

They are moved back to the built-in display when the lid is opened and “clamshell mode” is exited. By “clamshell mode”, I mean a mode in which all of the items on the Desktop of the MBP’s built-in display are moved to the Desktop of the external display.

(I have an app that incidentally logs when the computer sleeps or wakes I suppose you could also find that info somewhere in a log in Console.app.) It stays asleep (with the lid closed) even if keys on the keyboard are tapped or the mouse is clicked.
Display maid mac mac#
I’ve also confirmed that the Mac goes to sleep if I close the lid without an external display, even if an external (Bluetooth) mouse and keyboard are attached. (A display showing flights at an airport, for example.) I think that’s reasonable behavior because the Mac will be able to enter clamshell mode even when the Mac is only displaying information and doesn’t need input. The MBP’s integrated keyboard and tracking pad are active, but when the lid is closed they are not accessible, so there’s no reason for them to inhibit clamshell mode. I’m not an expert either, but I’ve experimented with closing the lid on my M1 Max MBP running Monterey and found that it enters clamshell mode when I close the lid if my external display is connected via a USB-C to DisplayPort cable, even if no external (Bluetooth) mouse or keyboard are active. The only advantage to doing so is dust (as you mentioned) and to prevent a spurious wake-up from something pressing a key (e.g.

Once it is asleep you should (I assume) be able to close the lid (if you still want to) without waking it up. (At least I think this still works - it does on my 2011 MacBook Air).
Display maid mac windows#
But windows that were on the internal display before you closed the lid won’t move back, because macOS doesn’t remember the previous positions when displays get reconfigured. When you open the lid, the primary display will remain the external display and all the windows will remain there. If you make your external display the primary display, then this shouldn’t happen. Since the internal display is (I assume) becoming your primary display, all content is moved from the external (previously-primary) display to it. When you open the lid, you’re going back to a dual-display scenario. So everything is moved to your external display - because the content would otherwise be inaccessible.Īnd that external display becomes your primary display, because it’s the only one at the time. I think what’s going on is that when you enter clamshell mode, you’re switching from a dual-display configuration (I assume you are not using display mirroring) to a single-display configuration. What’s weirder is as soon as I open the lid everything disappears from the external display and is moved to the main display! (I used Display Maid to restore the windows - very convenient app.)
