How to prevent laptop from sleep when lid closed

I'm not saying that you don't have a good point there but I will argue the fact that if you look at the life cycle of a let's say Dell, HP, Toshiba, etc and look at the life cycle of an Apple laptop then I will go with Apple's reasoning. This feature is off by default on windows laptops so it's has to be some good reason for it (for you anti-apple critics). I have no problem running a free 3rd party app to keep the laptop on when closed. It's almost like car manufactors that offer 5 year/50,000 mile powertrain warranty on their cars. In order to maintain that warranty you have to follow the OEM recommended maintaince schedule because they know if that regular maintenance is performed the chances of them having any major powertrain malfunctions is very very slim and in which it prolongs the life of the vehicle. Apple is the inventor is this product so they know it better than anyone. So, I will just follow continue to follow their advice.

The easiest way to do this is install a small utility called NoSleep. Some people use InsomniaX. They basically do the same thing. I prefer NoSleep. The app sits in your menu bar and you can turn it on and off as you please. When it's on, you can shut the lid to your Mac and it keep it from going to sleep. Check this article out. http://www.easypctutorials.com/keep-macbook-pro-awake-lid-closed

Keep in mind, when using these utilities I would dim the screen all the way out to preserve some battery life because these apps will keep EVERYTHING on as if the clamshell is open and being used.

I have a SSD and would really like this option.

It's not a heat issue, it's not a disk issue, it's assuming that closing the lid means sleep; the same way flipping over a "smart" cover on an iPad means sleep.

However, I'm sick of leaving my lid cracked open to let iTunes finishing backing up and syncing my iPhone and iPad. It's dangerous to leave it open or cracked unattended, as a drop will much more easily wear and break the screen hinges before my SSD fails.

This is a poor design and best and I was hoping this forum would offer a command prompt fix, rather than flaming people that have legitimate use cases. Forums used to be for helping people, not telling them they and their ideas are stupid.

I will look elsewhere for a fix to this.

http://mac.tutsplus.com/tutorials/tips-shortcuts/quick-tip-how-to-stop-your-mac- from-sleeping-using-the-command-line/

Thanks for the info Badgermonkey! Thanks to everyone else listing the pros and cons of leaving your Mac running with the lid closed.

There's an app for that:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/caffeine/id411246225?mt=12

Right, I was replying to a post that wanted to do this without running additional apps on the machine, like me. Also, no sleep worked for me, caffeine just didn't do anything.

Urbananimal wrote:

I have a SSD and would really like this option.

...

This is a poor design and best and I was hoping this forum would offer a command prompt fix, rather than flaming people that have legitimate use cases. Forums used to be for helping people, not telling them they and their ideas are stupid.

I will look elsewhere for a fix to this.

I completely agree with this sentiment, and I don't understand why the community here has so much vitriol for anyone who requests simple options be made available in the settings. Running on the assumption that the consumer is a dummy with no common sense may be wise when coming up with default settings, but why hide options entirely from users who understand that running computers aren't to be shoved in bags?

As for my use-case: I bought a Macbook recently to replace an 8 year old IBM thinkpad which I have been using with a KVM switch with the lid closed. I think its age speaks to the fact that I have not been abusing the machine and might know a thing or two about how to operate and maintain a computer. With the Macbook, as soon as I would switch to the other PC on the KVM, the Mac would go to sleep - stopping whatever tasks I had initiated prior to swtiching to the other machine. There's no reason to hide this setting from users who wish to control it, and it shouldn't compel members of forums to come and attack individuals who are asking for this option to be made avalable. Is it that offensive to you that someone might have a use for a feature that you personally don't find necessary? I think most people with common sense would understand how and when to use such a feature so what's the harm in putting it in the settings with a clear explanation? There are other settings that come with a warning (e.g., Display Sleep - Never), so it wouldn't be absurd to include one more. Anyway... </rant>

NoSleep (mentioned by several posters in this thread) is working very well, and the screen does not turn on while it's closed, just keep the applications I have running going when I switch to my other computer with the KVM switch.

Good Lord!

I've used laptops for about 20 years now and the idea that you "shouldn't move a laptop while its running" is only slightly less stupid then the idea that you "shouldn't run a laptop closed!"

I've ALWAYS done both. The "movement while running" abuse I've heaped on my MBP is beyond measure. Never had a problem. This is my third mac laptop. Never had a problem from "moving" them while running.

The idea that there are "a thousand reasons" not to run a laptop closed and "a handful" of reasons to do so is just WRONG!! That kind of banter reminds me of nothing so much as the old IBM salesman explaining why the glitch in the 360 OS is a feature and not a bug! Bull!

http://code.google.com/p/macosx-nosleep-extension/ takes care of it. Apparently.

Use NoSleep, a freeware for Mac users.

The NoSleep software worked perfectly. It's even better than having a native option in the OS because there is an icon in the task bar which allows you to turn it on or off with a simple click (no digging through preferences required).

Now I can walk from the living room to my bedroom without having to cradel my open computer.

https://code.google.com/p/macosx-nosleep-extension/

And regarding all of the people defending Apple's decision to hide this from its users... I have found that most of the mac lovers out there will defend every decision Apple makes as if it's the will of god. Back in the day (2006), my mac lover friends would defend the fact that you could only resize a window from the bottom right corner. They would justify this feature until they were blue in the face - even though Windows 95 had the feature to resize from all four corners AND all four edges of a window.

Well now that Mac lets you do the same thing as Windows 95 in terms of window resizing, all the mac lovers now agree that it's a very useful feature. Having converted to Mac a year ago, I have found nothing but "why would you want that 'useless' feature" in these forums. You just have to rub your head and move on.

Thats what i wz searching.... 🙂