in the mean time i would say a quick fix for say using final cut pro or and app or point in which you are using multiple window apps or just multiple apps click the box in display prefs that says show in menu bar or what ever it wants to call the menu bar. This will allow you to either access the gather all windows function from the dropdown menu or access that same function from within the displays prefs window in a more timely fashion than just dragging each window and fitting each on the screen so you can see them all at once(final cut pro/ logic).

If you are more computer savvy than the next person you could configure the apple script that system prefs runs to gather windows to work under a shortcut like the f5 or f6 buttor if you are using the new aluminum bluetooth keyboard as these two buttons by default have no function when using say, command + f5/f6, however you can use any shortcut you want and not nessicarily command + f5/f6. you can look up tutorials that will help you achieve this automated task by googling info on writing apple script (not nessicarily the exact wording convention) that will help you write a script.

If you really want to streamline your system install a copy of osx on a external hard drive that is formatted as a guid partition and download the mac developer package which is free and test out your scripts on that before implementing them on your primary system as if something can go wrong it very well could be destructive but that most likely will never happen if everything is done properly its not an issue.

anyways, like i said give me some time to have a good college go at it and i will see if i cant get a fix that is not destructive or invasive in any way and i will get back to you all!

if this doesnt make sense thats ok, allow me to make it easier because tech info can sometimes be to technical even for me! So here is the info for those who want a fix without all the stress!… Essentially you will need to open your display prefs and look at the two little blue screens that represent your laptop and external displays. now, one should have a white bar at the top, most likely the smaller of the two. click and hold you mouse button on that tiny little bar.

Now while holding down you mouse button drag the tiny white bar from the blue box it is currently on to the one it is not and let go of the button. Now you should see your menu bar on your external monitor, your dock will also have moved over to your external monitor! Good luck and enjoy your new awesome setup,also, thanks to bryan for mentioning that you could do this!

Btw I ended up here looking for a way to DISABLE the feature of waking up from slip with the lid closed, and i’ve been looking for half an hour with no luck

This would be ok, I even ignored that with a closed lid your macbook heats up more and the fan is running more often. But working with closed lid make wifi (2.4GHz) and bluetooth interfere a lot. Don’t know why, but my wifi connection (internal network) drops to a 2MB/s from around 10MB/s when it’s closed. Furthermore it makes my bluetooth mouse unusable during the file transfer – it’s jumpy and reacting really slow.

Ok, fortunately I bought the Time Capsule (late 2009) which is dual band, so I can switch to 5Ghz network, I’m just around 10 feet away from the router, so it should work great. But no, it doesn’t. Most of the time 5Ghz network do not work at all or works with a max transfer rate of 0.2MB/s… it reported to apple by many people couple of month ago – no response.

Ok, back to 2.4Ghz network and wait! I can start the system with a lid closed and open it later on, great, that’s a workaround… but each time my macbook goes to sleep I have to close the lid, click the mouse/tap the keyboard and then reopen it. Otherwise it wake up with both screens on.

I spent a lot of money on my macbook, time capsule, magic mouse and it doesn’t even work like a cheap pc netbook. If you are wondering whether to get a mac – give it a good though. True, the design is remarkable and unique, but the products just do not work as they should and apple will tell you it’s not a flaw but a feature.

Open up your displays system pref while both monitors are active (ie MBP open and connected to the external monitor). Go to the arrange tab where you can drag the two displays around, essentially positioning which one is on the left and which on the right. From this screen, you can see that one has the menu bar and one doesn’t. You can drag the menu bar to the other display, thus making it the ‘main’ display.

Once you’ve done that, you can use the trick of disconnecting your external monitor, putting your MBP to sleep, then connect the monitor and use your mouse or keyboard (not the MBP track pad or keyboard) to wake it up.

Viola! Your external display is now your main display. You may have to fix the resolution, but it works!

I’m using a 20″ Samsung SyncMaster widscreen with my 15″ MBP and it looks gorgeous.

Hope this was helpful!

Bryan