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Can anyone comment on if the m1 MacBook Air can handle 4K external display well enough for daily use? I know it handles my ultra wide 1440p display, but I wante

Can anyone comment on if the m1 MacBook Air can handle 4K external display well enough for daily use? I know it handles my ultra wide 1440p display, but I wanted to confirm before I purchased a 4K display.

kube-system 6y ago
I've been using a single 4K display with mine -- works great.
ed25519FUUU 6y ago
My m1 MacBook Air drives my 4K monitor better than my top of the line 2019 MBP. With my MBP the fans turn on when it does anything other than look at the 4K desktop.
- itsoktocry 6y ago
  >With my MBP the fans turn on when it does anything other than look at the 4K desktop. Some of this conversation confuses me. Since the M1 MacBooks came out, all of a sudden people are talking like every MBP version prior is junk. Top-of-the-line MBP that can't run dual monitors? Where were these conversations about poor MBP performance 6 months ago? FWIW, the last MBP I had was a 2015 i5, and I used a single 4k monitor and no had zero issues in regular usage.
  - epmaybe 6y ago
    I tend to agree, had a 2017 MBP prior, but the laptop certainly got hot and things had to throttle a little. Had I not tried an M1, I doubt I would have noticed.
  - ogre_codes 6y ago
    > Some of this conversation confuses me. Since the M1 MacBooks came out, all of a sudden people are talking like every MBP version prior is junk. Top-of-the-line MBP that can't run dual monitors? Where were these conversations about poor MBP performance 6 months ago? The 15/16" MBP is certainly capable of supporting 4K displays without issue (posting from one now). Most likely some people have something screwed up in their setup and didn't realize it until they moved to another system. With the new MacBook Air, they won't even know their setup is screwed up because there won't be any fan noise. It'll just slowly degrade over time.
    - asdff 6y ago
      The fan noise isn't the only tell. That macbook air chassis can get very hot. It makes my hands sweat when typing and resting my palms on it.
      - ogre_codes 6y ago
        Usually when I'm coding, my laptop is on my desk so I don't notice the heat.
  - randallsquared 6y ago
    It's not just Macs: doing any significant work on any thin laptop caused thermal throttling or ran the fans up. For the last five or six years, every work laptop I've had at multiple jobs has sounded like it was trying to take off for a fair amount of the time I was using it. This is especially annoying during Skype and Zoom calls, since noise reduction makes people's voices very loud or soft at random times during meetings. Offhand, I've been blaming Electron and Docker for Mac/Windows, but maybe there's something more fundamentally wrong?
  - gurkendoktor 6y ago
    I guess it's because annoying laptop fans were a given until recently; my 2012 MBA, 2015 MBP, and 2019 MBP all sounded annoying. Like a Retina display, once you experience a quiet office, you don't want to go back. Also, I think the 16" MacBook Pro in particular was way, way, way overrated because people desperately wanted a story arc where Apple comes to its senses and builds great laptops again.
messe 6y ago
Works great.
xmodem 6y ago
I'm on a 4K display connected to an M1 mac mini through Thunderbolt here, works great.
AH4oFVbPT4f8 6y ago
M1 on 49" dell U4919DW 60Hz at 5120x1440 no issues

kube-system 6y ago

I've been using a single 4K display with mine -- works great.

ed25519FUUU 6y ago

My m1 MacBook Air drives my 4K monitor better than my top of the line 2019 MBP. With my MBP the fans turn on when it does anything other than look at the 4K desktop.

itsoktocry 6y ago
>With my MBP the fans turn on when it does anything other than look at the 4K desktop. Some of this conversation confuses me. Since the M1 MacBooks came out, all of a sudden people are talking like every MBP version prior is junk. Top-of-the-line MBP that can't run dual monitors? Where were these conversations about poor MBP performance 6 months ago? FWIW, the last MBP I had was a 2015 i5, and I used a single 4k monitor and no had zero issues in regular usage.
- epmaybe 6y ago
  I tend to agree, had a 2017 MBP prior, but the laptop certainly got hot and things had to throttle a little. Had I not tried an M1, I doubt I would have noticed.
- ogre_codes 6y ago
  > Some of this conversation confuses me. Since the M1 MacBooks came out, all of a sudden people are talking like every MBP version prior is junk. Top-of-the-line MBP that can't run dual monitors? Where were these conversations about poor MBP performance 6 months ago? The 15/16" MBP is certainly capable of supporting 4K displays without issue (posting from one now). Most likely some people have something screwed up in their setup and didn't realize it until they moved to another system. With the new MacBook Air, they won't even know their setup is screwed up because there won't be any fan noise. It'll just slowly degrade over time.
  - asdff 6y ago
    The fan noise isn't the only tell. That macbook air chassis can get very hot. It makes my hands sweat when typing and resting my palms on it.
    - ogre_codes 6y ago
      Usually when I'm coding, my laptop is on my desk so I don't notice the heat.
- randallsquared 6y ago
  It's not just Macs: doing any significant work on any thin laptop caused thermal throttling or ran the fans up. For the last five or six years, every work laptop I've had at multiple jobs has sounded like it was trying to take off for a fair amount of the time I was using it. This is especially annoying during Skype and Zoom calls, since noise reduction makes people's voices very loud or soft at random times during meetings. Offhand, I've been blaming Electron and Docker for Mac/Windows, but maybe there's something more fundamentally wrong?
- gurkendoktor 6y ago
  I guess it's because annoying laptop fans were a given until recently; my 2012 MBA, 2015 MBP, and 2019 MBP all sounded annoying. Like a Retina display, once you experience a quiet office, you don't want to go back. Also, I think the 16" MacBook Pro in particular was way, way, way overrated because people desperately wanted a story arc where Apple comes to its senses and builds great laptops again.

messe 6y ago

Works great.

xmodem 6y ago

I'm on a 4K display connected to an M1 mac mini through Thunderbolt here, works great.

AH4oFVbPT4f8 6y ago

M1 on 49" dell U4919DW 60Hz at 5120x1440 no issues