Can I continue using my HDMI output with my laptop closed?

I have a nice gaming laptop and I have it connected to my tv using an HDMI cable where I'm able to game nicely. Having the laptop open though is distracting because of the brightest from the screen. I would like to be able to simply close the laptop and continue using the HDMI output but when I close the laptop the HDMI output stops.

Does anyone have a solution?

I'm using Windows 8.1.

Solution 1:

If you go into Power Management, Advanced mode, you'll see a setting for Actions on Close Lid. It'll let you choose between Sleep, Suspend, Hibernate, or Do Nothing. Set that to Do Nothing and you should be able to close the lid while the OS stays active.

Solution 2:

Depending on your laptop's ventilation solution, it might not actually be designed to operate at load with the lid closed. I know that some of the big, bulky Asus laptops require the lid open for full ventilation.

An alternative, if closing the lid w/ power options as Jeff advised sends your temps through the roof is to simply use the windows+P shortcut to select "second display only" which will black out your laptop screen and automatically turn it back on when the TV is turned off / the HDMI cable is unplugged.