Macs With M3 Chip Still Officially Support Only a Single External Display

[Max_G]

How to connect two or more external displays to an M1 or M2 MacBook
https://www.macworld.com/article/67...ternal-displays-to-apple-silicon-m1-macs.html

The suggestions in this article are probably true for the M3 as well.

 

[iStorm]

Forgive my ignorance, but why does anyone need a separate monitor for a laptop? Isn’t the whole point of a laptop the ability to have everything you need in one portable machine?

So why not get a desktop then? I thought the purpose of a laptop is to free yourself from being stuck with a desktop.

Yes, but people aren't always on the move porting their laptops around, nor are they always stuck at their desk. When they're docked at their desk, they may want to use multiple monitors for better multitasking. When they need to go somewhere else, they can undock and grab the laptop. Very common in the business world...

 

[Stromos]

@MacRumors You guys have got to stop posting articles about this without some links to the technical explanations.

TL;DR — the space that the display controllers take up on the dies is yuge. On the M1 Max, they take more space than the CPU cores. It makes no sense to put them in the small dies.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1549672947060772865

ATP 535: My Computer Supports Math — Accidental Tech Podcast

Three nerds discussing tech, Apple, programming, and loosely related matters.

atp.fm

Don't bother trying to explain this kind of stuff to MR folks. Half of em come here to post "Apple bad".

You know it's amazing that a Walmart clearance laptop can drive to 2K screens yet somehow it's impossible for Apple to do the same. I have a small form factor PC smaller than a Mac Mini that I can plug a single dock cable to and drive two 2K screens.

I decided a long time ago I have zero interest in anything above 2K QHD screens. That's what a productivity resolution is. Anything higher is playing games with scaling. Apple can easily drive two 2K screens but they want you to buy their ultra expensive screens. I have zero interest in something that I have to play with scaling the minute I use it to remote to another system.

I'm sure its great for artists and people who are anti anything Microsoft. It's useless to people who actually have to work on multiple systems.

I have a 6K display scaled at 800% to read text look how much money I have 🙃

 

[Darajavahus]

Is it possible to use M3 HDMI port to use 27” iMac 2020 as external display?

 

[StudioMacs]

My ThinkPad T440s from 2013 supports up to 3 external displays.

This is embarassing.

How many 6K displays does it support?

 

[sviato]

I wonder if this is a technical or an artificial limitation.

This is Apple we’re talking about…

 

[jarman92]

Of all the differences between tech nerds and regular people, I think this has to be the most glaring and ridiculous—the overwhelming majority of people do not care about external displays. Casual users? Don't use external displays. Students? Don't use external displays. Hell, I'm a 30-year-old attorney, pretty tech-savvy, and I can count on two hands the number of times I've used a single external display, let alone two!

This is no great mystery. The no-modifier M-series chips are entry-level chips. Apple has chosen to "only" support a single external display with those chips for a) cost reasons, and b) market segmentation. Every manufacturer does this, they just make different choices. Apple's choice has been to make their entry-level chips run circles around every other entry-level chip (and most other mid- and high-level chips) in performance and efficiency. Intel has chosen to support more displays over making efficient chips (much to the chagrin of every person I've spoken to with a work PC laptop).

So get over it! If you need support for more than one external display, get a Pro chip!

 

[dugbug]

You know it's amazing that a Walmart clearance laptop can drive to 2K screens yet somehow it's impossible for Apple to do the same. I have a small form factor PC smaller than a Mac Mini that I can plug a single dock cable to and drive two 2K screens.

Well the mac mini can drive two external 4k screens. The problem is for the mb air the built-in display counts as one of the two.

IMHO this hurts the laptops more than the mini and the imac and I guess technically you could use sidecar displays, but having two external displays in a business environment with a clamshell laptop is a good value proposition for low end laptops.

 

[rickey939]

Embarrassing this is still happening. I was ok with M1 not supporting multiple based on new architecture, kicked and screamed at the M2 not fixing that issue and now to hear the M3 still has it? Wow.

 

[bubbahotep68]

The Apple Silicon architecture in the base M series chips is based on A series chip architecture used in iPhones. That architecture only supports two graphic channels/streams in the SoC. This is why an M1/M2/M3 Mac mini supports two external displays but a MacBook Air/MacBook Pro/iMac only support one external display--the built-in display uses one of the channels/streams. In order to enable more graphic channels/streams in the SoC, Apple would have to re-engineer the base M series chip. They did that in the Pro/Max/Ultra series chips.

Solutions that offer multiple display functionality on base M1/M2/M3 chips do not tap into some hidden feature or power of the chip's graphic cores. The software uses regular processing power to create a virtual desktop that it projects onto the additional external display.

 

[BeatCrazy]

My ThinkPad T440s from 2013 supports up to 3 external displays.

This is embarassing.

How many 5K60 or 6K60 displays

 

[Bug-Creator]

No way the base M3 could possibly handle that. It definitely needs more GPU clusters

Those who do not read shall not quote!!

There are only 2 display controllers on the M1/2/3.
These are associated with the GPU cluster hence chips with more GPU clusters get more display controllers.
M1/2/3 can easily run many big screens it just can't connect more then 2 to an display directly. Hence Sidecar or those external display adapters do work if you need the extra space (these will be slower but still).

 

[1738]

My ThinkPad T440s from 2013 supports up to 3 external displays.

This is embarassing.

But its 3 displays at probably 720p. With support for a single 6k display, you could easily run a 6k (or even get a $300 4k ultra wide) display and run that. It'll give you the real estate of 2 displays without a seam in the middle, and it'll be at better resolution.

 

[genexx]

I have nothing to complain as i did know the limits before and have @ my MBA M2:

1. Internal Display
2. External 27 Inch
3. TV 4K via Airplay FHD
4. I have to try to connect 2 Airplay Devices in addition .....

Not to bad

 

[gatorvet96]

Who is or wants to buy an entry level iMac to drive more than 2 monitors (the iMac and a second)? Really. This argument is not real-world in the slightest. The general public that buy these base models are not likely even connecting to one external monitor, let alone more than that. Most that use more than 2 monitors are professionals and will buy the Pro or Max M3 anyway. Some people just LOVE to complain.

 

[Elusi]

Speculation as to why: display controllers take up lots of die space. This chip is going to be used in some sort of Apple Vision headset down the line and any and all transistors that can go to GPU will be spent there.

I think the biggest issue is that the internal display counts even when clamshelled and unused (or at least does on M1/M2). When I dock my laptop in front of a desk, my priorities become different and I would rather not have one of my two screens be a tiny laptop one. If they could solve this somehow it would probably be less of an issue.

 

[BeatCrazy]

I think the biggest issue is that the internal display counts even when clamshelled and unused (or at least does on M1/M2). When I dock my laptop in front of a desk, my priorities become different and I would rather not have one of my two screens be a tiny laptop one. If they could solve this somehow it would probably be less of an issue.

I could probably try this experiment myself, but I wonder if you mirror the internal laptop screen on an external monitor, does that count as your extra display or can you add another natively?

 

[Elusi]

Who is or wants to buy an entry level iMac to drive more than 2 monitors (the iMac and a second)? Really. This argument is not real-world in the slightest. The general public that buy these base models are not likely even connecting to one external monitor, let alone more than that. Most that use more than 2 monitors are professionals and will buy the Pro or Max M3 anyway.

Talking to some IT folks it seems pretty common that people had 2018 to 2020 Intel airs that while at work they docked to dual screen workstation setups. It used to work, and people enjoyed their small laptops.

Then all of a sudden the latest stuff can’t do it anymore. And there is no good selling point for getting everyone fat and expensive macbook pros other than the display controller. Makes Tim happy but I understand that there’s a consumer PoV that is pissed off.

 

[smulji]

So why not get a desktop then? I thought the purpose of a laptop is to free yourself from being stuck with a desktop.

Why have both when one can do the job? At your desk, hook connect it to an external monitor for a bigger screen experience. On the go, disconnect and you get mobility. Not everybody has money to burn on two separate systems especially when one can do the job.

 

[Bug-Creator]

but I wonder if you mirror the internal laptop screen on an external monitor, does that count as your extra display or can you add another natively?

It's a HW limitation, so unless you rip out the display and adapt to HDMI you won't have much luck.

 

[smulji]

Hell, I'm a 30-year-old attorney, pretty tech-savvy, and I can count on two hands the number of times I've used a single external display, let alone two!

Where I work, two external displays is common. Matter of fact, our entire call center team are using 3 external displays.

 

[kidaje]

Can anyone explain why it’s only 60hz?

 

[eno12]

Talking to some IT folks it seems pretty common that people had 2018 to 2020 Intel airs that while at work they docked to dual screen workstation setups. It used to work, and people enjoyed their small laptops.

Then all of a sudden the latest stuff can’t do it anymore. And there is no good selling point for getting everyone fat and expensive macbook pros other than the display controller. Makes Tim happy but I understand that there’s a consumer PoV that is pissed off.

My work has completely switched out to having a single monitor at every desk. You can get a second but we also pretty much have blanket approval for that at higher end Macbooks. I, honestly, will never go back to a dual-display setup at my home office as ultrawide monitors are just better.

 

[salamanderjuice]

No that only VGA and Mini display port , you where not running 3 displays well on that thing

On non-macOS platforms there's this magic thing called DisplayPort MST that allows you to get multiple monitors out of a single port. You can use an MST hub to get two monitors out of the 1 mini-DP port. Then get the third using VGA. Or you could buy Lenovo's Ultra Dock and get 3 monitors from that too.

Apple in their wisdom hasn't bothered to implement DP MST even when the hardware is there. On Intel Macs you could use it when running Windows or Linux but not macOS. I've used it on my Steam Deck to get 2 monitors out of its single USB C port. It's pretty neat.

 

[Mac_The_Ripper]

Who is or wants to buy an entry level iMac to drive more than 2 monitors (the iMac and a second)? Really. This argument is not real-world in the slightest. The general public that buy these base models are not likely even connecting to one external monitor, let alone more than that. Most that use more than 2 monitors are professionals and will buy the Pro or Max M3 anyway. Some people just LOVE to complain.

But why not at least have the option to support up to two external monitors? That way everyone is happy. It is sad when Windows machines make Apple look like a joke when it comes to external display support.