[timmorgan]

My son's laptop screen kept shutting off while he was playing American Truck Simulator. His truck would drive off the road while the screen was black.

Every time I played on his laptop, this did not happen. He swore he was cursed.

This went on for many days, with many instances where it would happen for him but not for me. Then one day I just sat and observed him while he played, looking for any difference. That's when I noticed his watch band is metal with a magnetic clasp. The position of his wrist on the laptop was tripping the hall sensor, making the laptop think the lid was closed.

Him and I (and his mother) were glad to find out he is not cursed. :-D

[WirelessGigabit]

And this bug made Apple move to a different sensor for the screen angle. And Apple being Apple they now had the excuse to serialize the sensor:

https://www.ifixit.com/News/33952/apple-put-a-hinge-sensor-i...

[w-m]

While screens of earlier MacBooks could be turned off with a single magnet, my 2020 Intel MBP requires both the left and the right sensor (around the tab and the enter key) to trigger at the same time to consider it closed. It would be nearly impossible to trigger that accidentally. For starters, you'd need to wear two watches..

[sjackso]

Maybe this has been fixed in recent models, but ten years ago it was easy to experience baffling laptop sleep states if you happened to set a working macbook down on top of another, similarly-sized macbook with its lid closed.

[WirelessGigabit]

Probably helped as before this it was a magnet.

[ClassyJacket]

If it was Tesla they would have forgone any sensor done computer vision on the webcam feed to determine if the lid is open or closed. I'm looking at you, terrible automatic wipers.

[moduspol]

This used to hit us sporadically at my university's help desk. It'd also happen if you have one MacBook open on top of a closed one. The magnet could easily line up and it'd shut the screen off.