Don’t dock the MBA. Without a fan it’s going to throttle move than it already does with the lid closed and docked.
get a mini or MBP.
get a mini or MBP.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Should I get the M1 mini as a desktop replacement or just use the M1 MBA with a dock?
- Thread starter abhi182
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Aye I’m old fashioned when it comes to power supplies, GaN aside, the bigger the better when there’s a lot of juice involved.
I’ve just measured the power supply, I like my answers to be accurate when I can, I just wasn’t near it yesterday. It’s 170x70x40mm, the cables, both the one to the dock and the detachable power cable are a good length and when combined I doubt the vast majority of people would have difficulty with placement.
While in sustained performance, both the MBP and the Mac mini will outclass the MBA due to having fans, whether it's docked or un-docked, that's a given. I've not seen a massive difference so far when it comes to actually using the MBA in various configurations. Out of curiosity then, I have been performing numerous benchmarks for each configuration to see what sort of impact they have.
Taking, for example, the Cinebench 60 minute multi core tests I have run. My results are as follows.
MBA undocked, sitting on desk, internal display: 7348
MBA open, sitting on desk, connected to 4K display: 6805
MBA closed, in vertical stand, connected to 4K display: 6896
MBA closed, sitting on desk, connected to 4K display: 7022
Ultimately, the use of a 4K display would seem to be the bigger impact, in most cases than that from thermal throttling between opened or closed.
Obviously I wouldn't render any conclusive argument based solely on a single metric such as 60 minute Cinebench tests. But as a jumping off point, it provides some interesting results.... Well, I think so anyway
Last edited:
Thanks for going to the effort of measuring it! My desk has an eight-port extension lead in use, with all sockets taken up. Something like this would help with removing some of those power adapters.
Are you certain this is 100% correct?
I’ve read somewhere that the M1s support daisy chaining 2nd monitor (provided your 1st monitor has this feature)
Indeed you can, using DisplayPort and DisplayLink, you can add more than the officially supported single external display.
I’ve only tried two myself, but I’ve read that it’s possible to get an extra 4 or 5 external displays on the Air and MBP with resolutions from 1080p to 4K.
No worries, always happy to help. As someone who has up to 50 odd things plugged into the mains in my office, any opportunity to reduce that is a boon. So I do use the extra USB-A ports to power some things, as it has that beefy power supply to cope.
If you’re thinking of buying one, keep an eye on, or fire an email off to this seller on eBay. Assuming you’re in the UK, that’s where I got mine, £90 which is way below the usual retail price.
Last edited:
That is software, not hardware which won't be as good as natively supported monitor support.
Aye, it’s a shame it’s not supported in hardware. I suppose it depends on what you want to use it for. If you can take the hit in performance, then it’s not too bad. But naturally it comes with limitations.
It’s just that you wrote “you are locked in” “you won’t have a choice”. I disagree.
You won't get good results, or very high refresh rates, or very high resolution won't perform too well. Its software rendering pushing through USB. From a hardware perspective, yes you are locked in to only one extra display.
USB Monitors? DisplayLink's Technology, Examined
Would you like to add another monitor, but find yourself out of display outputs? DisplayLink's technology employs the USB bus to extend your screen. The current implementation isn't perfect; we're more excited about the USB 3.0 hardware it has planned.
DisplayLink Software - High CPU on MBA - Page 2 - DisplayLink Forum
Page 2- DisplayLink Software - High CPU on MBA Mac Software
www.displaylink.org
Yep, I'm based in England. Thanks for the recommendation, added to my saved sellers and will keep an eye on the store. Looks like they have the previous version at the moment. Still also researching a couple of other docks too
The page linked above refers to the Intel Mac era.You won't get good results, or very high refresh rates, or very high resolution won't perform too well. Its software rendering pushing through USB. From a hardware perspective, yes you are locked in to only one extra display.
USB Monitors? DisplayLink's Technology, Examined
Would you like to add another monitor, but find yourself out of display outputs? DisplayLink's technology employs the USB bus to extend your screen. The current implementation isn't perfect; we're more excited about the USB 3.0 hardware it has planned.www.tomshardware.com
DisplayLink Software - High CPU on MBA - Page 2 - DisplayLink Forum
Page 2- DisplayLink Software - High CPU on MBA Mac Softwarewww.displaylink.org
I've got a Lenovo DisplayLink dock hooked up with M1 Air and the added CPU load is about 2-3 % normally and rarely goes over 10 %. Everything is butter smooth, including 4k video playback and heavy graphics tasks on all monitors.
In practice the performance is indistinguishable from my previous setup, which was a 16" MBP with an eGPU. If anything, the M1/DisplayLink setup is more responsive overall. I've got zero complaints after one month. Both the 16" and the eGPU are now sold.
Setup:
- LG Ultrafine 5k attached directly in the middle, also providing power
- Two 24" WQHD monitors (2,560 x 1,440) via DisplayLink on both sides, the dock daisy chained behind the LG
All displays run at 60 Hz.
I would just keep the MacBook Air for the moment as your single device... future will tell you if it’s enough or if you really need the mini.
when I bought the first generation iPad I was so sure I would use it for a plethora of things. Then it was my toilet device, for anything else I was using my MacBook Pro.
I would just wait and see if it works without the mini.
when I bought the first generation iPad I was so sure I would use it for a plethora of things. Then it was my toilet device, for anything else I was using my MacBook Pro.
I would just wait and see if it works without the mini.
Yes, It was a rather difficult decision considering how good the MBA is ..
For now, I have cleared out my work desk drawer to create space for a 2 wire solution that works two ways
It consists of an apple multiport adapter for display and power + a vanilla (non PD) hub with ethernet and 3X USB A
I tested it with the M1 MBA and a LG Gram windows ultrabook today and it seems to work fine with both..
The windows system gave me some grief with the machine acting a bit flakey after resume from sleep (kept defaulting to extended display instead of external display only even when the lid was closed)
But a bit of finagling seems to have fixed that..
So now I can leave the LG machine plugged In more or less perpetually letting the MBA be available for portable usage.
If I need to do something that can be done only on the Mac then swapping out is a relatively quick affair.
Given it was the weekend, the setup really hasn't been production tested but I guess It should work
Sounds like the sensible option to me. Having it setup that way should give you everything you need for now.
I’ve definitely been enjoying the freedom the MBA has brought me. I can sit at my desk, using the big 4K display and have all the ports I need, just with a single cable. And if I need to keep the wife from complaining that she never sees me, I just unplug and take the MBA downstairs with me. Everyone’s happy
It's nice if you don't have to plug and unplug all the time with the dock. I'd prefer to have both and just leave each in its own space. That's basically what I'm doing now with legacy Macs.
Haha I use it for the wife part, too. My old MacBook Pro 2011 lasted for 30 minutes with its original battery so my wife was complaining. The MacBook Air has relationship benefits, too.Sounds like the sensible option to me. Having it setup that way should give you everything you need for now.
I’ve definitely been enjoying the freedom the MBA has brought me. I can sit at my desk, using the big 4K display and have all the ports I need, just with a single cable. And if I need to keep the wife from complaining that she never sees me, I just unplug and take the MBA downstairs with me. Everyone’s happy
I thought about this too and decided to get the Mini. I have a couple of Mac laptops already which are not port starved like these new ones are. I also would wait for the redesign to get rid of chunky bazels.
I can so relate to this!Sounds like the sensible option to me. Having it setup that way should give you everything you need for now.
I’ve definitely been enjoying the freedom the MBA has brought me. I can sit at my desk, using the big 4K display and have all the ports I need, just with a single cable. And if I need to keep the wife from complaining that she never sees me, I just unplug and take the MBA downstairs with me. Everyone’s happy
This was my primary rationale as well ?
Add the fact that this is the first laptop I have ever got that does not give me that "oh, this would have been better/faster on the desktop" - feeling ..
Cant remember when I felt so happy about a damned laptop of all things ?
Its also the first laptop I’ve been able to use on my lap. Well, without thinking, this things gonna cook my spuds ?
I don’t remember the last time I was so happy with a laptop either. Maybe way, way back in the day with my 17” Alienware with a top of the range processor and dual graphics cards, but that bugger weighed more than my 27” iMac, so it wasn’t exactly lap friendly.
This gave me a good chuckle, the spuds and the weight of the Alienware. That must’ve been heavy. When I occasionally move my old 12” PowerBook, I’m surprised at how heavy that thing is, so this Alienware must be the elephant of laptops! Probably need a a regular gym routine before even attempting to put it on your lap, hah.
I put two blankets on and then use my old MacBook Pro plugged in. It's winter in New England and it keeps me warm.
The iMac is in the basement and it helps heat up the basement (it's unheated).
It really was a monster of a thing. I’m talking way back in the day when having dual graphics cards in a laptop was really only beginning to show up in precious few systems. It also had a desktop processor, rather than a laptop variant, so cooling that no doubt contributed to its gargantuan size, and the heat produced.
I thought it would be a great portable gaming system, and it was, it was a stunningly good gaming system..... The portable bit, well, not so much, it hardly ever left my desk. But it made a bloody good radiator
