Macbook Air M1/M2 - Any performance Issues when using an External Display?

[hungryghosty]

I currently have a 2020 Macbook Air 13" and I find that connecting it to an external display (Ultrawide 34" 3440x1440 via HDMI) results in a notieable drop in performance. In fact it's so bad that when connected to an external monitor, even in clamshell mode, I find the system is often very laggy/unresponsive to the point where it's barely usable sometimes. Has anyone else encountered this issue when using an Intel 2020 (or earlier) Macbook Air?

This is part of the reason I was consdering upgrading to a M1 or M2 Macbook Air. I presume this would solve the performance issues when connected to an external display given how much faster it is (plus I'd probably spec it with 16Gb)?

Would love to hear peoples thoughts/experiences when using an external monitor especially if they've encountered similar problems?

 

[hungryghosty]

I’m assuming no replies mean that everyone is happy with the performance of their m1/m2 machines when connected to an external display and that the issues affecting the Intel MBA’s have been fixed by the improved performance of Apple’s own chips?

 

[Kimcha]

I have an M1 Air and the performance is great with an external screen. I also had A LOT of issue with a 4k monitor connected to my 2017 intel pro.

The one thing worth mentioning is that connecting an external screen uses more RAM.

On my intel macbook with 16gb ram I almost never ran into yellow memory pressure. But with my 16gb M1 air it's VERY common. Most of the time it doesn't actually cause any slow downs, but I did experience some swapping and beach balling a few times.

I think the reason is that on intel macs the GPU has dedicated RAM in addition to the 16gb of normal RAM, but on the M1/M2 the GPU and CPU share the same 16gb.

So I would definitely encourage you to get at least 16gb of RAM and perhaps even consider 24gb to future proof.

 

[jdb8167]

I’m assuming no replies mean that everyone is happy with the performance of their m1/m2 machines when connected to an external display and that the issues affecting the Intel MBA’s have been fixed by the improved performance of Apple’s own chips?

I use a 4K display with my M1 MacBook Air all the time and never noticed any performance issues. I use it both in 2x mode and scaled mode (1920x1080 and 2560x1440) and never saw any lag. I've seen reports that you can measure the slowdown in scaled mode but it isn't obvious in normal use.

In reference to the post just above, I do have a 16 GB model—soon to be a 24 GB M2 MBA.

 

[Nbd1790]

I don't have the Air, but based on your system config I wouldn't really expect it to be a buttery smooth experience - especially at a 1440 resolution. As you probably expect, it's a combination of your processor and Ram. The difference in the processor heading to the M series chips is going to be noticeable in just about everything you do.

Just for reference, I have a 14 inch M1 Max paired with 32gb of Ram and a 2tb drive. I plug it into my desktop setup every morning with a monitor outputting 1440 @ 144hz. By the time I open Mail, Safari, ThinkOrSwim & Webull - I'm actively using just under 16gb of RAM. TOS uses about 1-2gb of RAM but the rest are relatively small, so I imagine a lot is being used to run the display.

The other thing that hasn't been mentioned is your free hard drive space. If you're flirting with the 15% headroom, there's a chance that will slow things down substantially regardless.

Highly recommend the 16gb config in the least as well as a 512 storage option (pending how much of that 256 you've already used).

 

[MoreAwesomeDanU]

Any factual proof or evidence that external display uses more ram? Serious question… I just always thought it would be a more GPU intensive task

 

[hungryghosty]

Any factual proof or evidence that external display uses more ram? Serious question… I just always thought it would be a more GPU intensive task

It it a GPU based task but on most Intel and Mx Macbooks the GPU is part of the processor and doesn't have dedicated video memory like a laptop with a dedicated GPU/Graphics Card so it has to use system memory.

Admittedly my laptop is a 2020 i3 dual core 8Gb model so i suspect it's a combination of lack of memory, CPU load and performance throttling (as the device if very hot when connected to an external monitor). I didn't buy it as a desktop replacement but thought it would be able to connect for lightweight work like web browsing/etc but even that's a poor experience. Wanted to make sure I don't have the same problem if I buy a new laptop.

 

[hungryghosty]

So I would definitely encourage you to get at least 16gb of RAM and perhaps even consider 24gb to future proof.

I use a 4K display with my M1 MacBook Air all the time and never noticed any performance issues. I use it both in 2x mode and scaled mode (1920x1080 and 2560x1440) and never saw any lag. I've seen reports that you can measure the slowdown in scaled mode but it isn't obvious in normal use.

In reference to the post just above, I do have a 16 GB model—soon to be a 24 GB M2 MBA.

Any indication how much memory is being used by the external display on the M series chips? I did consider 24Gb but it's quite a jump in price and I thought 16Gb would generally be ample for the lifespan of the laptop!

@jdb8167 What prompted you to upgrade your MBA to 24Gb from 16Gb?

 

[jdb8167]

Any indication how much memory is being used by the external display on the M series chips? I did consider 24Gb but it's quite a jump in price and I thought 16Gb would generally be ample for the lifespan of the laptop!

@jdb8167 What prompted you to upgrade your MBA to 24Gb from 16Gb?

I've never noticed anything but the only time I'm in the yellow memory pressure was when macOS had a bunch of memory leaks. I haven't seen it in a while.

My M1 MacBook Air is 20 months old, out of warranty, and I could use another 8 GB of RAM. I'm looking forward to the new chassis but that wasn't the deciding factor. The M1 MacBook Air wedge is still a very nice design. The full-height escape key on the M2 was actually a consideration though. I also went with the 10 core GPU but there wasn't a lot of thinking behind that. I probably will never use the extra cores.

 

[Salazes123]

Hey,
I am planning to buy a MBA 15 M2 8/512 , plugged to an external screen 4K 27’ LG 27UK850 through usb-c.
Do you reckon I will experience any memory issue ? I am not a power user.