Using MacBook Pro as a desktop?

[testudo]

Hello,

First off, I hope I posted this in the correct forum. If not, I apologize and I hope that an admin will point me in the right direction.

I recently jump the Windows ship and hopped on Apple's by picking up a mid-2014 MacBook Pro, i7, 16GB, 512GB SSD, 750M 2GB dedicated GPU. I must say it is pretty sweet.

I do a lot of work at home, but once or twice a week I go into the office. I like the idea of having a desktop at home to work on, but the portability of the MacBook. So, I would like to know if I can use the MacBook as a desktop, you know with a keyboard, mouse and external monitors.

Here is a list of concerns/questions that I have:

1. Can I use it with the top down? If so, will it cause any overheating problems?

2. Can I use 2 or 3 external monitors at once?

3. Could I use Bluetooth mouse, keyboard and headphones while the lid is closed?

4. Is there a stand or something I could/should use?

5. Will there be any resolution issues going from Retina Display to 1080x1920?

6. Will battery life suffer from keeping it plugged in mostly all of the time?

7. Will there be an issue with leaving the device on pretty much all of the time, maybe using sleep instead of shutting it down? I mean, the only time I am thinking about shutting it down is when I transfer the device from home to work. or if I bring it somewhere.

I think that is it. I know that I could build a more powerful desktop, but I wanted this and went with it. I would surely appreciate any advice, suggestions and/or help from anyone who has any experience or anything with this.

Thank you in advance for your help!

 

[GreiverBlade]

while i am not a mac guy i can answer to some questions as i have a MBP early 2008

1. i don't think so if it hasn't changed the MBP feature only one DVI output (if the 2014 has a HDMI in addition : maybe)
2. normally yes, i didn't test it extensively but it worked on mine.
3. could: i don't know of it, should: not really.
4. issue to downscale the res: none ... Retina is only a resolution not a limitation: the output resolution can be adjusted, and also lower res equal to better performance and battery duration if on battery.
5. you can plug it without the battery in (it's what i do as i only have a chinese replacement, well at 30$ it was a better deal than a original new MBP 2008 replacement) if apple didn't made the battery of the 2014 line fixed (didn't research sorry )
6. my MBP is on all the time (sleep lid closed ofc) on battery or on charger when battery runs out.

oh ... i could answer all ... take note that it might be not the best answer, but it's from my own experience.

regards GreiverBlade

 

[Aquinus]

With Retina? I have a mid-2014 MBP with just Iris Pro, so I'll answer your questions with respect to what I have.

Can I use 2 or 3 external monitors at once?

I can drive 2 external displays plus the retina display at the same time.

Could I use Bluetooth mouse, keyboard and headphones while the lid is closed?

Yes, a monitor needs to be plugged in and it will switch, however I like using the Retina display even if I have two other displays plugged into it.

Is there a stand or something I could/should use?

Nothing in particular, I just find something that brings the laptop up to the same height as the monitor so the bottoms of the screens line up.

Will there be any resolution issues going from Retina Display to 1080x1920?

1920x1200, and no. I use both the Retina and 1080p (the monitors in my spec in fact, I have the same at work,) work fine. Sometimes windows will look weird when you drag them from the Retina screen to a 1080p just because it's altering the scaling after it switches displays (OS X scaling is pretty good BTW.)

Will battery life suffer from keeping it plugged in mostly all of the time?

Run it down occasionally, but that doesn't mean every day, like maybe once a week if you're using it every day. I travel with mine so I'm not on the charger all the time (it's sleeping in my bag as I write this,) so you probably don't need to worry about it unless it lives on a desk.

Will there be an issue with leaving the device on pretty much all of the time, maybe using sleep instead of shutting it down? I mean, the only time I am thinking about shutting it down is when I transfer the device from home to work. or if I bring it somewhere.

No, our sysadmin currently has 60 days worth of uptime on his however it's usually wise to restart no later than a month just because weird things can start happening after it has been on for over a month. I find 2 months to be the upper bound of what OS X will handle gracefully.