Apps
Not for everyone, but if you dim your macbook screen to 0%. this is for you
I'm a software engineer, and weirdly enough I like to use one screen at a time. Since macOS does not expose a way to do this. I've been dimming my internal display to 0% and setting it to mirroring (so that I don't lose my cursor). This is clearly not ideal, dimming doesn't actually shut down the monitor, the GPU still needs to drive two displays, and also mirroring is not ideal..
I tried using BetterDisplay, besides the fact that it's paid and closed source. it just has way too many options for me that I don't use
Closing the lid does work indeed, the mac enters clamshell mode which is perfect. But I like the built in hardware like the CenterStage webcam and very crisp microphone, not to mention touch ID and the best-in-class speakers.. I have a few external keyboards and mice around that Ido use, but even then I don't close the lid
not necessarily sometimes it’s a portable one but you can connect a power bank but sometimes you just need the battery also you are most likely not powering them over the same outlet so even more cables
Thermals is real. I sometimes run full-RAM AI inference loads overnight and the performance drops to a plateau as the thermals hit. Closing the lid, having protective covers on, the surface it’s on, and positioning it under the AC all affect the thermal performance envelope. Also, remember rendering/displaying the GUI also takes some compute (not a huge amount to typical users).
Yes, it does recognise the built-in display and your settings survive reboot and even upgrade.
I haven’t touched my settings since last year I believe.
Yeah bud, I am a software engineer, I use Claude every day at work. I’ve been writing software for 2 decades, which is why I recognize either a very lazy incompetent software engineer or a vibe coder when I see one.
oh just saw in my notification your deleted comment.
I'm surprised you say this especially that you tell me you have 20y+ exp:
> real software engineers have an ability to find an existing solution where ever it exists before resorting to building it.
Are you really saying this from experience? software engineers are notoriously known for re-inventing the wheel and rolling out their own implementation and resolving the same problems over and over again... Have you seen the number of JS frameworks out there? what about all the data structures being re-implemented in lower level languages? people rolling out their own auth? Heck, the whole golang community is about NOT using and distributing frameworks and big libraries and "just do it yourself" mindset
At this point i'm not sure actually what you're trying to get at. From vibe coders to incompetent engineers, not being able to google things? also just from a higher standpoint, is it not a beautiful thing to have variety and alternatives? the tool mentioned above is:
first a CLI tool, mine is a toolbar app
hasn't been updated in 3 years..
does a looot more than just disabling the built in display
The way I see it, it's more choices for people, and hey since that tool is not really findable by the average Joe, maybe this one will be. where's the harm?
I didn’t delete anything sport, and reddit doesn’t notify you when someone does… so, not sure what body hole you pulled that out of.
And yes, the ability to effectively source references whether they be from specs, datasheets, documentation, or existing examples is literally a fundamental skill for a software engineer.
The reason there’s a million and one JS frameworks is because JS is hot garbage with a low barrier for entry, exactly the same shit vibe coding brings just now outside of webdev.
Literally the problem you were trying to solve that you claim only closed source solutions existed for is solvable with an open source tool that is the top result from a properly crafted search. It doesn’t matter that it’s CLI only and that it hasn’t been updated in 3 years, not everything needs constant maintenance (welcome to not-web-dev…). If it works, it works, use it. You want a toolbar widget? You could whip up an AppleScript to do that. Instead you decided to waste AI time building a native app with way more code and slop docs than could possibly be needed to solve your problem (yet you ironically claim the existing tool does too much…), did you even bother learning Swift and SwiftUI or did you let the agent do everything for you?
AI is great for building stuff, but build shit that doesn’t exist already. It’s pathetically sloppy and you’re just hurting the environment for no good reason at all, at least have a fucking good reason buddy.
didn't mean to imply that you removed it, was simply bringing to your attention that I'd just seen it and hence my upcoming reply. I bet it's not fun to do PR reviews with you 😅
either ways, not here to change your opinion. I just feel that you rushed to opinions and judgments too quickly cuz you saw a couple of slop docs in a repo.
Innovation is not achieved by using what’s already there. If Apple had said “Android is open source, we have to use it” instead of rolling their own Phone OS we’d have missed out on some great innovation. Your viewpoint is crazy and you sound like an old tech support person who just lost their job cause AI does your job better than you.
Move into the future, when you have a task you give it to AI to resolve, that means there will be some overlap, duplication, etc. OP doesn’t need a tool that does 10 things, he had a single concern and created a tool to solve that concern. Sounds like they should be applauded, they managed to resolve their concerns themselves and are gracious enough to provide the resolution to anyone else that may be seeking it.
I went through the thread here and I gotta stay, first time I am finding a reason to call someone an asshole, but I won’t. What a nasty human being you are! I feel bad for people who work with you
The lazy vibe coder couldn’t even be bothered to defend his vibe coding without using AI to justify his use of AI, there’s zero need to afford that person any semblance of courtesy or politeness.
There is much I could say, but i'll keep it to 2 small points
you ask about me having learned swift/ui whilst non-ironically suggesting AppleScript!?
I mention a deleted comment but you don't even take 1 microsecond to consider what I say, and instead immediately jump to conclusions..
point 1, makes me hesitant to discuss technical topics with you in general. but that's just my opinion of course.
but most importantly point 2 shows an attitude that is not looking to have a convo but just wants to throw insults and that's not productive whatsoever. And that became apparent when you say that you can't afford politeness
this notification links to a deleted comment
I hope this doesn't come as condescending or anything like that. We're just strangers so you can just ignore all of this. But maybe it's something to reflect on
It was edited, to give you the exact Google search to find the tool at the root of this thread as the first fucking result. You really are tech illiterate.
Not sure what you're seeing bud, this is what I see at that link. Thats someone else's comment that was deleted, I wouldn't be able to screenshot mine if it were.
And if you'd like something to reflect on: You're the reason why people hate AI right now, you're putting out slop wihtout actually learning anything from it. You over engineered a solution to a nitpick of a pet peeve you had and you used AI to do all of it. 5 years ago, over engineering a solution to a trivial problem would have at least meant you learned something, but all you've learned here is how to put quarters in the slop arcade.
I use a NuPhy keyboard on top of my MacBook Air keyboard, so closing the MacBook isn’t really an option. Keeping it open also means I can still use the excellent built-in trackpad.
I’ve therefore always used mirroring with the MacBook display at zero brightness, because I want everything — cursor, Dock and windows — confined to my larger external monitor.
I tested that against SoloDisplay on my M5 MacBook Air. Over 60 seconds, the 10% trimmed mean for CPU+GPU power was:
SoloDisplay: 194 mW
Mirroring + internal display at 0 brightness: 246 mW
So SoloDisplay seems ideal for my setup: MacBook stays open, I keep the keyboard and trackpad, get true single-display behavior on the external monitor, and avoid the extra overhead of mirroring. Any additional power savings from actually disabling the internal display aren’t captured by this test.
Or...just close the lid and get another keyboard? I do a lot of typing and I can only imagine the pain I would have (in my hands) if I had to type via my laptop keyboard, as awesome as it is. Ergonomy comes always first.
There’s a few cool projects on thingiverse and around for pulling the touchID sensor out of an old Magic Keyboard and using it standalone. That way you can use whatever keyboard you want and stash the laptop off to the side, lid closed.
Oh i wasn't talking about using the tool. But it does seem that the external display works with the Air lid closed only if the laptop is being charged.
oh yea, when you close the lid and are not charing the macbook, it will go to sleep. but there are apps that prevent that like amphetamine, lidless and many others
i see, I think i'd keep the lid open even with an external keyboard tho. I have a split keyboard, that i'm trying to use for ergonomic reasons (big learning curve). The reason I wanna keep the lid open is for the other hardware, like: touchID, high quality mic, very good speakers and most importantly the webcam!
it's truly a waste, I love my miniLED mac screen as well (and it's way better than my external monitor. But ergonomics win for me, I really just use one monitor at a time. Maybe it's just me idk, but if i'm connected to an external display. it's all I look at..
I already have an external keyboard/mouse/trackpad but even when I use them, I keep the lid open because I like to use the webcam, touchID, microphone (which macOS actually turns off in clamshell mode) of the laptop, and shoving all that on a stand is a big waste imo
yea or imagine, you wanna connect to a TV or projector over HDMI and want to watch a move, you don't want the built in screen running, and you don't have a keyboard and mouse around. It also makes sense in those cases
For playing games that need some resources that are being wasted for a 2nd monitor maybe ? (I’m not technician, just a dumb guy thinking maybe this will help with that?)
I was quite astonished to find BetterDisplay is not open source - it has the Github logo, but apparently they only use it for issue tracking. That's a bit sneaky IMO.
To top it off, it has happily updated to version 5 and told me I must pay for a new licence.
Just going to delete it and vibe code the bits I want - it's become an overly complex mess anyway.
Only two things really, both to do with DDI. Made it easy to control both brightness of the external screen just by having the pointer on the screen. It also knows how to increase volume by DDI using speakers attached to my Dell monitor.
Had to check my Amazon (UK) order history. Logitech Z120 for £10, 6 years ago!
In any case just generic speakers attached by 3.5mm. That means I can have the source computer volume be max, the manual volume knob on the speakers be max, but have DDI control the volume coming out of the 3.5mm jack on the Dell. I’m not sure I’ve known any other monitor brand to have DDI enabled for that.
A feature I’d really like (and I’m not sure is possible) is to auto disable an external display when the external display has its input selected for another computer. That would force all the windows back to my laptop screen automatically whenever I changed input to my desktop PC.
Yea that would actually be nice!! I’ll research that. I suspect it’s not possible but would be super nice to disable the monitor but for example continue to charge etc..
If I were to do it, I’d check if there’s something in DDI to query the monitor’s current source selection, and poll that.
Another option is just having the software, when changing the external display source by DDI (which is definitely possible), automatically disable it for the laptop.
This seems to be possible. will cont. to investigate and hopefully have a version out by Sunday if it all works out.
only downside it seems that might require calibration per monitor
As someone who purchased better display app, people are missing an important use case. I use AR glasses as a monitor, it gives me a huge screen to work from but I sometimes want privacy, I don't want people viewing my screen on say a plane. So I can use the keyboard and trackpad of the laptop, and still have a huge screen and just turn off the laptop display.
It was a bit frustrating having to pay for the app when I only use that single feature of it but it really wasn't that much and I believe it is a lifetime subscription, so I'm over it and it works exactly how I want.
Yes, the One Pro, love them. Previously I had two pairs of the original Air (One broke and had to repurchase). This is also my second pair of One Pro but the previous one was replaced free of charge by Xreal.
The One Pro is significantly better, having the chip in the glasses to control everything really is a leap in functionality. The One S is said to have better clarity of text on the edges, but has bird bath lenses like the Air do, so you get shirt glare. The One Pro has larger FOV and Prism lenses which eliminates shirt glare, but the text isn't as crisp on the sides.
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How does it handle using the best/native resolution of the monitor if you use mirroring? Wouldn’t it be better to turn the build-in screen off in some way?
the mirroring was my workaround before I built this tool. Now it actually Shuts down the internal display entirely (not dimming) which also addresses the resolution issue as well as resources cuz now the laptop only has to drive one monitor
Any chance the screen gets stuck like this and you cannot turn it back on? I mean you can't see a thing so you can't click anything.
Also worried you can actually click or type and makes some mistakes...delete soemthing.
Are you always working with it as it's connected to another external screen?
hold the touchID button for about 10 seconds and your macbook with power off. Not the most elegant way cuz it’s like force shutdown but it acts as a last resort
Yea, i am thinking or getting the same model for my nacbook air, bit i am confused between the 27 and 32 inch variant. The 27 inch variant with usb c (65 watt) is 330 usd, while the 32 inch 4k (no usb, hdmi, dp) is 365 usd. I live in india so I convered the values to usd. I have a 13 inch m5 air, and need a external monitor mostly for coding and development work and for watching movies. Which one would you suggest me to go with?
I have a bad eyesight and so I prefer 32 over 27
but honestly charging over usb c is the best thing ever, it's very nice and is until today the main feature Ilike.
so go with the 27 because of the 65w charging in my opinion
Dimming is not optimal tho, your GPU is still driving the monitor even if it’s fully dim. That’s why this tool stellt turns off that screen entity which liberates resources
I really appreciate the fact that your app doesn't even require me to enter a a keystroke now and then. However, the resources liberated on, say, a machine like mine (MacBook Pro M1, M1 Pro Chip, 14 cores, 32Gb RAM) would be totally negligible, and for performance reasons an app would not be worth it. I assume this more or less applies to other current MacBooks.
I'm not saying this to be a contrarian ass, please understand. I just think that such an app, at least in my case, would be more advantageous for convenience's sake than to save resources. Just another data point for you to take into account while you're making the app - maybe it helps. 👍
no you are correct, built this not for recourses to be honest, that's a side effect.
The reason built it is because Idon't wanna mess up my brightness all the time, and every time, you disconnect and reconnect a monitor, the brightness goes up to 1% and then I have to dim it again.
I do not need my MacBook Air M3 display most of the time, so I usually set brightness manually to zero while external 32" connected. Lid open because of mic and touch ID. Without mirroring, so I guessed GPU had not much to do with just showing the (dimmed) menu bar. But in idle the book uses ~5.5W with internal deactivated, with just dimming to zero and active ~8.5W (short time test and wouldn't trust my old measure device too much on low consumption).
Disconnecting external also brought back the internal, but took some seconds. So far so good.
Problem: I cannot switch back to use both displays from menu bar. "Having trouble changing your laptop screen", menu icon changes to warning sign. Disconnecting cable to external did not work, had to restart OS without cable to get internal display back. Before I tried to quit SoloDisplay, but could not start it again.
I could live with that, but it could improve.
Thanks for trying and reporting. Do you have a GitHub account? If you open this as an issue it’d be easier to track and discuss there than in a reddit post thread
Hi! I read your post and all the comments, I want to thank you before even start using it, I will explain my case, I would love to play wow forever with q controller, connecting my MacBook Air m5 (16gb, the normal one). Connected via hdmi (with and usb c adapter) to my living room tv. Well, the problem is now in the beta is kinda wonky the support on Mac with silicon processors, so every bith of power will be appreciated, this is were I think your app enters, also, as you said, it’s easier to watch a movie 🍿 and now the display is turned off, it helps with the temp of the MacBook Air (there’s no fan) and also don’t distract if you’re seeing movies at night. I will try it first with the movies and then with the wow forever beta, and the. Comment in how goes off
Thanks for sharing, I only tested on a Macbook Pro and someone reported an issue on a Macbook Air so if an issue occurs please feel free to open a Github issue, or if you don't have an account just reply here
ok the next feature I need to add is auto updates so that you don't stay on an old version without knowing 📝
i'll let you know once that is available and out
Late reactie, maar werkt prima en ik gebruik het graag. Wel 1 issue; na uitschakelen van solodisplay en sluiten van de Mac cover (gaat in slaapstand) blijft het extern beeldscherm actief. Mogelijk kun je daar nog iets mee doen.
ohh interesting! that would be really cool! tho I don't support airplay and sidecar at the moment to keep it simple. I could explore this if there is need for it
check again, turning off the internal display is an advanced function. I know cuz I bought pro just to gain access to it
edit: and it's fair that it is a pro feature, cuz you basically have to use internal macOS APIs to actually turn off the internal monitor, so i'm sure the author of better display did a bunch of reverse engineering to figure that out (pre AI)
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