External moniter for gaming...

Is this feasable on a MBP? My understanding is that the MBP cools itself through the keyboard. If the lid is down and you're hooked up to an external moniter will that be okay or will my MBP overheat? I'm just wondering because I will be bringing an external moniter to college and I want to game on it. The only game I will be playing on it is WoW, so nothing too intensive. It will be run on Vista, too.

 

play WOW on the LCD?

use dual screen for normal apps?

 

i doubt there will be any problem, unless of course your MBP has overheating issues, worst comes to worst you could just keep the screen up a bit.

 

Alright sounds good. Now all I plan to run on the Windows partition is WoW, IM, and Anti Virus software. Will 25 GB cover that, or should I do more?

 

20 GB will be more than enough for those applications and files. But I'd go 20-25 GB in case you decide that install more applications or leave more files on the Windows partition later on.

 

Good deal, thanks Sam.

 

Alright so I have the external moniter set up. Is there any possible way that I can have my MBP closed completely and transfer the picture to the external moniter without it going to sleep? It is bothersome having to keep the MBP wide open with a black screen while using the other moniter. Any suggestions for either Vista or OS X would be appreciated.

 

If you plan to run WoW in Windows as opposed to OS X, you better make your partition at least 30 gigs. I always seem to eat up 10 gigs quickly. And since WoW and TBC are close to 10 gigs, the new expansion will probably add a few more gigs onto that.
I haven't tried gaming in XP with bootcamp (I just removed it, as I didn't need XP under bootcamp). Under OS X, you cannot use the 2nd display with the lid completely close, it goes to sleep :-/ Which is probably okay, since it would overheat. But I also cannot run games full screen on a 2nd display. If I try to get WoW into full screen, it pops back onto my laptop screen. Which sucks, since I want to play WoW full screen on my 40" 1080p tv :-/

 

It won't let me close the lid in Vista either. Whenever I close it it goes to sleep just like in OS X. I'll try the full screen thing and let you know if I can do it.

 

Under Vista I am not sure, but with osx you can download InsomniaX which will let you close the lid without the mbp going to sleep. I will see what I can find for you for Vista.

 

Cool, thanks man.

 

I'd probably keep the MBP open a bit especially if you're gaming. If I'm not mistaken, it pulls in air through the speaker/keyboard area and exhausts out the back. The MBPs run extremely hot under load from my experience so I'd probably want to maximize cooling when performing tasks like gamng.

Just my opinion though. I wonder if anyone has done a comparison between open and closed while gaming or any other resource intensive task.

 

yea i would say leave it open. i remember reading somewhere (dont think it was here, mighta been macrumors) that if you run it with the lid closed, there is a chance it will mess up the screen. once again i just read that and i have no evidence as to whether its true or not, im just throwing it out there.

 

Right, that's what I thought it did. I was just wondering if it was possible. WoW isn't very intensive on it really. Oh well, what I ended up doing was leaving the lid open, moving it to the side of my desk, and putting a clip on fan over it to blow air on the keyboard and speakers.

 

Control Panel (classive view) >> Power Options.

There should be an option on the left "Change what closing the lid does" and it'll bring you to the right options page.

 

Don't know about Vista, but under OS X, plug the monitor, turn the notebook on and immediately after close the lid. I assume you have an external keyboard and mouse since you want the lid closed...
You can also connect the monitor/keyboard/mouse, close the lid, and when your MBP sleeps, press a key to wake it up.

 

Oh nice, thanks man. Do you know if I can run WoW with the lid closed and the MBP wouldn't overheat?

 

i guess you can. apple provides a guide to do it.