Closed screen mode on MacBook with external screen

Karim Hmeidan

2 minutes

macbook pro external display

Many of you will have gotten one of those adapters to be able to equip our MacBook with external screens. They are aMini Display to HDMI or VGA adapters (Now Microsoft is also equipping its Surface with this long-critical adapter). A accessory that will allow us to have two screens on our Mac's to work in a much more comfortable way. Also, with Mavericks you will have a kind of two devices since the two screens will have all the menus complete as if they were two different devices.

You may have found yourself in need of want to use only this external monitorRemember that if you are using the screen of your MacBook and the external one you will be duplicating the work of your graphic cards ... As we say, you have the possibility to use only the external screen and use your MacBook only with that screen (This is compatible with MacBook Pro and Air as well). Then we leave you the steps to follow to be able to use the 'closed screen' mode of MacBook's.

First of all you will need to have a mouse and an external keyboardObviously, if you have the screen of your MacBook closed, you will not have the possibility to access the internal peripherals of the MacBook. You will also need the MacBook power adapter, this mode only works when we are plugged into the power; and last (and not least) we need an external screen.

  1. We will make sure to have plugged our MacBook into the outlet with the power adapter.
  2. We will plug the mouse and keyboard into our MacBook (in the case that they go via cable). If we have a wireless mouse and keyboard we will have to link them previously in the Bluetooth panel of our MacBook's.
  3. We will verify that in the System Preferences panel we have activated the option 'Activate the computer through Bluetooth devices', so we can suspend the equipment and start it again with these external devices (when they are connected via Bluetooth).
  4. Connect the external display via Mini Display Port adapter.
  5. Once the computer desktop appears on the external display, close the computer lid.
  6. When you close the lid: In OS X Lion and later, the external display will turn blue and then show the desktop.In Mac OS X v10.6.8 and earlier, wake up the computer by clicking the mouse button or pressing a key external keyboard.

Once you you reopen the screen of your MacBook everything will return to normal. Nor should you worry about the heating of your MacBook, is ready to work in this mode and it is through the screen hinge that the MacBook's ventilation will circulate.