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User profile for user: EMGactive
EMGactive Author
User level: Level 1
10 points

Issues using External Monitors on M1 MacBook Pro

Hi All,


I'm on a 2021 M1 Pro MacBook Pro and I'm a little shocked by the poor external display support. Here are some of the issues I'm having and hope that either there are fixes for these issues or there are improvements coming in the future. For reference I'm using the HDMI port on the MacBook Pro.


1) Why can't the Dock be on both screens at once?


2) When I click to open an App on Screen 1 then I expect it to open on Screen 1, but it will often open on Screen 2 and visa versa if I click to open the App on Screen 2 then it will often open on Screen 1 instead.


3) If my MacBook Pro is closed and connected to an External Display it will work fine, but if it goes to sleep it will almost always fail to Wake Up and will often just restart the whole computer and then ask me to submit an error report, which I have done many times. The only way to successfully wake it up is to open the MacBook Pro and close it again once it's awake.

MacBook Pro (2020 and later)

Posted on Jun 24, 2022 8:41 AM

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User profile for user: Grant Bennet-Alder
Grant Bennet-Alder
User level: Level 10
133,201 points

Posted on Jun 24, 2022 9:23 AM

The Mac has extremely Flexible support for external displays.


It sounds like the defaults are not the way you want to use YOUR computer. That is not a computer defect, you just need to re-configure.


The default is most often "Extended Desktop", where the two or more displays are concatenated along an edge of your choosing into ONE large "Extended Desktop". By definition, a desktop has ONE Dock and ONE Menubar, and it is on the Primary display.



be sure to read the messages in that window for more hints about configuring.


--------

There are other way you can use your displays. These are extensions of principles of Mission Control, which, without attaching more displays, allow you to have multiple "Spaces". Using Mission Control, any "Space" (containing a set of Applications, Windows and a dock) can be made active whenever you wish. it then takes over the displays, and provides it own MenuBar and Dock, independent of all other Spaces.


The extension of this feature to multiple displays is called "Displays have separate Spaces"

This superset allows any "Space" to be assigned to any display.

It is activated here:



.



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Question marked as Top-ranking reply
User profile for user: Grant Bennet-Alder
Grant Bennet-Alder
User level: Level 10
133,201 points

Jun 24, 2022 9:23 AM in response to EMGactive

The Mac has extremely Flexible support for external displays.


It sounds like the defaults are not the way you want to use YOUR computer. That is not a computer defect, you just need to re-configure.


The default is most often "Extended Desktop", where the two or more displays are concatenated along an edge of your choosing into ONE large "Extended Desktop". By definition, a desktop has ONE Dock and ONE Menubar, and it is on the Primary display.



be sure to read the messages in that window for more hints about configuring.


--------

There are other way you can use your displays. These are extensions of principles of Mission Control, which, without attaching more displays, allow you to have multiple "Spaces". Using Mission Control, any "Space" (containing a set of Applications, Windows and a dock) can be made active whenever you wish. it then takes over the displays, and provides it own MenuBar and Dock, independent of all other Spaces.


The extension of this feature to multiple displays is called "Displays have separate Spaces"

This superset allows any "Space" to be assigned to any display.

It is activated here:



.



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User profile for user: EMGactive
EMGactive Author
User level: Level 1
10 points

Jun 24, 2022 10:26 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Hello,


Thank you for the information.


I can understand that 1&2 are personal preference, but that's how Windows handles multiple displays so I'm surprised MacOS doesn't have this option as it makes using two+ monitors significantly more fluid and seamless. I have tried many combinations of Display + Mission Control/Space options and none have given me the experience I want. I have the Menu Bar on both displays, but not two docks (which honestly this is the least important of the 3 things I mentioned), and more importantly if I open an App by clicking on it from Screen 1 that doesn't mean it's going to open on Screen 1, so I need manually move it to the screen I want once it is open.


My third concern is definitely an issue. I suspect it's an M1 or MacOS issue that can be resolved with a software or firmware update and not actually an issue with my MacBook Pro.If I'm connected to an external display (set as my primary and via HDMI) and the computer goes to sleep it won't wake up without either opening the MacBook to wake up the built-in display first or else the computer won't wakeup and will restart and ask to submit a crash report. I don't have a Dock so I don't know if this behavior is resolved by using a Dock instead of the built-in HDMI port.



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Issues using External Monitors on M1 MacBook Pro

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