Laptops, be it Windows or Mac, feature a handy configuration called clamshell/closed-lid/closed-display mode that allows you to keep using your laptop even if its lid is closed – an external monitor should already be connected, of course.

How to Keep Monitor On When Laptop is Closed Mac?

By tweaking your MacBook’s close lid settings and setting up the clamshell mode, you can easily do the trick and keep your monitor on even when the laptop’s lid is closed. To enable the feature and keep your Mac laptop on with its lid closed, you need to tweak the Power Adapter slider on your Mac from inside the Energy Saver settings.

But there’s a bit more to do as well, and here’s what.

#1. Tweak the Power/Energy-Saver or MacBook’s Close Lid Settings

To make sure your monitor stays on and the laptop doesn’t enter sleep mode when you close its lid, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the Apple logo on the top-left corner of your desktop and open the main menu.
2. Select System Preferences from the list.
3. In the System Preferences interface, click on Battery or Energy Saver.
4. Next up, move to the Power Adapter tab.
5. And finally, drag the Turn display off after slider to the rightmost corner i.e. set it to Never. Also, verify the Prevent computer from sleeping automatically… box is checked.

Save the changes and come out.

#2. Make Sure You Lay Out Power Supply First

Setting up a stalwart power supply is mandatory before you set up the clamshell mode and link the external monitor to your laptop. Your Mac is going to need a lot of power to stay on while its lid is closed and while it’s going to be magnified on an external monitor.

The original charger shipped with your laptop is recommended for this purpose, but if not, I’d suggest you only get a genuine Apple power supply replacement.

#3. Connect the External Gizmos

Now, just link your external monitor to the laptop using a standard HDMI – USB-C adapter. Some external displays can also supply power to your laptop when connected but because that’s never gonna be enough, you must anyways connect the power adapter to the laptop even if you’ve got a power-supplying secondary monitor.

Depending upon your requirements, you may also need to connect other wired or wireless input peripherals (i.e. keyboard, mouse, joystick, trackpad, etc.) to your laptop. And for a wireless gadget, remember to establish the Bluetooth connection between both the dongles before you close the laptop lid.

Conclusion

So that’s exactly how to keep monitor on when laptop is closed Mac. All you need to do to have this favor from your MacBook is just tweak its power settings, connect the charger, and put up a secondary display. And that’s it.

However, I’d like you to know that if you experience any display-related issues, you may be better off enabling the Screen Mirroring mode (from display preferences after the monitor is connected) on your Mac first. It may genuinely synchronize the laptop and external display, and you can then move to the normal/extended mode.

And finally, you can also tweak the audio output settings of your Mac via its control center if you want the audio source to be your secondary monitor and not the laptop.

Still got some questions? Reach out here below; I love to write answers.