Is it safe to use MBP with screen lid closed? Leave charge on always?

Hello there,

I bought a external monitor which works great with the 13" MBP, but an concerned about few things,

Is it safe to leave the screen cover closed while am using the external monitor?

Is it safe for my battery to leave the charger even if it's at 100%?


Anythings to consider while using external monitor with my MBP 13"

Thank you a lot, hope I got logical answer! Thanks again for your time reading!

 

Yes you can leave the lid closed if you are using an external display.

With regards to the battery, should be fine with the charger attached.

 

Actually I you shouldn't close the lid while running on an external screen. The keyboard of the Macbook is an air intake for the fan. Close the lid, and it could overheat.

 

Ok, but can anyone confirm for me if keeping the charger on a fully charged battery is ok or not? I mean will my battery die much sooner or is the effect of this is minimal.

Thank you friends!

 

Your battery will be fine. Batteries these days 'turn off' charging once the logic detects that it's at maximum capacity.

So you don't have to worry about shortening the maximum charge by overcharging.

By the way, I love your Flickr stream; very nice images from the kit lens!

 

A common misconception of unknown origin.

The intake and the exhaust for the cooling fan on the 13" MB and MBP are both located on the rear slot at the base of the hinge. In fact, you can actually see the divider that separates the intake flow from the output flow.

If it were through the keyboard crevices, then an awful lot of overheats would result from people using impermeable keyboard covers, as well as Apple's warranty department would be flipping out over the Apple store carrying such covers. iSkin ProTouch FX Keyboard Cover for all MacBooks - Black Printed Keys on White - Apple Store (U.S.)


Does one think that Apple sells these only for use when the Notebook is off??? http://store.apple.com/us/product/TW852LL/A?fnode=MTY1NDA2Nw&mco=MTM3OTUwMDE

Closing the lid, whilst operating the unit actually results in cooler operation due to reduction in power consumed by operating the display, which in supporting the on-board display generates heat far greater than simply powering the video port..


Does one think that Apple sells these for use only when the MacBook is off? http://store.apple.com/us/product/TW852LL/A?fnode=MTY1NDA2Nw&mco=MTM3OTUwMDE Apples direction for use is specifically for when using with an external display.

 

once again, I've tried a few of these keyboard covers. the Moshi keyboard cover is the ONLY one I can recommend. the others are too thick or change the keyboard experience too much.

 

1. Closing the cover will cause more heat. This is not because of covering the keyboard very much (though it does help some heat be retained). It's mainly because of the shape of the hinge and the fact when closed it covers up the back vent a lot more. For the best cooling, it is best to have the screen open. Just run it as a dual monitor, but make the external the Primary monitor, and if you don't want to use the built in, just turn its backlight off and don't use it.

2. The thing you plug into the wall is not a battery charger. The actual "charger" is built into the computer. It knows when to charge and when not to. If the little light on the power plug is amber, then its charging your battery. When its green, its just powering the laptop and NOT charging your battery at all.

 

I'd leave the lid open, at least partially...yes it may be fine not doing that, but you are making heat dissipate worse, of course could even theoretically hurt the screen.

As for the battery...well there's really only two choices, have it plugged in or not. As others mentioned, you can't overcharge the battery. It can be damaged a bit from heat, but of course the number one thing that's going to damage it is discharging it...so it's a no brainer-use it plugged in whenever possible, and try to charge it whenever possible when it's not plugged in.

 

Nope.

Apple would disagree with you on that one. Any "closure", which is, when compared to the amount of CFM, is insignificant. In fact, the opening size remains the same. it is only deflected at a slight angle when the lid is closed. Tilt your MBP and see.

As well, shutting down the display lowers the heat being generated, even in the lower case.

As I said, if it were a problem, Apple would not be selling stands designed to operate your unit in the closed position as the original poster of this thread proposes to do.

 

OK, First my screen is off, I mean totally off not lowering brightness because I use keyboard when lid is closed and my computer wakes from sleep so the screen both ways is off even in system preference it doesn't appear ;.
I'll do myself a favor am closing the lid. Snapshot of my temps, and I'll check then later and decide the better way because of the product SP Forsythe described it shows that the macbook can be used closed.

@doh123 Thanks about that great info, Now I just noticed the difference when it's green or amber , Thank you.

@akin_t Glade you liked my flickr

Thank you everybody for this, If you have anything to tell me more, please let me know, Thanks

 

and if anyone knows any good program that warns me if the temp goes high I'll appreciate it!

 

iStat Menus.

 

I would definitely advise against keeping your screen closed when using any type of software that generates heat on any laptop. Iv read that doing so can completely destroy your lcd monitor from the heat generated just from the laptop. You know how burn ins happen on old CRT monitors. You get discoloration over extended use with all that heat hitting the lcd directly.

Its like when some one forgets to turn there laptop all the way off and leave it in a duffel bag or something. Bad things can happen. Unless there are new laptops that specifically state "New LCD technology that is heat resistant so you can use your laptop for 15 hours playing crysis everyday with the lcd laying 2 milimeters from the cpu/gpu that gets 100% celsius) or you have a warrenty and dont mind going through tech support and having your laptop sent away or dealing with in-home service then Id say its ok.

Seems thins question gets brought up every so often and I always say the same thing.

 

One of the things that tends to "wear out" batteries is thermal stress, which occurs during charging, especially at or near full charges. So one of the common scenarios with a notebook, is to have it sitting on the charger, the battery peaks, the charging shuts down, the PC drains the battery down, the charger kicks back on, etc. (really degrading the battery).

So maybe one of the Mac SMEs can answer this: I read that the charging sub-system on a MBP is different vs. most PCs. That the AC in doesn't constantly, directly charge the battery, that the battery is kind of put on "standby" the machine is operating directly on AC and nit through the battery[?]

Sounds like a much better solution (maybe more PCs have adopted something like this).

 

Questions and answer about this product some mentioned in the first page.

These are on apple website ;D

does this not create a lot of heat for macbook laptops since when they are fully closed the air outlet is also closed?

 

As far as I know that's how all notebooks work. If anything, Macs are more prone to the reverse, since Apple at least in the past hasn't included power supplies big enough to run the system at full blast, and would actually require the battery be in place or the system gets underclocked (don't know if that's still the case on today's systems or not).

At any rate, short of pulling the battery out (which may not even be a real option on today's Macs) your only other choice is to actually run it on battery, which is obviously much worse than leaving it plugged in...so leaving it plugged in is the best option (unless you want to physically pull the battery and see if today's models will run at full speed )

 

I seriously doubt "Apple" would disagree. I never said it was bad to run it that way, just that it will be harder on it to get rid of the heat build up. If you actually look with a flashlight at the space at the bottom back of the screen under the hinge, and slowly close off the laptop, you'll notice that sliver of space for airflow actually gets smaller when its closed... leaving less room to move air.

Talking about it physically isn't the only way to know that the airflow is diminished. Running something demanding when the fans is at 6000 RPM and the temp is close to (or past depending on the model) 80º C, you'll notice temp differences. My 13" MBP and my 15" MBP both run around 5º to 8º C hotter with the screen down. That is only maxed though which most people do not do. Under normal use, the fan just ends up spinning up a little faster than normal... light use maybe around 3000 rpm instead of 2000 rpm. If you want you machine to run the coolest, you do not run it with the screen closed, or opened max which also cuts off airflow.

when the battery is charged, it is not in use... it will lose power very slowly. Macs do not constantly try to keep batteries at 100% because that leads to issues like you talk about. Macs will only charge their batteries if they are under 95% most of the time. Get your battery to 97 or 98 and you'll see in the indicator that its not charging, and the light will be green.

 

OK, that's the behavior I was describing. Thanks!

 

Yeah, and like I said, that's how all notebooks work so far as I know, not just Apple's.