This ought to be simple, probably it is, but there is some setting still eluding me.
HP laptop running Windows 8.1, with remote keyboard, mouse and monitor. Keyboard and mouse are wireless with little USB receivers plugged into the laptop. Monitor is connected to the laptop by cable.
I have the setting of what to do when the laptop closes at “nothing” so that it doesn’t automatically shut down or go to sleep when the laptop is closed.
Under the screen resolution I have “show only on monitor 2” but that seems to change automatically when the focus goes back on the laptop screen, and then I have to change it back again.
Symptons: when the monitor goes dark due to lack of activity, sometimes when I hit “Enter” or move the mouse, the remote monitor comes on with the login screen (this is the outcome I want), and sometimes it doesn’t. This seems partly related to length of the inactivity, with longer inactive times being less likely to come back on the way I want. When I turn the screen off at night and then on again in the morning, focus is usually (but not absolutely always) back on the laptop screen. Whenever it comes on with focus on the laptop screen I have to take the laptop out of its little stand, open it, and log in, then close it again.
Is there any other setting I can try so that focus is always on the remote monitor and never on the laptop screen? The keyboard and mouse seem to work fine in this regard. If I remember correctly there may be hardware that might resolve this, but I’d like to make sure first that there is no way for me to make this work through the software.
Probably the main solution is to disable the laptop going to sleep or turning off when the lid is closed. As long as the lid isn’t open by the time Windows starts (giving you time to hit the power button), the device should not even see the first monitor as “plugged in.” That will prevent Windows from using it.
The way to do that is to go into the power settings. Click start, type Power settings, and open them (pressing Enter usually works) Then find the option on the left that says “Choose what closing the lid does.” Set it to “Do Nothing.”
I’d also warn you that some laptops get a bit hot with the lid down, but if you were already putting it really close to down, the difference probably won’t matter.
One thing that may be affecting things is your extra monitor going into sleep mode and not responding in time to the laptop checking it when the laptop wakes up. Therefor deciding there is no second monitor and defaulting back to the only monitor it knows about.
Try turning the desktop monitor off and on just before waking the laptop. Not sure what you can do for a permanent solution if this is your issue.
Older laptops often had nickel-cadmium batteries. In those old batteries, “working” them (i.e. running them down until they were nearly empty and then giving them a full charge) did help with battery life.
Modern laptops usually use lithium-ion batteries. Lithium-ion batteries are lightweight and have great energy densities (they store lots of energy for their size), but their longevity sucks. Lithium ion batteries start dying from the moment they are made.
You can minimize their death rate, but you can’t eliminate it altogether. Two common things that kill a lithium ion battery from a laptop being plugged in all the time are heat and a full charge.
For heat, make sure that the laptop’s vents are not blocked in any way. They also make laptop cooling mats that can help keep the heat down.
As for charge, most laptops these days have a longevity charging mode that keeps the laptop at a reduced charge level. The down side of using this mode is that if you need the laptop’s battery, it won’t be anywhere near fully charged (probably less than half), so if you know you are going need the full battery capacity you’ll need to switch the laptop over to full charge mode and give time to fully charge.
Another option if you are using the laptop as a desktop is to discharge the battery down to about 40 percent and remove it. Keep it someplace cool until you need it. Some laptops aren’t very happy if their battery is removed and they’ll keep giving you a dead battery warning.
Completely charging and discharging lithium ion batteries does more harm than good, so if you come across information recommending this method of “working” them for better longevity, disregard it as it is very much out of date for modern laptop batteries.
I couldn’t work that way. I also have the lid closed, and the laptop off to one side out of the way. I have a large external monitor in front of me, and an external keyboard and mouse.
I’m doing it to save space on my desk. A closed vertical laptop can be moved close to the wall and takes up little space that way. I don’t need or use two monitors.
OK, I have the laptop set to never fall asleep. I can turn off the monitor when I don’t want to see it, and when I turn it on, there everything is, no logging in required.
First question: I’m using more power this way than allowing the laptop to sleep when not in use, correct? Am I being irresponsible for my own convenience (assume I can afford the extra electricity expense)? (note: I will try to find the setting that ECG mentions about longevity charging mode, which sounds like it is more for preserving the battery life than it is for conserving electricity.) In other words, I guess, how much extra electricity am I using this way?
Second question: If the laptop is never sleeping, do I need to do a remedial re-boot (to re-set the memory and stuff) any more often? Is remedial re-booting even still necessary or desirable with a relatively modern laptop (4+ years old)?
Thanks to all for their help and advice. The longer I’m retired, the more out of touch I am with stuff for which I used to be the go-to guy in the office.
I use three. The externals aren’t on my desk, they’re on pillar thingies to either side of it. I love being able to have my email open on the monitor to my right, the script code I’m working on in front of me, and the screen with the buttons on it over to my left where I can click on it and watch it behave or misbehave. Or open the FTP windows to my web site over here, the local files in front of me, and a web browser over there to make sure the files I’m dragging in are the ones I think they are. Etc.
You’re right, though, it’s nice to be able to run an external monitor with the laptop closed and taking up little space. I know a gal who runs her laptop in a vertical closed position so it takes up a narrow 1/2" strip of real estate in a thingie that’s like an old-fashioned magazine rack off to the side of her workspace.
It’s not as big of an issue as it used to be. And memory management has gotten better. But memory leaks still happen and some applications will take up more and more processor time the longer they are left going.
And some windows updates require reboots to complete installation. They’ll throw a notification in the taskbar at the very least.
Bottom line. I do a maintenance reboot once a week.
The power draw isn’t all that significant for a desktop, and is even less on a laptop. It will still clock itself down and use less power when idle–laptop processors are designed to do this very well. Chances are your power bill would not be all that different. I personally would not worry about it unless you were on a very restricted power budget (e.g. you were running off your own generator, or you were running off a battery).
That said, if you choose to put it to sleep or even let it automatically sleep, that would be fine. You just should turn off “hybrid sleep” which will go into hibernation mode (which basically turns off the laptop after saving where you were) after the computer has been sleeping too long. This is also in the power options. Try Googling “hybrid sleep” if you have trouble finding it.
The reason to do this is that hibernation often requires you to press the power button to wake the machine back up. But sleep usually allows just moving the mouse or pressing a key on the keyboard, so you could wake up the machine without opening it and causing problems.
Sure, sleep mode uses a tiny bit of power to keep the RAM working, but it’s like the amount you’d get by plugging in a clock or leaving your phone plugged in after it’s finished charging. (Your phone actually is going to sleep, like your computer.) And it’s a lot faster to wake up from. Hybrid sleep (and hibernation generally, mostly) is only useful when running off of battery.
So, yes, you can leave the computer on with little ill effect. But, if you really need to save power, you can still let it go to sleep. Just make sure you turn off hybrid sleep and hibernation (when plugged in) so you won’t have to open your laptop to wake it back up.