Apple Has Finally Solved One of the MacBook Air's Biggest Limitations - MacRumors
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Apple Has Finally Solved One of the MacBook Air's Biggest Limitations

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The new MacBook Air has a useful upgrade: it natively supports up to two external displays, in addition to the laptop's built-in display.

Apple MacBook Air hero
In other words, the latest MacBook Air can be used with a pair of external displays without needing to keep the laptop's lid closed.

Apple's tech specs for the new 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air:

Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display at 1 billion colors and: Up to two external displays with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz

This is a significant quality-of-life improvement for the MacBook Air in the Apple silicon era. MacBook Air models with the M1 chip and M2 chip officially support only one external display, while MacBook Air models with the M3 chip gained support for two external displays, but only with the lid closed. With the new model, users can have a total of three screens, with the MacBook Air open next to two external displays.

MacBook Air M4 External Displays
Apple silicon MacBook Air models already worked with multiple external displays with the use of DisplayLink adapters, but many casual customers in the MacBook Air's target market might not have known about that option, so official plug-and-play support for two external displays with the lid open is a welcomed improvement.

The latest 14-inch MacBook Pro with the M4 chip, released last year, also natively supports two external displays while the lid is open.

The new MacBook Air can be pre-ordered now, and it launches Wednesday, March 12.

Related Roundup: MacBook Air
Buyer's Guide: MacBook Air (Neutral)
Related Forum: MacBook Air

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Top Rated Comments

Mac Fly (film) Avatar
Mac Fly (film)
20 months ago
meanwhile, the biggest issue with MBA is the port situation. give it a better port selection. needs one USB-C on each side and HDMI and SD Card
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
F23 Avatar
F23
20 months ago
thanks Tim you finally did something right.

Apple never disappoints with the Mac updates.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
T
TechTexan
20 months ago
Finally, most requested feature from my workplace
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Blackstick Avatar
Blackstick
20 months ago
This is everything for enterprise. We just placed an order for 700 of these. Although not in Sky Blue, just standard silver. Can't have too much fun I guess.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JPack Avatar
JPack
20 months ago

I would argue that the target market for the Macbook Air does not likely need to be using three displays at a time. If they need that kind of screen real estate, they likely would be using a Macbook Pro anyways.
Target market for MacBook Air is everyone from students to corporate users. MBA competes with everything from ThinkPad X1 to XPS 14.

Tim Cook boasted a few years ago that $100B pharma companies are deploying MacBook Air across their organization.

Not sure why there’s this myth on this forum that only guys wearing a suit use dual monitors. And they demand using a chunky MacBook Pro because they are “pros.” Meanwhile, dual packs of 24” and 27” monitors are sold at Costco and Amazon globally. It’s almost like the pandemic taught us nothing about remote work and having a decent setup.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JPack Avatar
JPack
20 months ago
Still remember the ridiculous excuses some people here made on behalf of Apple.

“Nobody uses dual external monitors these days.”

“It’s professional feature, you should pay an extra $1,000 for MacBook Pro.”

“Even though Intel Celeron and Chromebooks have supported dual monitors for a decade, Apple knows their customers better!”
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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