[nobody101]

i just bought a dell 2007WFP monitor to use with my macbook. i'd like to be able to just use the external display, but the display menu doesn't give me that option. i can either mirror the display or use an extended display. mirroring forces me to 1280 x 800 and extending it doesn't give me the menu bar or dock on the external display.

i've used the whole putting the macbook to sleep and plugging in a usb device to wake it. this gives me what i want, but it's a pain in the butt. there has to be a better way. why doesn't apple give us the option to use an external display only?

is there a better way? thanks for the help in advance.

[Kyle Dreaden]

That's the only way I know of. I don't really think it's that inconvenient, though.

I just close my macbook (putting it to sleep) then tap my spacebar (bluetooth keyboard) and it comes back with just the external display.

[Macola]

You could also set up the external display as the primary in extended desktop mode, and then just turn the brightness on the MacBook all the way down. In the Displays prefpane under Arrangement, drag the menu bar over to your external display (the Dock will follow).

[iREZ]

unless the arrangement for your displays are vertical instead of horizontal. deal with it...youve bought a notebook not a desktop. put your computer to sleep and click, simple.

[brettcamp]

What they said. But also consider this: you can use the MacBook screen to extend the desktop and hold less-used things like palettes or iChats or whatever so they don't clutter your external display.

[tomrock]

I keep iTunes on my internal screen with the brightness down a little. It's fine.

[panzer07]

Originally Posted by nobody101 

i just bought a dell 2007WFP monitor to use with my macbook. i'd like to be able to just use the external display, but the display menu doesn't give me that option. i can either mirror the display or use an extended display. mirroring forces me to 1280 x 800 and extending it doesn't give me the menu bar or dock on the external display.

i've used the whole putting the macbook to sleep and plugging in a usb device to wake it. this gives me what i want, but it's a pain in the butt. there has to be a better way. why doesn't apple give us the option to use an external display only?

is there a better way? thanks for the help in advance.

As noted by Macola, moving the dock is a simple matter.

Interestingly enough, under bootcamp, you can select external digital display only and the laptop screen is blanked and if you choose extended display the laptop screen is always the master (or at least I've found no simple way under windows to change that)

[mrplow]

its more convenient to wake the macbook with the remote instead of plugging in something usb


how do you move the dock? (besides positioning the screens so the desired location is the left screen)

[Simon]

There's no need to wake it, sleep it and wake it again. That's way too much hassle.

When you get home and put the MB on your desk just attach the display, KB&M as well as power. Then hit any key. Done. Hitting a key is hardly more work than opening the MB.

That said, I don't understand why Apple doesn't just make it a software option in the display prefs to turn off the internal display at any time. And while they're at it, allow me to cycle through these modes with F7 the way it's supposed to be.

[Simon]

Originally Posted by mrplow 

how do you move the dock? (besides positioning the screens so the desired location is the left screen)

Try holding shift-cmd and then clicking on dock seperator. That will allow you to move the dock to other screen edges. If you want to change the from left/center/end or top/center/bottom pinning you can use an app like TinkerTool.