Recently I decided to use my laptop with an external monitor and I always use it closed-lid and enjoy. :)
The question is: Is it wrong to use a laptop closed-lid?
I mean problems like overheating or anything else? Also, I use it without the battery. Can it cause any damage or problems?
712 Answers
If your hardware manufacturer offers a dock peripheral for your laptop, you can rest assured it's considered normal use for your device. If you're still concerned about overheating, I would recommend using an open source temperature monitoring utility to put your mind at ease.
3It really depends on the hardware. Some laptops are designed in such a way that cooling is in some way dependent on the lid being open. Some of the super thin gaming laptops with NVIDIA GPU's are like this, the bottom is cantilevered so that it opens up when you open the lid, exposing or enlarging the exhaust vents to allow for proper cooling. Some other designs integrate the exhaust vents into the hinge in such a way that there can be little to no airflow if the lid is closed (usually such designs have the hot air flowing up in front of the screen).
Other than cases like those though, you should be perfectly fine running your laptop with the lid closed all the time.
There is, however, one other caveat to this: don't put anything particularly heavy on top of your laptop when doing this. Most should be fine, but some have poorly designed lids and may end up with damaged screens from doing that (I had this issue with a couple of ThinkPad L series laptops a few years ago).
1If the cooling subsystem of the laptop is functioning as designed, there's no problem. I've seen many folks in many places running with the hood down, and a similar number running without the battery.
Why did I say "functioning as designed"? Well, if the fan fails, the firmware settings altered to slow it down or turn it off, or if vents are clogged by dust, dirt, or hair, that could cause a problem. Solution: Keep it clean and don't override the defaults for cooling.
One thing I'd note is that you shouldn't use the laptop closed if the fan is in the hinge area.
I used to use my laptop just like that, closed with an external monitor, but it started to run really slow. I wasn't totally sure why until I noticed that the CPU temperature was extremely high (like 95 degrees Celsius). It was so hot that the casing started to warp.
After I opened it, everything started to run much faster. When it was closed, the hinge blocked most of the airflow, and so the CPU was constantly throttling to try to limit the heat. So, lesson learned, know where your fan is before you use your laptop closed.
1Using it closed is perfectly fine. Using it without the battery is not good for the laptop or the battery.
It's not good for the laptop because the laptop uses the battery to supply power during demand spikes. The charger is connected through a long, skinny cable with lots of inductance and can't respond as well to demand spikes without voltage sag.
It's not good for the battery because while the battery is disconnected from the laptop, it self-discharges. You will eventually have to place this charge back into the battery, needlessly wasting its cycle life. By leaving the battery in the laptop, the charger can prevent the battery from self-discharging, preserving its cycle life. This is an extremely minor effect and might be outweighed by the battery being slightly warmer due to being in the laptop.
Personally, I would still avoid it unless there was a good reason to remove the battery. Most laptop battery contacts aren't made to handle many cycles and poor connections would cause a huge problem.
20It is ok as others have detailed.
If you want additional cooling - it can actually help speed up the processor if it gets hot - and to extend the life of components beyond their original designed date (date accounting for effects of high temperature. You can use a cooling pad. One example is shown hear. Not the same as my model (gearhead) but the various models are similar - basically large fans under your laptop.
Long term, it may depend on usage. For instance if you keep the computer on and the temp is stable then components won't be affected in the same way that a computer (e.g. laptop), often on and off and sometimes lid closed will be more of a strain on the components as materials in them expand and contract. That said, laptops are built to handle this normally for the expected lifetime of the laptop.
I would use the laptop with the lid closed and without the battery!
I think it´s a good idea to store the battery not fully charged. Perhaps, every 2 months or so you can do a complete cycle. I mean, fully charge the battery, then use the laptop with battery until it is in 5% of power (or so) and then charge it until 65% and store it.
I have never heard that power demand spikes take energy from battery. However, as almost everything in computing world, it can be measured. Download some benchmark software and run it with different stress benchamrks with and without the battery so you can test if specifically your laptop will take power from the battery. Then, you can post the results here if you want!
One more thing: in my experience using a laptop with the lid closed significantly reduced the Wi-Fi signal. That is because the Wi-Fi antenna used to be in the frame of the monitor. In that case you can use it connected to an external monitor and the with the key combination Windows key + P you can select to have image only in the external monitor.
4Every MacBook is designed to run with the lid closed. Just attach a monitor, keyboard and mouse. Some people go on eBay and find a very cheap MacBook with broken screen, which makes a very fine desktop computer.
Surprised nobody mentioned that if you have it closed you may as well put it upside down too (assuming your primary vents are underneath). The heat will rise more easily. Even better - if you have a 3 in one device connect it to an external keyboard and use it in 'tent mode' and the vents will be facing upwards.
This goes for leaving a laptop on a bed or couch if you're not using it - put it upside down so it doesn't overheat.
Disclaimer: Before anyone says it I doubt that a laptop fan is going to malfunction upside down - but that's always your own choice. If it makes a horrible noise that's your clue that something is wrong whatever the orientation.
It depends.
A fanless laptop (rare these days) or a laptop pretending to be silent and thin is pretty much dependant on lid being open in order to cool itself efficiently. Depending on workload, it may not matter at all, make laptop a bit hotter and/or slower, wear down the fan or CPU faster or suck more dust into the radiator. A "workstation-like" (tick, powerful, 15" and more) is pretty much immune to these risks.
(I ran an eeepc for ~7 years nonstop with the lid closed and nothing bad happened, but the fan almost never started.)
As for the battery: OK to run without battery if the laptop runs at all without battery. Some don't and some run in degraded mode with a nasty startup message. The battery itself is better off not being used, to an extent - it may self-discharge to death in a year or two. The battery ages even when not used and it doesn't age much slower when not used. Then again, how much confident are you about your utility power and how much work you can afford to lose?
Generally,as per software and in windows When we close laptop Lid then it takes you into suspend or sleep mode or power management saving mode and as per hardware there is not any hardware except sensor at the place of lock of lid or at a button on body . Only the hardware wise keyboard and screen gets touched. Nothing gets bad or dangerous for closing the lid.
The major benefit of closing lid is the screen get rest in place of keeping closed its better then keep it open and hanging and as power saving mode helps to keep the display or HDD or devices get rest.
But as you use the laptop, through monitor the major thing is that the power management stops power keeps HDD or SDD in sleep mode power of and it sense that your laptop is not being used and still its being used by external display your monitor LED secondly other external devices like USB or wifi or bluetooth also gets less power voltage or current or go to sleep mode due to Power management settings in BIOS or windows.
FIRSTLY over heating in laptops is due functionality of Power Chips or Power Recharging unit or power circuit for charging its general problem with mobiles and Laptop when we work on laptop with charging mode it battery and the Power chip of charging unit to gets heated as its giving more voltage current and power to battery to charge as at the same time battery is charging and being used by devices so its always a good practice to use Electronic devices like laptops tabs on direct power of inverter or UPS when its available and batteries should be used when you using it remotely or Electricity is not available for backup purpose.
SECONDLY over heating in laptop is due to CPU RAM HDD SSD and various other electronic components capacitors ICs transistors chips discharge heat for which heat sink and fans are there (only on Processor North South Bridge of motherboard have heatsink or cooling systems or in some models on RAM , but other electronic components dont have this heat sinks) in high end laptop or gaming laptop there are High end cooling system or vents or big more power cooling fans are provided and they are tested benchmark for cooling. But in economic models the heating they assume that these laptops will be used less for household or official use and so not much cooling fans vents or systems are provided.
As per my knowledge experience and my point of view advice suggestion
Remove batteries and use laptop in direct power of adapter current as your battery life will be more and battery will be used less and you can close the lid after removing battery and u should put the adapter plug on Inverter or UPS for using backup protecting laptop form electric surges and over voltage
You should alter change settings of power management and change the settings of power on closure of lid that is no power to HDD SSD or devices and increase the limit of hours for HDD and devices see links given below
As case of overheating you can use ( as you have not mentioned your laptop company and model if you provide i can find softwares and cooling system that suits your laptop)
a. software to monitor temperature of CPU graphic card GPU or RAM and create a table to compare and note down date wise temperature and see whats the difference when lid is opened and closed or using laptop screen or external monitor or led. I prefer software download from the laptop Manufactured company website find if they are providing or u can use 3rd party software's as suggested by other users . Watch which part is overheating more on closing lid for 2 -3 days regularly and do let me know we may troubleshoot it.
b. increase Internal Laptops FAN and CPU FAN or GPU FAN Fan Speed through software prefer software download from the Laptop Manufactured company website find if they are providing or motherboard or GPU graphic card manufacturing company
c. Search External laptop cooler FANs or laptop water cooling systems if any available for your model.
Hope above suggestions and advice help you do try to tell me your laptop company and model may be we can suggest or provide you with better troubleshooting or advice. If any of the suggestion advice helped or worked do tell me in comment for my knowledge and if not worked then feel free to ask further for doubts clarification in comments. if worked then dont forget to vote for answer or accepting the answer.
From anecdotal experience, many laptops vent through the keyboard. Not only is it in some manufacturers' specs, you can often times actually feel the air escaping between your fingers when typing, especially under heavier loads.
This is speculation, but I think keeping the lid closed during use introduced a permanent dead pixel on my laptop's screen.
I try to keep laptops open now, even when using an external monitor.
