Show HN: Adrafinil – keep a lid-closed Mac awake only while agents work

Re:Show HN: Adrafinil – keep a lid-closed Mac awake only whi... by moralestapia on Saturday June 27, 2026 @04:57PM (#48701682)

What's old is new again, but I welcome this.

I used to do this 15 years ago to keep listening to music from my laptop (one of the white chiclet ones) in my backpack, can't remember the name of the app I used then.

One caveat, your laptop cannot cool inside a backpack, it will overheat and shut down anyway. This happened to me several times.

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Re:Show HN: Adrafinil – keep a lid-closed Mac awake only whi... by kageroumado on Saturday June 27, 2026 @05:22PM (#48701887)

It has a setting for thermal cutoff that you can set to something like 60º C. Sleeping will stop heavy work (like a build) before it leads to overheating.

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Re:Show HN: Adrafinil – keep a lid-closed Mac awake only whi... by dmd on Saturday June 27, 2026 @05:07PM (#48701770)

that was true of intel but definitely not of arm macbooks.

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Re:Show HN: Adrafinil – keep a lid-closed Mac awake only whi... by NewJazz on Saturday June 27, 2026 @05:14PM (#48701824)

Then why do they have fans?

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Re:Show HN: Adrafinil – keep a lid-closed Mac awake only whi... by loeg on Saturday June 27, 2026 @09:52PM (#48703594)

Many ARM Macbooks do not have fans?

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Re:Show HN: Adrafinil – keep a lid-closed Mac awake only whi... by moralestapia on Saturday June 27, 2026 @10:46PM (#48703872)

Fans !== heat

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Re:Show HN: Adrafinil – keep a lid-closed Mac awake only whi... by loeg on Sunday June 28, 2026 @12:32AM (#48704387)

My comment is only in response to https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48701824 , which is contending that ARM Macbooks have fans.

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Re:Show HN: Adrafinil – keep a lid-closed Mac awake only whi... by NewJazz on Sunday June 28, 2026 @04:04PM (#48711036)

Many do. I would argue most do, although i don't have air vs. Pro sales numbers so I can't speak definitively there.

Even those that don't may rely on passive cooling strategies that are less effective in enclosed spaces.

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Re:Show HN: Adrafinil – keep a lid-closed Mac awake only whi... by dominotw on Saturday June 27, 2026 @05:07PM (#48701763)

had a coworkers whose laptop keys melted into mush

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