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MacBook Pro With M4 Chip May Support Up to Two External Displays
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They already can when you pick the model with suitable graphics. 🤷♂️ Or just use a thunderbolt dock, nice to charge and connect just one cable. The iVanky is a great dock but others are available.
Ultra wide 5120x1440 displays have been supported on Macs for years.
Exactly my LG is 5120x2160, my MBP M1 no problem. And also my daughters MBA M3 no problem. Simply one cable connection via USBC. Great monitor for productivity.
No idea about HDMI. That is for TV and home cinema. Not great for computers. The USBC or Thunderbolt connection is much better as it allows for higher refresh rates and charges the laptop at the same time. Also no need to use dongles on a MacBook Air.
Only ever use HdMI if nothing else is available.
Then you turn on optimized battery charging so it stays around 80% of charge most of the time and doesn’t stress the battery.
I don’t think all this talk about Thunderbolt is relevant.
The limitation is due to how the display controllers work on the M series. Each display controller corresponds with exactly one display you can connect. The M1, M2, and M3 each have two display controllers. What’s different about the M3 is that one controller is hardwired to a USB-C port, but the other is not hardwired to the internal display; rather, it is wired to a crossbar which in turn can either output to the internal display or another port, but not both.
For the M4 to support all three displays, it would either need a third display controller, or for this architecture to change significantly.
Interesting that you get so many thumbs down from an obvious, simple, factual statement... but yeah, for some Apple has never and can never do any wrong.
Perhaps it has something to do with that the ARM Macbook Pro's always were able to do that, but, just like with intel boards, only if you actually order one with a chipset that can do that
You're right that the physical issue is in the number of display controllers, but the Thunderbolt stuff is an important clue - support for dual displays via TB/USB-C is required for the ports to be specified as "Thunderbolt 4" rather than "Thunderbolt 3/USB4" as on current base-M1/2/3 laptops.
True. But we know from Apple that the M4 has a "new display engine" - and the display support on the M1/M2 has come in for criticism - so it is quite feasible that it does now have three controllers.
We also know from pictures of the chip that the base M4 appears to have 4 USB4 controllers vs. 2 on the M1/M2/M3 - which doesn't prove anything but would make sense for that to accompany more displays.
Even if these leaks are faked (very easy, these days), the claims made are all highly plausible.
This is one of those "you're probably right but it's not proven yet" arguments.
Unless maybe you've got access to the formal specifications for TB4 certification - otherwise, nothing I've seen online goes beyond "up to two displays via TB/USB-C" which wouldn't explain why the M3 MBA/MBP doesn't qualify.
However, ISTR that the M3 MacBook Pro launched without dual displays-in-clamshell enabled and the feature only came along in a later OS update - so it's plausible that the feature came too late for TB4 certification.
That's possible, yep.
(I just checked, and the M3 has one Display Engine, the M3 Pro has two, and the M3 Max has four. Assuming Display Engine and display controller are the same chip, my original assertion isn't quite right, and I guess each Display Engine has two outputs. Perhaps the M4 generation has three?)
I think there's a lot of smoke to these leaks. The QR code making sense, for example. So far, the only "they can't be real" argument I've seen is for the box art.
Yes. The Air immediately had it; the Pro got it in a later firmware update (which shipped as part of the OS). Which suggests that all M3s ship with a suitable crossbar.
The video I linked shows three screens running at the same time - two externals and one built-in. Apple did say that they completely revamped the display engine in M4, in order to take advantage of tandem OLED.
BTW, MacRumors put up an article showing an ad with this M4 MacBook Pro model for sale, and apparently several units were available. It’s like somewhere along the shipment chain or something, a skid of these got ripped off.
BTW, MacRumors put up an article showing an ad with this M4 MacBook Pro model for sale, and apparently several units were available. It’s like somewhere along the shipment chain or something, a skid of these got ripped off.
Indeed, but not Airs... basically downgrading features to drive you to a Pro... thing is the modern Apple artificially constrains functional capabilities in the service of larger margins and at the cost of user experience than they did in the past... before they put more of a premium on the user (you can see it in several areas, and a complaint even from inside Apple long timers)... sure AAPL shareholders are thrilled, but this trend can eventually burn your butt (maybe have forgotten or did not experience the 90s Apple... it was grim... of now of course they have a galactic amount of cash that will let them continue down a potentially bad path for decades... it's why I'd say as someone who's been a Apple fan since the 1st West Coast Computer Faire and bleeding in 6 colors a healthy critical eye towards Apple is being a true fanboy.Perhaps it has something to do with that the ARM Macbook Pro's always were able to do that, but, just like with intel boards, only if you actually order one with a chipset that can do that
Well, yes not an air with two dual screens and the internal screen. But the comments were made in context of the Pro and that is definitely possible. I've got to say my daughter has an M3 Macbook Air and it works brilliantly with my 5K LG screen and her internal screen through that single cable. But as I've got an iVanky dock as well, all the other screens work on her Air as well. All great. Ultimately it is an Air, great machines but for a purpose.
The "crossbar" - assuming it is part of the SoC - must have been there at least since the M2 because the M2 Mini can support two displays over Thunderbolt - and its ports are billed as TB4.
The M1 Mini couldn't - it supported two displays but one of them had to be HDMI (presumably connected via whatever drove the internal display on a M1 laptop) - but it's clear that what the SoC can technically do and what MacOS actually allows are two different things, so who knows?
Yep. Hector points that out as well.
I would guess, as Hector does, that Apple could've backported this feature to the M2, but didn't want to bother.
are you sure this does not affect the battery? i have a feeling that those lithium-ions will deteriorate faster when they are constantly connected to a power source. So after 1 year of 70% of the time being plugged in they won't last as long.
Plus, does it cause extra heat?
For someone who upgrades like once every 3 years. its people who plan to keep it for longer periods.
Not at all. I used it at home plugged in with the external monitor or dock which powers the laptop. And use it in the office with a dock that powers the laptop. It’s a none issue.
LiIoPo will last longer if left to cool, yes, but these days, the difference isn’t that big.