External Monitor- Does it use substantial system resources?

Quick question I hope and I apologize if it is answered in another post - I did not find it by searching...
I use a MacBook Pro with an external cinema display. My Mac is now 3 years old and I can use all the power I can get out of it - for example for video encoding.
Does having an external monitor connected use system resources that could be used to run my video programs? In other words, would my Mac perform better for these tasks if I disconnect the external monitor?
Thanks for any feedback.
Matthew

No. The MBP will be affected much more by how many applications are running than by whether the external screen is attached or not. Occasional rebooting should help flush out old stubs from inactive programs and other processes. Activity Monitor gives a good view of most everything that is running or idle but maintaining a memory footprint. Generally after a restart you will see the list of things fall to half, depending on how much was running previously and how long since the last restart, etc.

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