[bgaid]

Sorry to offend; I was referencing the "We require Mac OS X" part more liberally. It looks like this author could use any hardware as long as they had HDMI enablers to enable the GPU's in headless servers like the Xserve and Mac Pro.

I don't think they're opening up each row of MacBook Pro's continuously for they're software though. I think they've just got the lids open to make sure the GPU is enabled for better performance in remote sessions.

[skuhn]

There are ways around the lid opening thing as far as activating the GPU (same issue applies to Minis and Pros that have no monitor attached in a datacenter environment).

The big requirement for keeping the lid open is probably to control the temperature. You can run a MBP with the lid closed, but it will get pretty toasty, and these aren't being used for a typical laptop workload one presumes.