Is there any chance the next Air supports multiple displays? Apple seems to be making that a distinction between Air and Pro. I don’t need the power and extras in the Pro, but I do use multiple displays. I’d rather not spend the extra money on the Pro when all I need is multiple display support. I know there are workarounds with display link, but I’d rather not go down that path it native support might be coming, since I can wait for the next release. And I know no one is going to know for sure; I’m just trying to gauge the community’s thoughts. Thanks.
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Any chance of multiple monitors on future MacBook Air?
- Thread starter mpb2000
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My personal opinion is that they'll keep it limited to one display. A great way to upsell you to the pro if you need more displays. That said, Display link works pretty well although Ive had issues coming back from sleep.
I don’t think so, or at least not in the near future. In my opinion, Apple is trying to keep cost low so they can keep the retail price low. They include features for what the majority of their users will want.
I’m curious as to why not use a $599 Mac mini connected to desktop displays and then use the Air when you need portability? I’ve never tried to work off of two different Macs, but aren’t things today to the point where you can have them setup exactly the same and seamlessly go from one to another?
I’m curious as to why not use a $599 Mac mini connected to desktop displays and then use the Air when you need portability? I’ve never tried to work off of two different Macs, but aren’t things today to the point where you can have them setup exactly the same and seamlessly go from one to another?
Buying a mini and an air instead of a pro is interesting, if portability is particularly important. I suppose it would depend on how easily you can mirror the files you need on both devices. If you wanted to do something in iPhoto, for example, would an edit made on one machine be applied to the photo on the other via iCloud? It might unnecessarily complicate things.
Edit: I think there is some hardware limitation for the single display support. What is it?
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I thought it was to do with the choice of Thunderbolt controller but I’m no expert. If by artificial you mean they used lesser components I’d have to agree but I don’t think they would purposely put some type of hardware lockout. Perhaps if they tested it using multiple displays and it performed poorly but I don’t see why it would just based on the CPU/GPU
The display controller on the M1 and M2 apparently is unusual in that it is loaded with RAM and that makes it big and expensive to have more than one on the lowest end Apple silicon SoC. Having such a large display buffer apparently gives battery life a significant boost. All engineering is about tradeoffs.
Given the latest base model M3 MacBook Pro can only drive one display, it's not looking good for the next M3 Macbook Air. I've been holding off on an Air purchase hoping that the future version can drive two displays. I really don't need a more powerful computer than an Air, and I'd prefer a lighter laptop, but it seems likely I'll need to move to a M series Pro chip at this point 
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This is true for Apple Silicon. But Intel MBAs could drive more than one, i.e. https://support.apple.com/kb/SP813
It is a pity that Apple has downgraded the Air in this regard. My office would have considered M1 MBAs as our Intel laptops, albeit quite top-tier, are not that convincing. But two monitors are a killer argument, and MBPs are too expensive.
I’m in the same boat. The fact that the M3 pro is limited to one display all but assures the next Air won’t support multiple displays. It’s so disappointing that Apple kneecapped the Air with their chips for something that existed with the Intel models and isn’t a pro feature at this point.Given the latest base model M3 MacBook Pro can only drive one display, it's not looking good for the next M3 Macbook Air. I've been holding off on an Air purchase hoping that the future version can drive two displays. I really don't need a more powerful computer than an Air, and I'd prefer a lighter laptop, but it seems likely I'll need to move to a M series Pro chip at this point
The Air supports its own display plus one external display. It would be nice if you could give up the Air display for a second external display, but I know driving the internal display is not the same as driving an external one.
I regularly work off of 4 different Mac’s and it is trouble-free 99% of the time. You need at least one cloud solution, like iCloud, Dropbox, Box, OneDrive, etc. Mine are all setup the same and things look identical from one computer to the next. Files, mail, bookmarks, keychain, etc. all sync.