7 ms·

From what I know, this isn't some artificial limitation that Apple imposes. Adding support has a cost that most customers don't need to pay. Regardless, most p

From what I know, this isn't some artificial limitation that Apple imposes. Adding support has a cost that most customers don't need to pay. Regardless, most people aren't going to be plugging in three monitors into their laptops, so most people aren't going to care about this.

runjake 3y ago
> Adding support has a cost that most customers don't need to pay. It also adds heat, battery consumption, and space. For a chip that will also be used in iPads. Still I wished the base M3 chip supported at least two external displays. Or at least let you use two by disabling the internal display (eg. clamshell mode or whatever). > most people aren't going to be plugging in three monitors into their laptops, so most people aren't going to care about this. Last summer (2022), or thereabouts, I got a survey request from Apple where they asked how much I cared about external monitor support, followed by subsequent questions about the number of external displays that was important to me. So, Apple's looking at it.
- ChrisLTD 3y ago
  It's entirely Apple's choice to use the M chips in iPads. And if that means they need to compromise on laptop performance or features, they should change course.
  - wtallis 3y ago
    Do you want Apple to drop some of their existing products, or do you want them to make more chip designs each generation with fewer economies of scale for each?
    - freeAgent 3y ago
      Apple still uses iPhone chips in the iPad and iPad Mini, and at this point I'd say they're more than fast enough. The iPad Air and Pro with M chips seem to me to be unnecessarily powerful for a device that runs iPadOS and therefore can only run apps from the App Store, etc. IMO, people don't buy iPad Airs and Pros over the standard iPad or Mini because they need the performance of the M chip. It's the rest of what's in the package.
giancarlostoro 3y ago
If I ever have to try to plug more than two monitors into a laptop at that point I'm going to start asking myself why I'm not just buying a tower instead. The whole point of laptops is portability.
- thrwy_918 3y ago
  > The whole point of laptops is portability. Many people want portability, but also want to use external displays at home or at the office .
baz00 3y ago
Intel support 4 displays on a bottom end i5-1235U. Even my crappy little Lenovo M600 with an N-series Celeron supports 3 displays. Two 4k ones fine. I didn't have a third to test it with. It's either an architectural fuck up or intentional segmentation.
- shepherdjerred 3y ago
  > It's either an architectural fuck up or intentional segmentation. Do you think there is any chance that Apple would have had to make some engineering compromise (cost, performance, efficiency) for a feature that very few people would use?
  - baz00 3y ago
    No

runjake 3y ago

> Adding support has a cost that most customers don't need to pay. It also adds heat, battery consumption, and space. For a chip that will also be used in iPads. Still I wished the base M3 chip supported at least two external displays. Or at least let you use two by disabling the internal display (eg. clamshell mode or whatever). > most people aren't going to be plugging in three monitors into their laptops, so most people aren't going to care about this. Last summer (2022), or thereabouts, I got a survey request from Apple where they asked how much I cared about external monitor support, followed by subsequent questions about the number of external displays that was important to me. So, Apple's looking at it.

ChrisLTD 3y ago
It's entirely Apple's choice to use the M chips in iPads. And if that means they need to compromise on laptop performance or features, they should change course.
- wtallis 3y ago
  Do you want Apple to drop some of their existing products, or do you want them to make more chip designs each generation with fewer economies of scale for each?
  - freeAgent 3y ago
    Apple still uses iPhone chips in the iPad and iPad Mini, and at this point I'd say they're more than fast enough. The iPad Air and Pro with M chips seem to me to be unnecessarily powerful for a device that runs iPadOS and therefore can only run apps from the App Store, etc. IMO, people don't buy iPad Airs and Pros over the standard iPad or Mini because they need the performance of the M chip. It's the rest of what's in the package.

giancarlostoro 3y ago

If I ever have to try to plug more than two monitors into a laptop at that point I'm going to start asking myself why I'm not just buying a tower instead. The whole point of laptops is portability.

thrwy_918 3y ago
> The whole point of laptops is portability. Many people want portability, but also want to use external displays at home or at the office .

baz00 3y ago

Intel support 4 displays on a bottom end i5-1235U. Even my crappy little Lenovo M600 with an N-series Celeron supports 3 displays. Two 4k ones fine. I didn't have a third to test it with. It's either an architectural fuck up or intentional segmentation.

shepherdjerred 3y ago
> It's either an architectural fuck up or intentional segmentation. Do you think there is any chance that Apple would have had to make some engineering compromise (cost, performance, efficiency) for a feature that very few people would use?
- baz00 3y ago
  No