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Using Notebook closed with external monitor - bad for the NotebooK??
I plan to buy a new, larger monitor to plug into my Notebook, and keep the Notebook closed. But, I am not sure if that is good. I mean, computers tend to create a lot of heat.
Anyone with expertise on this?
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
Comments
Nearly all of the heat that a laptop generates is in the side with the keyboard, not the side with the monitor. That's because the monitor just has a monitor, while the other side has the CPU, GPU, chipset, memory, hard drive, motherboard, and various other things.
Closing the monitor does make it harder for the laptop to dissipate heat through the keyboard. But laptops tend not to rely much on dissipating heat through the keyboard, as there tend to be human hands there that don't like to get too hot. Apart from playing games or other similarly intensive activities that push the system hard, it's not going to be an issue at all. And even in games, it probably wouldn't be a big deal.
Still, why are you planning on doing it that way? If you have an external monitor, you lose a lot of portability, so why not a desktop? You also can't use the keyboard or trackpad very well with the laptop closed.
Another consideration is that a lot of laptops will interpret closing the laptop to mean it's supposed to power stuff down. That's probably easy enough to disable, but I've never looked into it.
I've been using a notebook that way for years, with 3 different notebooks, and never had any trouble.
If you already have a notebook, you can use your own common sense to make a good guess if it would work for you:
-Notebooks turn off their monitor when lid is closed, and it's the only component that generates heat in the lid. That means, you don't have to worry about lid generating heat that could overheat the notebook. Only that it could effect cooling of the part with keyboard.
-If closing the lid would block any airflow to the fan, or from the fan, then it would cause problems. But normally notebooks are designed so that the airflow isn't affected by closing the lid, and cooling will work ok even with lid closed
-If the notebook already has heat problems, then even a small thing like placing something on the keyboard (the notebook's lid in this case) could worsen those problems. But as long as the notebook doesn't have heat problems it's unlikely that something that small would start causing them as long as it won't block the airflows.
Some tips from my personal experience:
-Notebook speakers are usually situated so that closing the lid will block them and effect sound quality. It's better to use external speakers when lid is closed
-Most notebooks shouldn't enter power saving mode or anything such when you close the lid. But if yours does enter, than disabling the function of Sleep -button from Window's settings might help with the problem. I once had Windows interpret notebook's lid closing as Sleep -button due to badly made drivers.
Some laptops are ok with it - they are made with vents that allow them to run with the lid shut.
Others are not - and while you can force it to do so, you risk damaging the screen (the heat still comes up through the keyboard, and can warp the plastic in front of the LCD) or overheating the computer.
Check on your particular laptop model to see if it's supported or not. I know Apple's can, but will run hotter, but past that I can't say.
Personal experience: My laptop (a 2 year old dual core) cooks with the lid closed if doing something intensive. I think the keyboard gaps are part of ventilation.
For a time back in the day I did that exact same setup with my Asus G75JW and it worked great for what it was. I personally feel the Asus G series laptops are actually a much better breed of laptop for those wishing to go this route because the cooling systems vents air out the rear of the case.
With all that said I tend to agree with Quiz on this one and that is coming from experience with the exact same setup. In hindsight the only purpose I could see where this makes sense is if your laptop was your primary gaming system (and that should only be true if you are forced to move it quite often, daily or weekly for example) and you wanted to plug it into any available monitor/tv you happen to have available. Outside of that scenario a solid desktop system (even a small mitx build) would be a much better use of your cash.
I just wonder because of the heat.
I am using external speakers and an USB keyboard anyway all the time. I only want to be sure it doesn't damage the notebook.
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert