My Dad will be getting his MacBook Pro here in the next couple of weeks. When working at his desk, it'll be connected to a nice 22" HP LCD. His desk is small and somewhat cluttered, so, chances are, he'll just use the thing closed and slid under the display (or perhaps even propped vertically) to save space...spanning/extended desktop isn't critical, necessary or being sought at this time.
1. Any drawbacks to this, in terms of heat or anything like that? I would assume "no" since that's part of how they're meant to be used, but I've never done it myself so I wasn't sure what to convey to him about it all.
2. When closed (and connected to an external display and keyboard), does the MacBook Pro act just like any desktop Mac, in that it wakes from sleep with a mouse-click or key press? Or do you have to do something different on this front? In my mind, he'll just have a really slim Mac mini when using it this way, and all the usual rules apply. But I don't know if that's the case...
3. As touched on above, are there any drawbacks or downsides to using it closed in a
vertical orientation,
along these lines? Are there heating/venting concerns? Where are the vents on a MacBook Pro, and would something like the item present a problem?
Sorry for the stupid questions. In the five years I had my PowerBook G4, I never used it connected to an external display, so I just don't know the facts (and real-life answers) about the above.
Naturally I'm looking to hear from those of you
who actually do this quite a bit. Enough to know the real-life answers to the above (and any issues or drawbacks I/he should be aware of). I can read a manual or online article that says it
can be done. That's not the info I'm seeking; I already know this...
I don't want him to blow his new MacBook Pro up, two months in, because it was positioned weird, used with the lid closed too long, overheated, etc.