Dual Monitors with Air M1?

I have recently purchased a MacBook Pro 13 inch, M1, 2020

and I purchased a Kensington SD4900P USB-C & USB 3.0 Triple 4K Hybrid Dock - DP & HDMI for $279 and I am now running two external monitors along with my MB display, no issues

When I bought the MacBook they told me that it could handle dual displays and sold me a Dongle, (which as we all know didn't work) for adding Dual Displays. This Kensington product works in conjunction with Displaylink Manager 13.0, which is a free download. And it acts as a power source for the MB, gives me extra USB ports, and connects my external speakers .... what's not to love. Enjoy

I just went through this. You definitely need hardware which uses DisplayLink technology. Your choices are:

• a docking station with integrated DisplayLink, e.g. Dell D6000 or Kensington SD4900P
• or any USB-C/Thunderbolt3/4 docking station with at least one USB3 port, plus an USB3 display adapter with DisplayLink support

In both cases, one display will run on the native display connection via the docking station and the second display will run via the DisplayLink connection. Apparently, you can add quite some more displays via DisplayLink by just adding adapters.

You also need to install the DisplayLink Manager software from the DisplayLink site. This will integrate display controls into MacOS settings.

Hi

I use a Wavlink UG69PD2 which allows me to route power to my M1 Macbook Air, and run 2x4K monitors (one HDMI, one Displayport), as well as external speakers, and has 4 USB-A and 2 USB-C ports.

Using a docking station like this has the added benefit of only using a single USB-C cable to connect to the laptop (as it supports Power Delivery, as well as data), but any of the DisplayLink ports on the DL page are all fine: https://www.displaylink.com/products/find?cat=1&vid_dp=1

As IPv6Freely will no doubt tell you, DisplayLink is far from perfect - for me, it's fine, it uses well under 5% CPU, I can run videos and web conferencing software, but I don't game or require ultimate latency, so I can't comment on that.

Hope this helps.

Hey CBennett, I just found this as an issue as well. I have yet to find a way to use the work around for the clamshell mode, but if you download the displaylink app (https://www.displaylink.com/) and use that with one of the docks that compatible with the software you are guaranteed good to go. Just did it myself and am PLEASANTLY surprised it worked REALLY well! DisplayLink approved devices here: https://www.displaylink.com/products. Let me know if it works for you and if you find a workaround for the clamshell mode!

CDL

I was able to get my MacBook Air m1 2020 working with 2 extended monitors + MacBook Air in extended mode using DisplayLink docking station. So far everything with this docking station is working great.

You will need to download the latest MacOS BigSur driver

/Users/sam/Desktop/Screen Shot 2020-12-29 at 8.54.44 PM.png

I have a total of 3 screens in extended mode now

https://www.amazon.com/Targus-Universal-Docking-Charging-DOCK120USZ/dp/B019M3QRPW/ref=sr_1_14?dchild=1&keywords=DisplayLink+docking+station&qid=1609296651&sr=8-14

I have 2 monitors (both are Dell 2412M) connected to the display port of the Dell D6000 dock. I have connected the dock to one of the usb Type C ports on the MBA M1. The setup worked only when I performed the below steps:

1. Install Display Link driver. I installed the latest version from here: Download: DisplayLink Manager Graphics Connectivity (1.2)
2. Navigate to Settings-> Security & Privacy -> Privacy -> Screen Recording -> Select the check box against Display Link Manager.

As everyone has already voiced, this is a hack and may not be a viable solution for everyone as this doesn't take advantage of the M1 capabilities. This makes me believe that MBA M1 is an unfinished product. Apple needs to add native support for this, so that users dont rely on some hack to get a simple dual display working.

DisplayLink is not limited to 1080p. It depends entirely on which DisplayLink chipset your DisplayLink adapter uses. The most recent chipset supports 4096x2160p60 or 5120x1440p60 - https://support.displaylink.com/knowledgebase/articles/525038-displaylink-display-resolution-support

On my M1 MBA I have a 4K ultra wide monitor connected over HDMI and a 4K ultra wide monitor over a display link adapter. I know DisplayLink is effectively monitor emulation, but I haven’t seen any performance issues at all, no detectable CPU usage, and both the HDMI and DisplayPort monitors play 4K video just fine.

I don’t game though, so can’t really comment on that, but would be happy to try something if it helps?

Hope that helps.

I don’t know what isn’t clear about this, but it has nothing to do with the docking station you’re using. The M1 laptops do not support dual external displays without using DisplayLink. There is no “better docking station”. The Caldigit is not the problem, the laptop is. There’s an entire thread about it if you just scroll up.

Targus DOCK190USZ USB-C Universal DV4K Docking Station - Black

Chamm2008 wrote:

This product claims to support 2 external monitors. I just got my new MB Air today and was gonna buy this and see if it worked.

It doesn't have DisplayLink, so it will only support one display from an M1 MacBook Air. It will support 2 displays from an early- 2020 MacBook Air (Intel).

4 SCREENS WORKING with Apple MacBook Air 13" M1 (2 x StarTech DisplayLink hardware, 2 x natively?)

Hi All,

I can confirm DisplayLink (DL) has no visible lag issues (I was the one who complained it as well while working on MacBook Air 11" 2011) on my brand new MacBook Air 13" M1 with my old DL Startech hardware capable of 2560x1440 resolutions at 60Hz on two Dell 2515H monitors. My third Dell 2515H is connected via UGREEN USB-C PD adapter's HDMI port at the same resolution and refresh rate. While it's working almost perfectly the only thing left that's letting me down at the moment is lack of screen rotation functionality for M1 machines. Therefore, am still awaiting to use it properly with my two DL displays . There's also issues with long wait for driver updates which is still a pain in particular when significant changes happen on Apple's side.

While it's stating M1 can handle one external monitor am surprised I'm able to run 4 monitors on the Air M1 and 2 of them natively? I tried connecting two monitors to Satechi dual HDMI adapter before or one to Satechi and another directly to Air's USB-C port and only one would work. However, I just got a new ASUS ZenScreen MB16AEC portable USB-C powered monitor and it's working as a second native display whether connected directly to latop's USB-C or via USB 3.0 hub. My 2 other Dell 2515H monitors are using DL hardware devices so the ASUS has absolutely no physical DL hardware attached. This has puzzled me but am very pleased that now got 4 monitors running at the same time (one unfortunately still in vertical awaiting screen rotation as there's not enough desk space to change to Horizontal) :) Also, another 2 ASUS portable are arriving today or tomorrow and will plug them into my 7 x USB 3.0 powered Kensington HUB to see if it handles them too.

I can say I'm finally very happy with the current dead silent, super cold (I've never felt any significant heat above function keys no matter what tasks I do and 3 browsers running with multiple tabs that was normally killing my MacBooks), no screen lag perfect setup and hope apple or DisplayLink won't mess it up again.

All the best,

David

Hi

I definitely agree it's not for every situation, but would be interested to know if you've actually used DisplayLink, and found it insufficient, and if so, what tasks were you running?

I am using it all day every day, with an M1 Macbook Air, but I guess it depends what you define as light workload. I typically have 10-20 applications open, edit photos (usually RAW, using Affinity or Darkroom), and run webex all day, but I don't game, if that's what you consider "none light"?

As I say, happy to try specific tasks if it helps?

Hi

To be clear, if the docking station has a DisplayLink chip, and your monitor has a displayport input, and you’re happy to run the displaylink manager software, then actually it is about the docking station.

I appreciate that the DisplayLink solution doesn’t work for you, IPv6Freely, but it is easily good enough for some of us. If you’re content with whatever limitations of Displaylink, and clearly it’s not for everyone as you state, then a docking station may well meet your needs.

I use a Wavlink UG69PD2 which allows me to power my M1 Macbook Air, run 2x4K monitors (one HDMI, one Displayport), as well as external speakers, and has 4 USB-A and 2 USB-C ports.

Using a docking station like this has the added benefit of only using a single USB-C cable to connect to the laptop (as it supports Power Delivery, as well as data).

If I needed any heavy graphics intensive gaming, I could always use the monitor running over HDMI rather than DisplayLink, but I haven’t needed to.

Hope this helps.

xvietle wrote:

I have the M1 Macbook pro, and I'm unable to use dual monitors. Only one monitor works when plugged in. Would love an answer for this.

This entire thread is dedicated to this topic, so you already have your answer.

If you need it re-hashed, well then here you go: Only one external display is supported on the M1 MacBook Air and MacBook Pro. There are "workarounds" using DisplayLink software if you don't care about lag and video quality.

Hi

I can’t categorically say yes, as my Wavlink is running with my MacBook Air M1, but as it uses the same chipset as the Pro, I suspect it will. Note that it has only 2 Displayport/HDMI outputs, so I use one of the 2 USB-C ports on the MacBook air to connect to this (the Wavlink provides power to the MacBook), and I use the other USB-C port for the 3rd monitor. There’s other USB-C and USB-A ports on the Wavlink so I can still connect my other peripherals.

HTH