[osiris]

If there's a way around this, let me know...

I use an external monitor with my MBP - why the heck do I need to keep the thing running off AC power to use the external display if I want to close the MBP lid?

During battery usage, the MBP turns the external monitor off and goes to sleep, unless the lid is open. For short presentations, this really makes things annoying as I have to plug in.

This is the stupedest thing I have ever seen.

[ibook_steve]

Because if you close the lid without AC and didn't have a monitor attached (external monitor is not required to go into closed lid mode, though obviously you couldn't see anything), you'd never know what the battery level was. The AC requirement is to make sure your battery doesn't die. And if you are giving a presentation, why in the world would you need closed lid mode? It's much better in a presentation to not keep turning and looking at the screen.

Steve

edit: OK, so this is wrong and I just confirmed it. You do need the external display attached. In that case, I'm not really sure why you need AC.