Can an Air power two 2560x1440 Displays?

A

atMac

macrumors 6502

Original poster

• Aug 27, 2012

• #1

I'm thinking of picking up two 27in Catleap displays from ebay since they will together be cheaper than a Thunderbolt display and I don't do anything that requires super accurate colors.

Will my 2011 13in Air be able to output to both of them? Or should I stick with one?

 

M

mikeray

macrumors regular

• Aug 27, 2012

• #2

atMac said:

I'm thinking of picking up two 27in Catleap displays from ebay since they will together be cheaper than a Thunderbolt display and I don't do anything that requires super accurate colors.

Will my 2011 13in Air be able to output to both of them? Or should I stick with one?

Click to expand...

Yes
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1384012/

 

J

jdechko

macrumors 601

• Aug 28, 2012

• #3

No, the 2011 Air cannot power 2 displays at that resolution. It could power 1 at that res, and another at up to 1920x1200 with a USB display link adapter, but not 2@2560x1440.

 

daveishere

macrumors 6502a

• Aug 28, 2012

• #4

I thought the HD 4000 chip in the '12 Air could power two TB displays?

 

007bond

macrumors 6502a

• Aug 28, 2012

• #5

daveishere said:

I thought the HD 4000 chip in the '12 Air could power two TB displays?

Click to expand...

It can, but I don't think the 2011 model (the one the OP has) can.

 

daveishere

macrumors 6502a

• Aug 28, 2012

• #6

007bond said:

It can, but I don't think the 2011 model (the one the OP has) can.

Click to expand...

My apologies, missed the 2011 bit in your post :S

 

J

jamesr19

macrumors 6502

• Aug 28, 2012

• #7

It's not hardware/natively supported, but you can run two monitors at that res on the 2011 MBA - I've done so myself (with two 1920x1200 24").

You need a USB->DVI adapter that uses the DisplayLink chipset. I got mine from Amazon for £50 and it works fine - supports up to your desired resolution too. There is a bit of lag running HD movies on the USB run monitor and doing quick animations but i've had no problems with standard use. Its basically like plugging in a secondary (less powerful) graphics card.