5 ms·

Even before Big Sur, the output to external monitors on MPBs was buggy as hell. My 2019 one wakes up from sleep, and its a 50/50 chance on the external monitor

Even before Big Sur, the output to external monitors on MPBs was buggy as hell. My 2019 one wakes up from sleep, and its a 50/50 chance on the external monitor output working, causing me to have to unplug and replug the cable to get it to output.

FireBeyond 6y ago
I do like macOS on a lot of levels (though I find myself "maximizing" windows a whole lot), but the external/multi monitor support has always been abysmal. Why should many users have to buy SwitchResX to bludgeon the OS into "supporting" otherwise standard resolutions, too?
antjanus 6y ago
I just got my first macbook in years. I legit thought something was wrong with my monitor (even though it works perfectly with my Windows desktop and my Linux laptop). So it's Big Sur??
- Bud 6y ago
  Could just as easily be your Thunderbolt dock (if you are using one) or adapter. Most docks and a lot of the adapters out there completely suck. CalDigit is perfect, though. No issues with my 2 external monitors on my 16" MBP since I got a CalDigit dock. Now I plug in one cable, and everything is kosher: 96W power, GigE, external speakers, 2 external hard drive arrays, and 2 monitors. Was perfect under Catalina, and remains perfect under Big Sur.
  - antjanus 6y ago
    Yeah, that's the thing. I used my dock with both my desktop and laptop for months and it worked fine. _Still_ works fine. It's a 100W. If I plug it into my Macbook, it'll run the external display for like 10 seconds and shut it off. It's unfortunate :(
  - Tsiklon 6y ago
    Anecdotally, I use a Caldigit - but I get frequent AMD GPU driver kernel panics when I plug my laptops in, I see it on two separate 16" machines (work and personal). I suspect that it's the monitors at fault. Less common but no less annoying is when the machine doesn't pick up one of the two panels, forcing me to replug the laptop or panels in the dock (invariably increasing the likelihood of a panic...)
- apta 6y ago
  Are you using and HDMI cable? I found it solved the issue when I switched to DisplayPort.
- washadjeffmad 6y ago
  I read that as Bug Sir, but I'm a little sleep deprived. Apple announced MST support back during Sierra, and we still can't daisy chain on USB-C. Have to run each display to separate TB3 ports. What I haven't tried is daisy chaining running Linux on a T2 Mac, which I don't know is possible yet. My enthusiasm for Apple's Intel-based hardware tapped out around 2014, though, so I'm calling anything pre-M1 a wash.
jarym 6y ago
Mine started doing that and became really annoying!
vinhboy 6y ago
Strange... I, and others I work with, used to have this problem with Catalina daily. It was probably because of the usb-c port. But since Big Sur I no longer have this issue /shrug
bombcar 6y ago
I've been using https://github.com/jakehilborn/displayplacer https://github.com/jakehilborn/displayplacer and it helps with some of it - one monitor would wake from sleep sideways
- joshstrange 6y ago
  +1 for displayplacer. I use it for 4 external monitors (2 vertical) and it's a god-send. I also recommend people look into software to move their app windows into prefered locations. I use Phoenix [0] to resize/place my windows in their designated spots when I hit a hotkey. I tried stuff like Stay [1] and a few other similar tools that I forget the names of but they didn't work well or at least didn't work well on a multi-monitor setup. Phoenix required a little more up-front work but now it works perfectly for my needs. [0] https://github.com/kasper/phoenix https://github.com/kasper/phoenix [1] https://cordlessdog.com/stay/ https://cordlessdog.com/stay/
- uniqueid 6y ago
  How does that work? Does it automatically rotate the affected screen, or do you have to manually launch it?
  - bombcar 6y ago
    When you launch it it either reports your current setup - or replaces your current setup with the command line. So you get everything perfect and run it - save the output to a script, and then run that script whenever the monitors decide to go weird.
    - uniqueid 6y ago
      I was delighted to learn of it. The C file is so small, I just added some lines to check if my displays are rotated correctly, and correct them if not. I added a LaunchAgent to spawn the program every ten minutes. Now when my stupid Macintosh borks my displays, it unborks it of its own accord :)
newbie2020 6y ago
Same, I hate having to do this. Such simple stuff...

FireBeyond 6y ago

I do like macOS on a lot of levels (though I find myself "maximizing" windows a whole lot), but the external/multi monitor support has always been abysmal. Why should many users have to buy SwitchResX to bludgeon the OS into "supporting" otherwise standard resolutions, too?

antjanus 6y ago

I just got my first macbook in years. I legit thought something was wrong with my monitor (even though it works perfectly with my Windows desktop and my Linux laptop). So it's Big Sur??

Bud 6y ago
Could just as easily be your Thunderbolt dock (if you are using one) or adapter. Most docks and a lot of the adapters out there completely suck. CalDigit is perfect, though. No issues with my 2 external monitors on my 16" MBP since I got a CalDigit dock. Now I plug in one cable, and everything is kosher: 96W power, GigE, external speakers, 2 external hard drive arrays, and 2 monitors. Was perfect under Catalina, and remains perfect under Big Sur.
- antjanus 6y ago
  Yeah, that's the thing. I used my dock with both my desktop and laptop for months and it worked fine. _Still_ works fine. It's a 100W. If I plug it into my Macbook, it'll run the external display for like 10 seconds and shut it off. It's unfortunate :(
- Tsiklon 6y ago
  Anecdotally, I use a Caldigit - but I get frequent AMD GPU driver kernel panics when I plug my laptops in, I see it on two separate 16" machines (work and personal). I suspect that it's the monitors at fault. Less common but no less annoying is when the machine doesn't pick up one of the two panels, forcing me to replug the laptop or panels in the dock (invariably increasing the likelihood of a panic...)
apta 6y ago
Are you using and HDMI cable? I found it solved the issue when I switched to DisplayPort.
washadjeffmad 6y ago
I read that as Bug Sir, but I'm a little sleep deprived. Apple announced MST support back during Sierra, and we still can't daisy chain on USB-C. Have to run each display to separate TB3 ports. What I haven't tried is daisy chaining running Linux on a T2 Mac, which I don't know is possible yet. My enthusiasm for Apple's Intel-based hardware tapped out around 2014, though, so I'm calling anything pre-M1 a wash.

jarym 6y ago

Mine started doing that and became really annoying!

vinhboy 6y ago

Strange... I, and others I work with, used to have this problem with Catalina daily. It was probably because of the usb-c port. But since Big Sur I no longer have this issue /shrug

bombcar 6y ago

I've been using https://github.com/jakehilborn/displayplacer https://github.com/jakehilborn/displayplacer and it helps with some of it - one monitor would wake from sleep sideways

joshstrange 6y ago
+1 for displayplacer. I use it for 4 external monitors (2 vertical) and it's a god-send. I also recommend people look into software to move their app windows into prefered locations. I use Phoenix [0] to resize/place my windows in their designated spots when I hit a hotkey. I tried stuff like Stay [1] and a few other similar tools that I forget the names of but they didn't work well or at least didn't work well on a multi-monitor setup. Phoenix required a little more up-front work but now it works perfectly for my needs. [0] https://github.com/kasper/phoenix https://github.com/kasper/phoenix [1] https://cordlessdog.com/stay/ https://cordlessdog.com/stay/
uniqueid 6y ago
How does that work? Does it automatically rotate the affected screen, or do you have to manually launch it?
- bombcar 6y ago
  When you launch it it either reports your current setup - or replaces your current setup with the command line. So you get everything perfect and run it - save the output to a script, and then run that script whenever the monitors decide to go weird.
  - uniqueid 6y ago
    I was delighted to learn of it. The C file is so small, I just added some lines to check if my displays are rotated correctly, and correct them if not. I added a LaunchAgent to spawn the program every ten minutes. Now when my stupid Macintosh borks my displays, it unborks it of its own accord :)

newbie2020 6y ago

Same, I hate having to do this. Such simple stuff...