It’s still possible to keep your laptop running with the lid closed. Why would you want to do this? Maybe you have some background work that needs to be running and you need to keep the laptop ...

You can keep your screen on when your laptop is closed by altering the laptop's power settings. In Windows, open the Control Panel and go to Power Options to set what happens when the lid is closed.

The only caveat is that if you want to use the device exclusively with the external monitor or place the laptop on a holder, the device will turn off as soon as you close the lid. However ...