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martap · May 5, 2007, 11:59 AM

Hey guys,

Very new to mac and I must say I'm loving it! Everything really does feel right. However, there are some things I find very annoying, like not being able to disable the MB screen while working on a external monitor, or can it?

mduell · May 5, 2007, 01:16 PM

Close the MBP. Then jiggle the mouse to wake it back up.

martap · May 6, 2007, 02:59 AM

Thnx!, that seems to work... but isn't it better for ventilation/cooling to have the lid open?

martap · May 6, 2007, 03:01 AM

Oh I see, after you've closed the lid you can reopen it and it stays disabled... Great, thnx mduell..

mduell · May 6, 2007, 01:43 PM

The ventilation/cooling is just fine with the lid closed.

Just like every other laptop.

EndlessMac · May 6, 2007, 09:56 PM

I like using my laptop keyboard because it's been the most comfortable keyboard I have ever used so when I attach my external monitor I just turn down the brightness on my laptop screen. Apple provided quick dimmer and brighten buttons so it's not a pain at all to adjust the brightness.

iREZ · May 6, 2007, 10:13 PM

yeah but when dimming your laptop monitor to the lowest setting and using the external...youre basically cutting your vram in half. not a big deal, but why not use 100% of your vram?

EndlessMac · May 6, 2007, 10:31 PM

Originally Posted by iREZ

yeah but when dimming your laptop monitor to the lowest setting and using the external...youre basically cutting your vram in half. not a big deal, but why not use 100% of your vram?

Because I don't always notice the difference in performance depending on what I'm doing and as I have mentioned I like using the laptop keyboard. My laptop isn't permanently left on my desk so it's more convenient to not have to plug in an external keyboard, mouse, and monitor everyday.

iREZ · May 6, 2007, 10:40 PM

well you can use the macbook pro keyboard AND all your gpu...just open it after you trigger the external monitor on and your macbook pro monitor stays off as stated a bit unclearly 5 posts ago, but to each their own. just letting people know the difference.

Simon · May 7, 2007, 02:49 AM

Dimming down one screen but having both on is a bad idea. What happens when a window opens on the active but dimmed screen? You won't notice it.

If you want to turn the internal screen off you should go the closed-lid mode way. You can still open the lid later to use the internal KB. The screen will stay off until you disconnect the external monitor or wake from sleep (or reboot) the next time.

iREZ · May 7, 2007, 10:20 AM

or go to the display preferences and click on 'detect displays'

highstakes · May 7, 2007, 10:23 AM

Very good tip, thanks!

EndlessMac · May 7, 2007, 10:40 AM

Originally Posted by Simon

Dimming down one screen but having both on is a bad idea. What happens when a window opens on the active but dimmed screen? You won't notice it.

I use the mirror screen option so both the laptop and external monitor displays the same thing. Anyway I'm going to try the methods suggested in this thread. I didn't realize there was another way to have the screen off and still use the laptop keyboard.

slpdLoad · May 7, 2007, 11:28 AM

[QUOTE=Simon;3374775]Dimming down one screen but having both on is a bad idea. What happens when a window opens on the active but dimmed screen? You won't notice it.QUOTE]

You're also reducing your graphics performance by doing this becuase the graphics card still has to run both monitors.

iREZ · May 7, 2007, 11:44 AM

also realize that if your external monitor and macbook pro arent the same resolution...youre probably getting a distorted image on your external, but with closed lid mode...you get to use the best resolution for your external long as the gpu can handle it (which it most likely can seeing how it can drive a 30" beast).

EddieRebel · May 7, 2007, 06:29 PM

Thanks guys! I am also very new to the Mac and have been wondering about this also. I just hooked it up to my 24" Dell and seeing OS X in 1920x1080 is just awesome!

Junehi · Jun 7, 2007, 06:47 PM

I know this is probably a retarded question --

I closed my ibook and jiggled the mouse. An image came up on my new external monitor, but then went dark again. Is there some preference setting on my ibook that I need to adjust to use an external monitor?

Thanks, anyone...

ginoledesma · Jun 8, 2007, 12:42 AM

Junehi, not sure about the iBook, but with MacBooks, it has to be plugged into an outlet, otherwise the system forces itself to go to sleep.

Junehi · Jun 8, 2007, 09:15 AM

thanks for the reply. (Didn't realize until after I posted that this thread is just for macbooks.)

The ibook is plugged into an outlet. I guess I'll try to repost on an ibook thread.

ginoledesma · Jun 9, 2007, 02:48 AM

You're posting in the right forum. :-) I just remembered that the iBooks, out of the box, don't support "clamshell mode." However, see here for details.

Junehi · Jun 10, 2007, 10:29 AM

thanks gino and irez.