AI just made dummy display plugs the hot new MacBook dongle

If you’ve decided to fully immerse yourself in AI development, then you’ve probably noticed how resource-demanding it is. Like, your Mac can never sleep because you need to keep your AI agents running. So, what do you do if you’re using a MacBook and you need to move from one spot to another? You can do what I do and walk around with an open MacBook. (I’m not even doing AI development, I just don’t want to wait the 1.5 seconds it takes to wake a sleeping Mac.)

Or you can do what developer Will DePue suggests on X, and you can use a dummy display plug that tricks your MacBook into thinking it’s connected to an external display, thus putting your MacBook in clamshell mode and keeping it running. DePue points out that you can find these plugs for both USB-C and HDMI at online retailers. In addition to NewEgg and Adafruit, you can find a four-pack of UGreen HDMI dummy adapters on Amazon for nine bucks.

Wait, what was that? Who’s laughing? Hold on, before you ridicule DePue for suggesting what you will say is a dumb investment, I was just about to cover it. You see, you don’t need a dongle to stop your MacBook from sleeping. You can use the Terminal and a caffeinate line command. Or you can use a software utility like Amphentamine, which is free.

But as DePue points out, when you want to allow your MacBook to sleep, all you need to do is remove the dongle, which is quicker than going back into Terminal to end the caffeinate session, or going into a software utility to change a setting. That’s a big enough difference for DePue and probably lots of other people to make the investment. Some people think the convenience is worth $5 to $10.