7 ms·

Everybody at my IT company other than the front desk has two monitors, even the suits and sales guys. This is not a reasonable tradeoff, as it invalidates the M

Everybody at my IT company other than the front desk has two monitors, even the suits and sales guys. This is not a reasonable tradeoff, as it invalidates the MBA for us.

2-718-281-828 4y ago
Everybody has it b/c it turned into a status symbol at your company - doesn't mean everybody actually needs it.
- hendersoon 4y ago
  Do you use multiple monitors? Do you really need them, or could you do without? I could do without too, but I'm not going to! They're productivity tools, not status symbols. Monitors are extremely inexpensive, assuming you don't buy Apple's.
bombcar 4y ago
It's really annoying as the M1 Mini can drive two external monitors (it has no internal) so the M1 Air in clamshell mode should be able to drive two externals, but it can't. I can't give up my four externals (+ the laptop screen itself) so my Intel MBP will soldier on until I get a Pro.
- powerhour 4y ago
  I wonder if there is some power or heat related limitation that prevents them from supporting multiple external monitors. It doesn't seem like it'd be trivial to support the same requirements for such a small/thin device.
- mwint 4y ago
  But both the M1 mini and M1/2 Air can drive two displays total? I think it’s clear they just took what’s usually the internal display output and routed it to HDMI in the Mini.
danaris 4y ago
Two monitors? Or three (the internal and two externals)? Because two monitors works just fine. Anyway, if you're standardizing on a specific model for an entire company, I would never recommend the Air—nor, indeed, any entry-level model from any company—because it's not likely to meet enough people's needs that way.
- goosedragons 4y ago
  Two external monitors. Even in clamshell mode with the internal screen off you can't do that. And the M2 MacBook Air at $1200 USD is hardly entry level. It's not even the cheapest MBA Apple sells because the M1 is still available. Loads of corporations and businesses will give employees base model ThinkPad Twhatever or Dell Latitudes (that cost less than the M2 MBA and drive more than two external displays too).
- hendersoon 4y ago
  That's what's annoying; other than the single external monitor limitation the M2 Air is more than fast enough for everybody here who doesn't stress the CPU or GPU for long periods running compiles or whatever-- and that's just because it's passively cooled, otherwise it's quite snappy.
js2 4y ago
DisplayLink? https://www.sonnettech.com/product/m1-mac-dual-displayport-adapter/overview.html https://www.sonnettech.com/product/m1-mac-dual-displayport-a... https://www.kensington.com/news/docking-connectivity-blog/how-to-connect-more-than-one-display-to-an-apple-m1-macbook/ https://www.kensington.com/news/docking-connectivity-blog/ho...
- rwalle 4y ago
  I heard that these adaptors/docks never work nearly as well as native support for dual monitors
  - js2 4y ago
    You'll hear from ~100% of people that are unhappy with them and ~0% of people that are happy with them. I don't have any personal experience, I'm just offering them as an option in case hendersoon was unaware.
    - hendersoon 4y ago
      Thanks-- yes I was aware, but they do have a poor reputation. After years of dongles, we're going for the MBP 16" with the M1 Pro. Which of course is what Apple wants anyway.
ant6n 4y ago
How about using a single ultra wide screen.

Everybody at my IT company other than the front desk has two monitors, even the suits and sales guys. This is not a reasonable tradeoff, as it invalidates the MBA for us.

2-718-281-828 4y ago

Everybody has it b/c it turned into a status symbol at your company - doesn't mean everybody actually needs it.

hendersoon 4y ago
Do you use multiple monitors? Do you really need them, or could you do without? I could do without too, but I'm not going to! They're productivity tools, not status symbols. Monitors are extremely inexpensive, assuming you don't buy Apple's.

bombcar 4y ago

It's really annoying as the M1 Mini can drive two external monitors (it has no internal) so the M1 Air in clamshell mode should be able to drive two externals, but it can't. I can't give up my four externals (+ the laptop screen itself) so my Intel MBP will soldier on until I get a Pro.

powerhour 4y ago
I wonder if there is some power or heat related limitation that prevents them from supporting multiple external monitors. It doesn't seem like it'd be trivial to support the same requirements for such a small/thin device.
mwint 4y ago
But both the M1 mini and M1/2 Air can drive two displays total? I think it’s clear they just took what’s usually the internal display output and routed it to HDMI in the Mini.

danaris 4y ago

Two monitors? Or three (the internal and two externals)? Because two monitors works just fine. Anyway, if you're standardizing on a specific model for an entire company, I would never recommend the Air—nor, indeed, any entry-level model from any company—because it's not likely to meet enough people's needs that way.

goosedragons 4y ago
Two external monitors. Even in clamshell mode with the internal screen off you can't do that. And the M2 MacBook Air at $1200 USD is hardly entry level. It's not even the cheapest MBA Apple sells because the M1 is still available. Loads of corporations and businesses will give employees base model ThinkPad Twhatever or Dell Latitudes (that cost less than the M2 MBA and drive more than two external displays too).
hendersoon 4y ago
That's what's annoying; other than the single external monitor limitation the M2 Air is more than fast enough for everybody here who doesn't stress the CPU or GPU for long periods running compiles or whatever-- and that's just because it's passively cooled, otherwise it's quite snappy.

js2 4y ago

DisplayLink? https://www.sonnettech.com/product/m1-mac-dual-displayport-adapter/overview.html https://www.sonnettech.com/product/m1-mac-dual-displayport-a... https://www.kensington.com/news/docking-connectivity-blog/how-to-connect-more-than-one-display-to-an-apple-m1-macbook/ https://www.kensington.com/news/docking-connectivity-blog/ho...

rwalle 4y ago
I heard that these adaptors/docks never work nearly as well as native support for dual monitors
- js2 4y ago
  You'll hear from ~100% of people that are unhappy with them and ~0% of people that are happy with them. I don't have any personal experience, I'm just offering them as an option in case hendersoon was unaware.
  - hendersoon 4y ago
    Thanks-- yes I was aware, but they do have a poor reputation. After years of dongles, we're going for the MBP 16" with the M1 Pro. Which of course is what Apple wants anyway.

ant6n 4y ago

How about using a single ultra wide screen.