Desktop replacement: lid shut usable?

[Bfskinnerpunk]

I was thinking of getting a netbook for my on-the-go computer, and using this t61 (t9300) as my "desktop replacement".

Can I plug in my external monitor, a keyboard, a mouse, and use all the functions of this T61 with the lid shut?

I just bought a 320gig hard drive, so it should work quite nicely. It's far better than my old desktop machine.

thanks
Kelton

[basketb]

yes, you can. Just make sure you set it up so that your computer doesn't go to sleep when you close the lid. Also, your external keyboard most probably won't have some of the special keys (like Fn, volume up/down, etc.) - there is a Lenovo tool (called keyboard customizer utility) that allows you to map most of these to a combination of ordinary keyboard keys.
One thing you may want to consider though is to use an extended dual monitor setup; i.e., use both screens, the external one (as the primary) as well as the internal one.

[hausman]

What does keeping the lid closed do to heat dissipation? Is this an issue, especially with models like the T60/p that tend to run "hot"?

[deforest]

Fans are on the side, so the heat still comes out.

[Marin85]

Fans are on the side, so the heat still comes out.

True, but part of the heat also dissipates "through" the keyboard. When running on max for a while, the amount of heat produced by my ThinkPad (similar to T60p) becomes noticeable. Nevertheless, I don´t believe running the laptop with closed lid would cause any problems. I do this all the time letting my laptop work during night...

[deforest]

I leave my t60p lid closed all the time when it is docked, which is 95% of the time. Even when the room temp is 82F and I'm encoding video for 2 hours straight for the short runs, 12 hours for the longer runs, at 100% cpu usage, I don't have a problem with heat. Yes the laptop cpu temps are warm, but well within spec. Occasionally I take it and blow out the dust a couple of times during the year, when I start noticing dust built up around the fan ducts. You know it's dusty when there's dust even at the usb ports openings.