at home. It functions as a desktop.

Regards.

Excellent post! I had the same question, and this answered is perfectly.
 
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Hiya!
I've followed the instructions but the quality of the monitor is still very poor.
Here are the tricks:
My computer: Macbook pro 2,66 GHz Intel Core i7 4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3
My monitor: Samsung HDTV 50000:1 SyncMaster P2270HD
The connexion between both: HDMI
What I can see is that the monitor has 1900x1080 resolution and Mac´s maximum is 1600x900. I could not seen any option on the monitor to change this.
What I am doing wrong please??
Thank you for reading me.
Deme
 
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don't use mirror displays

For some reason, when I use mirrored displays, it won't let my tv/monitor use it's native 1080p resolution - even though I set it in displays. So if you want your large display to look good do not turn on mirror displays.

What worked for me was to add the display preference to the menu bar, and then select 1080p for the monitor and the 900x1280 for the macbook pro screen. Then close the lid, and let the macbook go to sleep. press a key on your keyboard to wake up your computer and whala! my 26" display is full screen in it's native 1080p resolution. Hope that helps.
 
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What you can do is look open the display settings on the mac. Then while you have your monitor or tv plugged in, look at the monitor options. There will be something called underscan. You can adjust this to make it fit your monitor as close as possible. hope that helps. In the meantime, I'm still looking for a quick way to close the lid without buying stuff.
 
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All you have to do is turn the screen brightness all the way down via the "F1" key and if you have a MacBook Pro, turn the keyboard brightness all the way down via the "F5" key. I do this when I hook my MBP up to my TV to watch movies.

- ImageX
 
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All you have to do is turn the screen brightness all the way down via the "F1" key and if you have a MacBook Pro, turn the keyboard brightness all the way down via the "F5" key. I do this when I hook my MBP up to my TV to watch movies.

- ImageX

The only issue with doing it that way is that the graphics chip is still driving both monitors, meaning more RAM and resources are being used. In clamshell mode, the internal monitor is disabled, freeing up those resources. This is a bigger concern on models with integrated chipsets for obvious reasons.
 
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The Answer

As people have said, just plug in the monitor and external keyboard and power cord and click a key on the keyboard. This allows your laptop video display to really sleep and your CPU and GPU are free to do their awesome things.

My addition: You must be plugged in (not on battery) to do this. Yes it works on Lion and a 2011 Macbook Pro, but only if it's plugged in ! Hadn't been mentioned yet on this thread, and seein as it's the first one that pops up on Google, it should be.
 
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As people have said, just plug in the monitor and external keyboard and power cord and click a key on the keyboard. This allows your laptop video display to really sleep and your CPU and GPU are free to do their awesome things.

My addition: You must be plugged in (not on battery) to do this. Yes it works on Lion and a 2011 Macbook Pro, but only if it's plugged in ! Hadn't been mentioned yet on this thread, and seein as it's the first one that pops up on Google, it should be.


Good post. I was just about to say what you said. None of the other suggestions really hold any weight in terms of getting the native resolution to display properly and such. Just make sure the MacBook pro is plugged in, close the lid and wake it up with a keyboard tap.

Also, if using a Bluetooth keyboard, make sure that in Bluetooth settings the option to wake is enabled.

Doug
 
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Works wireless?...

Hey guys I didn't see if it works using wireless mouse n keyboard?... It's important
 
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It does

I use a wireless Apple magic mouse, track pad, and keyboard. Works fine. I use a 27" Apple monitor with my 2010 MB Pro 15". Just connect the Apple cables and Viola, no tweaking, magic, extra software at all. Just shut the MB Pro and the screen is activated automatically with that on the MB Pro automatically turning off. I use a resolution of 2560x1440 and the monitor is sharper than a tack.
 
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Clam shell mode

Don't use software to keep your MacBook on when the lid is closed. For one, heat is dissipated partially up through the keyboard by convection. Keeping the lid closed all the time will raise the temperature a few degrees. For short periods of time it should be OK. Long term, not recommended.

You can operate your MacBook in clam shell mode easily:

1. Purchase an Apple external keyboard. ($49.99) and any good quality mouse. (I use a Logitech wired optical which cost $15.00 at Wal-Mart)

2. Hook up your external monitor via DVI or VGA mini cable. Attach the external keyboard to the MacBook and the mouse to the USB port on the keyboard.

3. Go into display preferences and set your external monitor to mirror mode and the correct native resolution.

4. Keep the external monitor off.

5. Close the lid of your MacBook and let it go to sleep.

6. Tap a key on the external keyboard. The MacBook wakes up but its internal monitor remains off.

7. Turn on the external monitor. It should display in its native resolution.

8. Open the lid on your MacBook. The internal monitor should remain off.

I do the exact same thing as above when I use my MacBook at home. It functions as a desktop.

Regards.

The heat dissipation quote doesn't make sense. When the Macbook is operating in clamshell mode the video circuits are driving the external monitor, thus generating even more heat with the lid closed. If heat is not a problem with an external monitor attached, then heat shouldn't be a problem with the lid closed and no monitor attached. There should be a way to keep the Macbook on with the lid closed to keep the wireless network operating built in to the Mac software.
 
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External display won't stay at 1080p for more than a few seconds

Don't use software to keep your MacBook on when the lid is closed. For one, heat is dissipated partially up through the keyboard by convection. Keeping the lid closed all the time will raise the temperature a few degrees. For short periods of time it should be OK. Long term, not recommended.

You can operate your MacBook in clam shell mode easily:

1. Purchase an Apple external keyboard. ($49.99) and any good quality mouse. (I use a Logitech wired optical which cost $15.00 at Wal-Mart)

2. Hook up your external monitor via DVI or VGA mini cable. Attach the external keyboard to the MacBook and the mouse to the USB port on the keyboard.

3. Go into display preferences and set your external monitor to mirror mode and the correct native resolution.

4. Keep the external monitor off.

5. Close the lid of your MacBook and let it go to sleep.

6. Tap a key on the external keyboard. The MacBook wakes up but its internal monitor remains off.

7. Turn on the external monitor. It should display in its native resolution.

8. Open the lid on your MacBook. The internal monitor should remain off.

I do the exact same thing as above when I use my MacBook at home. It functions as a desktop.

Regards.

I have a 2011 MacBook Air with a 23" HP external display, connected through a mini-Display to HDMI cable. I have a mac bluetooth keyboard and a logitech wireless mouse.

I tried what is listed above, and it works for a few seconds, but as soon as I start playing with my wireless mouse, it converts my external display back to the same resolution of my MB Air screen, instead of its native 1080p. Any work around for this?

If I don't use the screen mirror function, I can get the external display to remain in 1080p, but then I can't see any file content. All that shows up is the desktop image.
 

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The heat dissipation quote doesn't make sense. When the Macbook is operating in clamshell mode the video circuits are driving the external monitor, thus generating even more heat with the lid closed. If heat is not a problem with an external monitor attached, then heat shouldn't be a problem with the lid closed and no monitor attached.

Notice in step 8, the lid is opened up but the screen stays off which will allow the MacBook or MBP to cool properly. Apple notebooks are designed to drive an external monitor without generating additional heat. I operated my MacBook like that for three years without any noticeable excess heat being generated and that's with using monitoring software (iStat Pro, iStat menus).
 

chscag

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I tried what is listed above, and it works for a few seconds, but as soon as I start playing with my wireless mouse, it converts my external display back to the same resolution of my MB Air screen, instead of its native 1080p. Any work around for this?

I don't understand why that's happening. Although I had used wired components (keyboard and mouse) it should work the same way with wireless but I can't confirm that. The only thing I can suggest is if you have a wired mouse try it with that to see if it works OK.
 
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It appears that when the wireless mouse is moved, it wakes up the Macbook Air, and hence why the external display reverts back to the lesser resolution. I read in another post that this appears to be a new issue with Lion. It doesn't allow the laptop to stay asleep when open.

I'm hoping there's a way to fix this is the Display or Energy Saver options, so that I don't have to keep the lid on my Air closed. As is, the fan on the 2011 Air sounds like a Jet Engine after about a minute of watching a Netflix or Hulu clip (I may have to reset the SMC)

In the meantime, I'll test out a wired mouse, just to be sure. Thx.
 

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