How do I tell Lion to disable the LCD screen even when the lid is open?

I just left my comment on the feedback page.

Probably if I knew of this problem yesterday, I didn't spent lastnight my 30 bucks on Lion. Apple must give to the users the option to turn off the laptop display.

Guys, I found a temporal work-around that does not require a magnet:

Boot up your Macbook and make sure it brings you to the log-in screen instead of straight to your desktop.

Type in your password if you have one.

Now comes the tricky part. The moment you press return to log-in the screen will freeze for just a slight second before it shows your desktop. The moment that happens quickly flip your screen open.

If done correctly, your Mac will bring you to your desktop without waking the Macbook's screen.

*NOTE

It takes a bit of practice and it might not work at the first try. Sign out when it doesn't work and try again.

One trick I use is to flip open the screen the moment the contrast changes when during the actual log-in procces ( For me the contrast changes because Lion doesn't calibrate my Samsung SyncMaster monitor properly, so I had to calibrate it myself. The moment I log-in the contrast changes and that's the moment to flip the screen open as quickly as possible. )

It might be harder to pull off for people with newer machines, especially ones with an SSD inside. The reason I can time it fairly easy is because I have an old black Macbook with the absolute minimum specs to run Lion, so it takes a few seconds more to log-in as opposed to newer Macs.

Good luck!

Thanks to this issue, I'm unable to play certain games on my MacBook Pro. Since it's not possible to turn off the MBP's monitor, the graphics card is forced to draw two displays at the same time, one of them being a game that is alread taking its toll on the graphics card. As a result, game performance is severely hindered and overheating occurs, causing a lockup, and I have to power down the Mac manually by pressing the power button.

If I play the game on the MBP's own monitor, performance is fine and while the computer runs hot, it doesn't crash. Playing with an external monitor is very detrimental in OS X Lion when I'm unable to shut off the MBP's monitor.

Guess I'll file another bug report and hope they address this issue. Otherwise I'll just have to go back to Snow Leopard having wasted money and time on Lion.

I too have filled in the feedback page because the Lion change is frustrating.

My WiFi-reception is terrible with the lid closed (even browsing is unworkable) but perfectly fine with the lid open. So when working with a (larger) external display I want the lid open but do not want to have the internal display active as it’s annoying to have windows opening all over the place.

I hope a user preference is added very, very, very soon.

Apple please fix this ASAP.

I just bought the new Macbook Air 11" and it really ***** that I have to use it with dual screens if I want to use an external monitor.

When I close the lid and run my programs like screenflow it makes the fan run all the time and gets really hot. This messes with my audio that I am recording.

Please fix this issue right away.

It would be best if we had some option in the display setting where we can just choose which monitor we want to use instead of having to close the lid and then wake the computer and then open it like we had to with Snow Leopard.

I also left a bug report comment here: http://www.apple.com/feedback/macbookpro.html

I figured bug report fit better since its bugging the carp out of me!

is this fixed with the 7.1 update?

unfortunetaly, no ...

I SEEM TO HAVE STUMBLED UPON A FIX!! 🙂

This was all accidental, and I just wanted to see what would happen if I booted with the lid down and my external monitor on.

1. When you turn on your MBP, close the lid enough to where you can push the power button still, then close it about an inch (enough for your MBP to think the lid is closed, like what others were doing to keep the screen from coming on). Make sure your external monitor is on and plugged in.
2. You either have to time, or devise some sort of method to know when your MBP has finished booting. I was able to tell by the Macbook using DHCP to get an IP from my router, so I watched the status lights. Once my MBP had finished booting, all I did was tap a key on my Apple Wireless Keyboard and Voila! My external monitor came on, and after opeing my MacBook's lid, the internal display remained off.

This was all done before logging in, and I have yet to find out how "Sleep" would work, but so far it seems like my Internal Display is off, my iStatPro is telling me that my GPU temps are like that of running only one screen, I remember the GPU running way hotter when Mirroring was on.

So guys! Give this a shot, and some feedback! I'm on a Early 2011 MacBook Pro with Mac OS X Lion 10.7.1

Mac OS X still see's the internal display...

This is extremely annoying. im not too bothered about keeping my MBP cool, but I'm using its speakers while Im abroad for the next year (with a 12 South Bassjump amp). The sound is muffled when its closed, and the 'swipe gestures' are not smooth when its open and both displays are running. Go back to the way it was in SL apple!

durrant23 wrote:

This is extremely annoying. im not too bothered about keeping my MBP cool, but I'm using its speakers while Im abroad for the next year (with a 12 South Bassjump amp). The sound is muffled when its closed, and the 'swipe gestures' are not smooth when its open and both displays are running. Go back to the way it was in SL apple!

I'll never understand why people change from something that works to something that doesn't. Does that make sense to you? Why not upgrade to Snow Leopard and get on with using your MBP?

Because I like Lion a lot. Particularly the full screen and swipe/multiple desktop capabilities

durrant23 wrote:

Because I like Lion a lot. Particularly the full screen and swipe/multiple desktop capabilities

That answers that! 😉 If I may suggest, reconcile yourself to the fact that you've made a choice between functions. If/when Apple ever gets around to "fixing" this, then you may have your cake and eat it too, but until then, apparently it's one or the other, and you've chosen the other. (And for all our sakes, I really hope this gets resolved soon.)

I'm back using my external display after the summer, and what a bad surprise this is!

For all the above mentioned reasons the open-lid clamshell mode is necessary (heat dispersion, faster graphics, lower energy use, etc...).

I sincerely hope Apple will return to allowing its users to decide whther to keep their screen open or not during clamshell mode. If Apple believes the new clamshell mode is how it should have always been, but users think it was better before, why not put a checkbox in the display preferences?

Secondly, taking advantage of this discussion board, I would like to raise another related issue.

In SL (and Lion now) you could only use clamshell mode while your mac was connected to a power source.

In the "standard maintenance" of mac batteries (http://www.apple.com/batteries/notebooks.html) "Apple does not recommend leaving your portable plugged in all the time". Does this mean that once your battery is fully charged you should turn off your external monitor, discharge you Mac, then plug it in and use the display again? That's what it sounds like to me.

Therefore, while Apple is working on a necessary update of Lion's clamshell mode, I also suggest that a checkbox in the display preferences is inserted, allowing users to decide whether or not they want to use clamshell mode even when their Mac is not connected to a power supply.

In the "standard maintenance" of mac batteries (http://www.apple.com/batteries/notebooks.html) "Apple does not recommend leaving your portable plugged in all the time". Does this mean that once your battery is fully charged you should turn off your external monitor, discharge you Mac, then plug it in and use the display again? That's what it sounds like to me.

No, it doesn't mean that. It means exactly (and only) what it says: don't leave your MBP plugged in all the time. "All" means all. If you use it in clamshell mode all the time, the battery will deteriorate prematurely.* If you take it out of clamshell mode and run it on battery power for a couple of hours two or three times a week, the battery will get the light exercise it needs to stay in top shape, and the machine can be plugged into AC power the other 95%-98% of the time without any ill effects. The only other battery maintenance that will be necessary is a calibration every two or three months, which will involve taking the machine out of clamshell mode, unplugging the AC and using the battery until the machine goes to sleep. If you find it inconvenient to have to use your portable computer on battery power from time to time to keep its battery in good shape, consider that inconvenience to be the price you pay for having such a small, compact desktop computer. If you didn't really need a portable computer, you could have gotten an iMac for less money and had even less clutter on your desk. If you do need a portable from time to time, the chances are that you can easily accommodate the battery's need for regular light exercise without greatly disrupting your usual use of the machine in clamshell mode.

* Of course if you literally never use the battery, its premature deterioration won't bother you at all — you'll never need it.

eww wrote:

...to stay in top shape, the machine can be plugged into AC power 95%-98% of the time without any ill effects.

Thank you for your answer eww.

As stated in my message I have just returned to using my external display after the summer, so of course I have used my mac the whole summer on battery power, not as a desktop. I use my mac every day out of home and only use it as a "desktop" in the evenings, so I want to make sure my battery stays in full shape for as long as possible (it's now 2 years old and still pumping juice).

I have often read in mobile phone, other computer, mp3 player (etc...) manuals that to maximise lithium battery durability it is best to rarely leave them fully uncharged or leave them in charge while fully charged. My interpretation of the apple support page stating "all the time" was not as drastic as yours, so I assumed that it confirmed other sources stating not to leave batteries on charge for prolonged periods of time.

May I know what sources you have used to determine that batteries can stay on charge 95% of the time without ill effects?

This of course would make using my mac when at home much less of a hassle, eliminating the need to constantly plug in and unplug my mac (and thus those annoying clamshell interferences).

This said, I still do not understand the reason for totally impeding the use of an external display while on battery power and with the screen open (and deactivated) when performing heavy tasks.