Really excited but disappointed in equal measure......

[davegoody]

My main machine is a quite aged 27" 5K iMac, which is lovely, and works (and looks) as good as new. I am really wanting to move back to a portable, and the new MacBook Air / Pro look amazing, particularly performance wise ! - However my workflow involves using three (or four) screens, and the new Apple Silicon machines only seemingly support a single external monitor (other than the mini, but it's still only two. Guess that the 16" will be out in a few months, and REALLY hoping that it supports at least two external monitors, perhaps more. Anyone else in this predicament, or am I just being a bit picky ?

 

[FirePak]

I would definitely wait then. I’ve moved to one large screen over multiples but I was going from two to 1 not 4 hah.

 

[davegoody]

Thanks for the reply - I would be happy with two External's and the built-in 16" I have a 43" 4K and a 34" UltraWide as well as my 27" 5K screen currently, as well as my iPad (occasionally) via SideCar. So it's a lot of Screen that I would be missing...... Can wait and see, and potentially wait for the redesigned M2-Based Macs in 9 months time or so..... I am not a patient man unfortunately

 

[Lammers]

Simple: these first M1 Macs aren’t for you.

Expectation is that the higher-end models will have different capabilities when released in due course.

 

[davegoody]

I agree..... just seems like an obvious oversight by Apple, when so many people (that I know) use multiple monitors. Could always use DisplayLink I suppose, but that's not great performance.....

 

[ruslan120]

Here’s how to run up to six displays:


Six Displays Running on M1 Mac Mini, Macbook Air + Activity Monitor + Subscriber Q&A #WorkFromHome

 

[ruslan120]

I agree..... just seems like an obvious oversight by Apple, when so many people (that I know) use multiple monitors. Could always use DisplayLink I suppose, but that's not great performance.....

I found DisplayLink works pretty well. Did 4K playback tests and everything looked great.

 

[davegoody]

May be an option then......
thanks !

 

[davegoody]

Here’s how to run up to six displays:


Six Displays Running on M1 Mac Mini, Macbook Air + Activity Monitor + Subscriber Q&A #WorkFromHome

THat's pretty good, but bet it saturates the USB bandwidth, so using USB Hard Drives at the same time will likely suffer with I/O Speed..... Will see what early next year brings with the 16" Thanks for the link very interesting....

 

[raccoontail]

You're not being picky. While it's true one can delay upgrades too long by always waiting for that next better model on the horizon, now is a time when it's actually worth waiting. The next round of Apple Silicon macs will likely support more displays and by then far more software will be ARM native and debugged, more peripheral limitations will be known or workarounds figured out, and the overall transition will be much better.

 

[Lammers]

I agree..... just seems like an obvious oversight by Apple, when so many people (that I know) use multiple monitors. Could always use DisplayLink I suppose, but that's not great performance.....

It’s not an oversight. It’s a choice.

These Macs aren’t targeted for the market of people who use multiple external monitors.

Yes, my understanding is DisplayLink docks do work with the M1 Macs. But as you say, with some performance limitations!

 

[Jorbanead]

I agree..... just seems like an obvious oversight by Apple, when so many people (that I know) use multiple monitors. Could always use DisplayLink I suppose, but that's not great performance.....

I don’t feel it’s an oversight. Most people don’t use a MacBook Air or entry-level 13” MacBook Pro to drive 3+ displays. Consumers who need that capability will go with an iMac, a high-end 16” MacBook Pro, or a Mac Pro for example. The air and 13” were never really for those who want that much screen real estate.

They also only replaced the 2-port version, not the 4-port version of the 13” Pro. The mini is only replacing the i3 version, not the top-end models. So it would be a bit convoluted anyways to support that many monitors with so few ports when these machines are not even marketed towards that demographic.

When the inevitable M1X chip comes out and the 4-port versions of the 13” and 16” MacBook Pro come out, you can almost guarantee that they will support more displays and have the I/O to handle that too.

 

[raccoontail]

I agree..... just seems like an obvious oversight by Apple, when so many people (that I know) use multiple monitors. Could always use DisplayLink I suppose, but that's not great performance.....

I think the video limitations on the M1 mini and the MBA are fine. Apple should have waited on the M1 MBP release until the "Pro" branded machine supports at least 2 external displays. My 2016 13" MBP powers 2 QHD displays no problem. At home I have a QHD and an old SVGA. I use a cheap HDMI dock and a USB-A DisplayLink adapter for the SVGA so I only have to plug in one USB-C cable for everything. It works well but I wouldn't try it with higher resolutions.