Recently I decided to use my laptop with an external monitor and I always use it closed-lid and enjoy. :)
The question is: Is it wrong to use a laptop closed-lid?
I mean problems like overheating or anything else? Also, I use it without the battery. Can it cause any damage or problems?
If your hardware manufacturer offers a dock peripheral for your laptop, you can rest assured it's considered normal use for your device. If you're still concerned about overheating, I would recommend using an open source temperature monitoring utility to put your mind at ease.
It really depends on the hardware. Some laptops are designed in such a way that cooling is in some way dependent on the lid being open. Some of the super thin gaming laptops with NVIDIA GPU's are like this, the bottom is cantilevered so that it opens up when you open the lid, exposing or enlarging the exhaust vents to allow for proper cooling. Some other designs integrate the exhaust vents into the hinge in such a way that there can be little to no airflow if the lid is closed (usually such designs have the hot air flowing up in front of the screen).
Other than cases like those though, you should be perfectly fine running your laptop with the lid closed all the time.
There is, however, one other caveat to this: don't put anything particularly heavy on top of your laptop when doing this. Most should be fine, but some have poorly designed lids and may end up with damaged screens from doing that (I had this issue with a couple of ThinkPad L series laptops a few years ago).
If the cooling subsystem of the laptop is functioning as designed, there's no problem. I've seen many folks in many places running with the hood down, and a similar number running without the battery.
Why did I say "functioning as designed"? Well, if the fan fails, the firmware settings altered to slow it down or turn it off, or if vents are clogged by dust, dirt, or hair, that could cause a problem. Solution: Keep it clean and don't override the defaults for cooling.
One thing I'd note is that you shouldn't use the laptop closed if the fan is in the hinge area.
I used to use my laptop just like that, closed with an external monitor, but it started to run really slow. I wasn't totally sure why until I noticed that the CPU temperature was extremely high (like 95 degrees Celsius). It was so hot that the casing started to warp.
After I opened it, everything started to run much faster. When it was closed, the hinge blocked most of the airflow, and so the CPU was constantly throttling to try to limit the heat. So, lesson learned, know where your fan is before you use your laptop closed.
Using it closed is perfectly fine. Using it without the battery is not good for the laptop or the battery.
It's not good for the laptop because the laptop uses the battery to supply power during demand spikes. The charger is connected through a long, skinny cable with lots of inductance and can't respond as well to demand spikes without voltage sag.
It's not good for the battery because while the battery is disconnected from the laptop, it self-discharges. You will eventually have to place this charge back into the battery, needlessly wasting its cycle life. By leaving the battery in the laptop, the charger can prevent the battery from self-discharging, preserving its cycle life. This is an extremely minor effect and might be outweighed by the battery being slightly warmer due to being in the laptop.
Personally, I would still avoid it unless there was a good reason to remove the battery. Most laptop battery contacts aren't made to handle many cycles and poor connections would cause a huge problem.
It is ok as others have detailed.
If you want additional cooling - it can actually help speed up the processor if it gets hot - and to extend the life of components beyond their original designed date (date accounting for effects of high temperature. You can use a cooling pad. One example is shown hear. Not the same as my model (gearhead) but the various models are similar - basically large fans under your laptop.
Long term, it may depend on usage. For instance if you keep the computer on and the temp is stable then components won't be affected in the same way that a computer (e.g. laptop), often on and off and sometimes lid closed will be more of a strain on the components as materials in them expand and contract. That said, laptops are built to handle this normally for the expected lifetime of the laptop.
I would use the laptop with the lid closed and without the battery!
I think it´s a good idea to store the battery not fully charged. Perhaps, every 2 months or so you can do a complete cycle. I mean, fully charge the battery, then use the laptop with battery until it is in 5% of power (or so) and then charge it until 65% and store it.
I have never heard that power demand spikes take energy from battery. However, as almost everything in computing world, it can be measured. Download some benchmark software and run it with different stress benchamrks with and without the battery so you can test if specifically your laptop will take power from the battery. Then, you can post the results here if you want!
One more thing: in my experience using a laptop with the lid closed significantly reduced the Wi-Fi signal. That is because the Wi-Fi antenna used to be in the frame of the monitor. In that case you can use it connected to an external monitor and the with the key combination Windows key + P you can select to have image only in the external monitor.
Every MacBook is designed to run with the lid closed. Just attach a monitor, keyboard and mouse. Some people go on eBay and find a very cheap MacBook with broken screen, which makes a very fine desktop computer.
Surprised nobody mentioned that if you have it closed you may as well put it upside down too (assuming your primary vents are underneath). The heat will rise more easily. Even better - if you have a 3 in one device connect it to an external keyboard and use it in 'tent mode' and the vents will be facing upwards.
This goes for leaving a laptop on a bed or couch if you're not using it - put it upside down so it doesn't overheat.
Disclaimer: Before anyone says it I doubt that a laptop fan is going to malfunction upside down - but that's always your own choice. If it makes a horrible noise that's your clue that something is wrong whatever the orientation.
From anecdotal experience, many laptops vent through the keyboard. Not only is it in some manufacturers' specs, you can often times actually feel the air escaping between your fingers when typing, especially under heavier loads.
This is speculation, but I think keeping the lid closed during use introduced a permanent dead pixel on my laptop's screen.
I try to keep laptops open now, even when using an external monitor.
It depends.
A fanless laptop (rare these days) or a laptop pretending to be silent and thin is pretty much dependant on lid being open in order to cool itself efficiently. Depending on workload, it may not matter at all, make laptop a bit hotter and/or slower, wear down the fan or CPU faster or suck more dust into the radiator. A "workstation-like" (tick, powerful, 15" and more) is pretty much immune to these risks.
(I ran an eeepc for ~7 years nonstop with the lid closed and nothing bad happened, but the fan almost never started.)
As for the battery: OK to run without battery if the laptop runs at all without battery. Some don't and some run in degraded mode with a nasty startup message. The battery itself is better off not being used, to an extent - it may self-discharge to death in a year or two. The battery ages even when not used and it doesn't age much slower when not used. Then again, how much confident are you about your utility power and how much work you can afford to lose?
