4 ms·

It's important to remember that the only M1 Macs currently available are consumer and base model products—yes, even though one of them has "Pro" in its name. Fe

It's important to remember that the only M1 Macs currently available are consumer and base model products—yes, even though one of them has "Pro" in its name. Few if any of these limitations matter to the target audience of these machines, and will likely be resolved when mid/high tier Apple Silicon products are released. Yes, I know that someone will make a compelling case for why they need to plug three monitors into their MacBook Air, but just know that you're in the minority. In fact if you plug anything into your laptop other than a power supply or USB storage, you're probably in the minority. You can bank on M1X supporting at least 32GB of RAM, more external displays, and more external ports.

angulardragon03 5y ago
Agreed. The only interesting remarks are software-related changes, as its practically a given that they won't replace the 16" MacBook Pro with something with only 2 TB ports and 16GB of RAM, when the current model goes up to 64GB. I'd be interested to see them reduce the impact of software updates. Maybe something we might see in later versions of macOS 12.
signal11 5y ago
Would it be reasonable to expect that current-model M1 Macs, which can't support multiple monitors, will be able to do so in the future with say an OS + Firmware update? Or is there something in the M1 SoC that prevents this? I'm asking out of technical interest, I don't own an M1 machine.
- manigandham 5y ago
  No, these are hardware limitations.
- simondotau 5y ago
  It's a limitation of the M1 SOC. Either it's a limitation of the GPU or perhaps whichever bit of circuitry is required to translate screen buffers into HDMI or DisplayPort signals. I imagine that if/when Apple/AMD ever releases drivers for external PCI Express GPUs, it could be possible to attach a third or fourth display by way of a thunderbolt-attached external GPU enclosure. I'm unaware of any impediment to this aside from driver availability. But never, ever buy anything on the basis that future software updates might "fix" anything that frustrates you.
codegeek 5y ago
I am that minority. Are you saying that M1 doesn't support multiple monitors at the moment ? That's a shame because I don't like to work without multiple monitors unless I am travelling or not in my office.
- gumby 5y ago
  One external monitor only at the moment. Two on the mini, which ends up with the same result.
- vetinari 5y ago
  M1 supports output to exactly two monitors; of these, the laptop internal display counts as one of them. That means, that you can connect two external displays to Mac Mini and one external display to all other M1 macs.
- shmoogy 5y ago
  You can use a/several displaylink adapters - it also supports 5120x1440p ultrawides at 120hz for anybody using a single ultra wide. I've been incredibly happy with mine
Macha 5y ago
> In fact if you plug anything into your laptop other than a power supply or USB storage, you're probably in the minority. My anecdotal evidence is that USB mice, and phones for tethering and/or charging are both way more common than usb storage in these days of cloud services.
thefz 5y ago
Apple has succesfully brainwashed you into the correct pigeonholed user-category of their choice. What if I am a "pro" user and want low end commodity hardware that can boot off via USB?
- BugsJustFindMe 5y ago
  > What if I am a "pro" user and want low end Then, like a pro, you can recognize that the labels exist for product differentiation not customer differentiation and ignore them as needed. Or buy a different computer from another manufacturer that better suits your desires. I don't see a reason to be angry at Apple for not marketing directly to you. Like, it's not Apple's fault that almost every other laptop out there has a worse keyboard (lol except for that one time) and worse trackpad and worse screen and worse processor and worse battery life and worse integration.
BugsJustFindMe 5y ago
I just wish they had released M1 and M1X simultaneously so that those of us needing to switch larger models for various reasons weren't stuck in this dead zone between clearly worse in every way but one and clearly better in every way except the one that we need.

angulardragon03 5y ago

Agreed. The only interesting remarks are software-related changes, as its practically a given that they won't replace the 16" MacBook Pro with something with only 2 TB ports and 16GB of RAM, when the current model goes up to 64GB. I'd be interested to see them reduce the impact of software updates. Maybe something we might see in later versions of macOS 12.

signal11 5y ago

Would it be reasonable to expect that current-model M1 Macs, which can't support multiple monitors, will be able to do so in the future with say an OS + Firmware update? Or is there something in the M1 SoC that prevents this? I'm asking out of technical interest, I don't own an M1 machine.

manigandham 5y ago
No, these are hardware limitations.
simondotau 5y ago
It's a limitation of the M1 SOC. Either it's a limitation of the GPU or perhaps whichever bit of circuitry is required to translate screen buffers into HDMI or DisplayPort signals. I imagine that if/when Apple/AMD ever releases drivers for external PCI Express GPUs, it could be possible to attach a third or fourth display by way of a thunderbolt-attached external GPU enclosure. I'm unaware of any impediment to this aside from driver availability. But never, ever buy anything on the basis that future software updates might "fix" anything that frustrates you.

codegeek 5y ago

I am that minority. Are you saying that M1 doesn't support multiple monitors at the moment ? That's a shame because I don't like to work without multiple monitors unless I am travelling or not in my office.

gumby 5y ago
One external monitor only at the moment. Two on the mini, which ends up with the same result.
vetinari 5y ago
M1 supports output to exactly two monitors; of these, the laptop internal display counts as one of them. That means, that you can connect two external displays to Mac Mini and one external display to all other M1 macs.
shmoogy 5y ago
You can use a/several displaylink adapters - it also supports 5120x1440p ultrawides at 120hz for anybody using a single ultra wide. I've been incredibly happy with mine

Macha 5y ago

> In fact if you plug anything into your laptop other than a power supply or USB storage, you're probably in the minority. My anecdotal evidence is that USB mice, and phones for tethering and/or charging are both way more common than usb storage in these days of cloud services.

thefz 5y ago

Apple has succesfully brainwashed you into the correct pigeonholed user-category of their choice. What if I am a "pro" user and want low end commodity hardware that can boot off via USB?

BugsJustFindMe 5y ago
> What if I am a "pro" user and want low end Then, like a pro, you can recognize that the labels exist for product differentiation not customer differentiation and ignore them as needed. Or buy a different computer from another manufacturer that better suits your desires. I don't see a reason to be angry at Apple for not marketing directly to you. Like, it's not Apple's fault that almost every other laptop out there has a worse keyboard (lol except for that one time) and worse trackpad and worse screen and worse processor and worse battery life and worse integration.

BugsJustFindMe 5y ago

I just wish they had released M1 and M1X simultaneously so that those of us needing to switch larger models for various reasons weren't stuck in this dead zone between clearly worse in every way but one and clearly better in every way except the one that we need.