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Level 1

15 points

Turning off Macbook Display when using External Display on Lion

Before Lion you could turn off the internal display on a Macbook by closing the lid, putting the Macbook to sleep and using an external keyboard/mouse to wake it up. After waking up, the internal display would be off and you could open the lid and it would stay off. This allowed better airflow while using an external display, not to mention saved resources like video memory etc. If you wanted to turn the display back on all you had to do was select Detect Displays from the Display menu on the Menu Bar, or put it to sleep and wake it up with the lid open.

On Lion this function no longer works. Lion will automatically execute a Detect Displays when the lid is opened. I don't want to run Dual displays at the moment, my desk is not setup for this and I don't need it. I much rather have more video ram available when I'm playing World of Warcraft.

I know that not having control over what display is active is a more novice user friendly function, but some of us are not novices, Windows has had for years the ability to disable any display from the displays control panel. Most if not all windows laptops come with a dedicated function button expressly to select the active display (press it external display only, press again, internal display only, press again internal and external mirrored, press again internal and external dual display mode). This can be cumbersome and overwhelming to novice users I get it, but Apple should implement some fix for us gaming nerds. I want to keep my lid open to have better airflow and I want my internal display off. How about and advanced button on the Display Preferences.

Anyone know of any existing workarounds?

Macbook Pro 17"-OTHER, Mac OS X (10.7)

Posted on Jul 20, 2011 10:21 PM

112 replies

mcharle

Level 1

4 points

Feb 9, 2014 2:44 PM in response to DrBenru

hmmm

I came here looking for a solution. You do know this right?

sudo nvram boot-args="iog=0x0"
This reverses the "Clamshell" mode for Apple's laptop systems, where when you close the display but connect the system to an external monitor and keyboard the system will stay awake. After running this command, when connecting an external monitor, the internal display will be disabled, which can be beneficial in some situations such as those where you are mirroring your desktop but wish to run the external display at a higher resolution than your laptop can run.

Fear of terminal is apparently helping the fridge magnet business. Of course, you can always use fridge magnets, and they are pretty fun. Spell out witty things and post fridge wisdom. Also, you can warn people to stop doing stuff.

Very useful.

kkwan77

Level 1

52 points

Mar 3, 2014 1:26 PM in response to mcharle

I've tried this and rebooted and lo and behold it didn't work the laptop screen still turned on?

I'm running the latest Mavericks with 2 external monitors connected to a Macbook Pro 13".

kkwan77

Level 1

52 points

Mar 3, 2014 2:37 PM in response to kkwan77

Nevermind, read in some other posts you have to restart with the lid closed or boot with the lid closed. After doing this step it works and the laptop display stays off with the lid open.

Do you have you have to do this everytime? (reboot-lid closed or boot with lid closed)

Mar 23, 2014 4:05 AM in response to jgordon00

This works for me, and it is pretty easy. Thanks

Andy-J-D

Level 3

645 points

Apr 4, 2014 1:02 PM in response to chenga.8

After reading about several ways to do this, this seems to be the one that makes the most sense. It doesn't seem to work for me, though.

I use two external displays with a late-2013 15" MBP. After executing the command and restarting with the lid closed, it seems to act as though there are two displays, but only one actually gets any input. The internal display stays off, which is the desired effect.

A little more detail: I'm able to open system prefs and mess with the Display settings. No changes I make will bring the second external screen on (turn mirroring on/off, reposition the menu bar, drag the monitors around). I say it seems to detect the second monitor because I can 'lose' my mouse off one side of the screen that does come on. The display that works is connected using Thunderbolt(MiniDisplayport) to HDMI, the one that doesn't work is connected HDMI to HDMI.

If anyone has gotten two external displays to work with the internal display turned off on an rMBP running Mavericks, please let me know how!

DrBenru Author

Level 1

15 points

Apr 6, 2014 12:15 PM in response to Andy-J-D

Try rebooting with only one external monitor connected, then when the Mac is fully booted connect the other monitor still keeping the lid closed so auto detect doesn't turn it on.

May 28, 2014 3:00 AM in response to DrBenru

If you want to know where the magnet is, any mac, take a needle, scroll it over the outer frame of the display, where it sticks is where the magnet is ;-)

Turning off Macbook Display when using External Display on Lion