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Intel & AMD MacBook Pro had better monitor support than M-Series MacBooks

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exoticSpice

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Jan 9, 2022
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All Intel MacBooks from 2018 onwards supported more than 2 external monitors.

What is more crazy is that Apple gimped the 2021 16" compared to the 2019 16" in terms of monitor support.
The base 16" 2019 MBP 5300M supported 4 external monitors which was $2,399.


Now the base 16" 2021 MBP M1 Pro only supports 2 external monitors and it also costs $2,499.
To get 4 external monitor support a 16" MBP now the customer has to spend at least $3,099 because Apple designed their SoCs that way.

You have to spend $700 more just to get more monitor support. Absurd.

2019 16" with 5300M/5500M/5600M:

MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2019) - Technical Specifications – Apple Support (UK)

support.apple.com support.apple.com
1656309452177.png


2021 16" M1 Pro/Max:

MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2021) - Technical Specifications – Apple Support (UK)

support.apple.com support.apple.com
1656309551758.png
 
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Back to M1 time I thought this is a limitation from technology side, but after M2 released, I found out that Apple knows how to do multi-monitor support, but they don't want to do it in entry-level chips.

exoticSpice said:
You have to spend $700 more just to get more monitor support. Absurd.
Click to expand...
I basically bought an M1 Max for more external monitor support (I need three) because the extra GPU cores are useless to me and I'm on 32GB RAM.
 
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exoticSpice said:
All Intel MacBooks from 2018 onwards supported more than 2 external monitors.

What is more crazy is that Apple gimped the 2021 16" compared to the 2019 16" in terms of monitor support.
The base 16" 2019 MBP 5300M supported 4 external monitors which was $2,399.


Now the base 16" 2021 MBP M1 Pro only supports 2 external monitors and it also costs $2,499.
To get 4 external monitor support a 16" MBP now the customer has to spend at least $3,099 because Apple designed their SoCs that way.

You have to spend $700 more just to get more monitor support. Absurd.

2019 16" with 5300M/5500M/5600M:

MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2019) - Technical Specifications – Apple Support (UK)

support.apple.com support.apple.com
View attachment 2023809

2021 16" M1 Pro/Max:

MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2021) - Technical Specifications – Apple Support (UK)

support.apple.com support.apple.com
View attachment 2023810
Click to expand...
Entry level Macs are gimped in that aspect to drive you towards the higher priced Macs.
 
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gilby101 said:
Alternatively: Entry level Macs are gimped in that respect to reduce price for those (most buyers) that don't need high end features.
Click to expand...
There is no reason related to cost why an M1/M2 chip can't manage two external displays. Those chips have been proven to have much more powerful GPUs than Intel CPUs. Moreover, Intel CPUs can easily drive 2 displays besides the built-in one.

So yes, this is about $.
 
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jav6454 said:
There is no reason related to cost why an M1/M2 chip can't manage two external displays. Those chips have been proven to have much more powerful GPUs than Intel CPUs. Moreover, Intel CPUs can easily drive 2 displays besides the built-in one.

So yes, this is about $.
Click to expand...
Yes it about $ and its a bad thing for Apple do as all Intel 12th gen U,P,H series chips can drive up to 4 monitors that includes all i3,i5,i7 CPUs.

What pisses me off is that Apple likes do a lot of cost cutting. Intel MB had more monitor support and M1/M2 just made it you HAVE to pay to get more monitor support.

Whereas, 4 external support is standard in PC laptop land now even for Sub-$1000 laptops
 
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exoticSpice said:
Yes it about $ and its a bad thing for Apple do as all Intel 12th gen U,P,H series chips can drive up to 4 monitors that includes all i3,i5,i7 CPUs.

What pisses me off is that Apple likes do a lot of cost cutting. Intel MB had more monitor support and M1/M2 just made it you HAVE to pay to get more monitor support.

Whereas, 4 external support is standard in PC laptop land now even for Sub-$1000 laptops
Click to expand...
Indeed, that's the only problem with Apple. They made a great chip only to gimp it.
 
my 16" 5600m 64gb ram is still holding it's own. I think M2 pro max will be a decent upgrade tho. But might wait for the next form factor design.
 
exoticSpice said:
Yes it about $ and its a bad thing for Apple do as all Intel 12th gen U,P,H series chips can drive up to 4 monitors that includes all i3,i5,i7 CPUs.

What pisses me off is that Apple likes do a lot of cost cutting. Intel MB had more monitor support and M1/M2 just made it you HAVE to pay to get more monitor support.

Whereas, 4 external support is standard in PC laptop land now even for Sub-$1000 laptops
Click to expand...
is not just Apple that do a lot of cost cutting...i am seeing in my Mercedes that has a lot of cost cuttings compared to my old generation, and from what ive heard a lot of car manufacture are doing the same
The only ones that are in business that raise the price but also keep the quality or even raise it, are the artisans/handmade garments
 
I agree that the monitor support on the entry-models is crazy, not being able to hook up to dual 1080p or dual 1440p displays is just crazy.

Definitely know a lot of people who I had to suggest to get an M1 Pro instead of a Air or a Pro(entry) to just get support for dual displays without any additional accessories.
 
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Back in G4 times, you had to buy a PowerBook to have multiple desktops, while iBooks with same CPU and GPU could only mirror the internal display.
History doesn't repeat but it often rhymes.
 
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MayaUser said:
is not just Apple that do a lot of cost cutting...i am seeing in my Mercedes that has a lot of cost cuttings compared to my old generation, and from what ive heard a lot of car manufacture are doing the same
The only ones that are in business that raise the price but also keep the quality or even raise it, are the artisans/handmade garments
Click to expand...
Apple is longer a brand where you can get top quality stuff. Nowadays Apple does a lot of costcutting.

Higher end models from HP, Lenovo and Framework all have top quality compoents at the high end. Unlike Apple they do not cost cut on SSDs, Display support or these companies also provide upgradeable RAM and SSD.
 
exoticSpice said:
Apple is longer a brand where you can get top quality stuff. Nowadays Apple does a lot of costcutting.

Higher end models from HP, Lenovo and Framework all have top quality compoents at the high end. Unlike Apple they do not cost cut on SSDs, Display support or these companies also provide upgradeable RAM and SSD.
Click to expand...
They will in some sense as a friend's Dell laptop promised a better display than an Air and it was even worse.
 
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exoticSpice said:
Apple is longer a brand where you can get top quality stuff. Nowadays Apple does a lot of costcutting.
Click to expand...
You can still get top quality if you are willing to pay more. This is Apple's business model in a nutshell.
 
Let's be clear about it, this isn't cost cutting. It costs nothing for Apple to support 2 external displays.

It's feature rationing.

Chromebooks with Celerons less than $150 support dual external displays.
 
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Gnattu said:
You can still get top quality if you are willing to pay more. This is Apple's business model in a nutshell.
Click to expand...
Yep true. I forgot Apple used sell those horrible 11" and 13" MacBook Airs with TFT displays. The rMBP weres MUCH better.
 
JPack said:
Let's be clear about it, this isn't cost cutting. It costs nothing for Apple to support 2 external displays.

It's feature rationing.

Chromebooks with Celerons less than $150 support dual external displays.
Click to expand...
Yeah forcing people to go with the M1 Pro which is ridiculous in my book, why don't they let M2 users connect to dual 1080p & 1440p.
 
MrGunny94 said:
I agree that the monitor support on the entry-models is crazy, not being able to hook up to dual 1080p or dual 1440p displays is just crazy.

Definitely know a lot of people who I had to suggest to get an M1 Pro instead of an Air or a Pro(entry) to just get support for dual displays without any additional accessories.
Click to expand...
This is probably a niche use case though, I suspect that Apple’s data on monitor use likely shows that most people don’t use more than 1 monitor with their machines. The majority of people I know use only a single external display with their notebooks.
 
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