Apple has long offered a laptop option where you only want to use the external display in mirror mode and not look at the internal monitor. You can close the clamshell lid while your separate screen continues to work. But what if you want external devices to be active and don’t need a display? For example, one reader wants to keep the webcam active but close the lid of their laptop.
Apple doesn’t provide a “headless” option, and I can’t find third party software designed for consumer models. It may be irreparable.
You can open the lid a little and set it so that its display dims after a short period of time:
- In Monterey or earlier, go to System settings > Batteryand in the Power Adapter view, select the Prevent your Mac from automatically sleeping when the display is off check box.
- In Ventura go to System settings > Displaysclick Advancedand then enable “Prevent automatic sleep on the power adapter when the display is off.”
Another option is to attach a tiny inexpensive external display and install the same parts as above. For example, this $60 7-inch display designed for games and Raspberry systems will work.
It might seem a little ridiculous to plug a $100 100-inch monitor into your hundreds or thousands of dollars worth of laptop to keep it running, but if it does what you want, your problem is solved. Note that you can’t just turn off the power on the external display: it will show up as unavailable to macOS and switch display control back to the internal display.
This Mac 911 article is in response to a Macworld Me reader question.
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