does the new macbook air 15 support 2 external monitors

Heres the thing I have put feedback there, as have many others, this is much more public and may make people rethink a purchase. I think you need to reevaluate what a lower priced computer is. A £1250+ M2 Mac Air is not that. Also for many people they will not read the spec, as laptops supporting multi monitors have become the norm.

Feature rationing applied like this isn't about capabilities it's about making people pay more for features that could be on less expensive devices. We don’t need a higher spec chips we need the software lock removed, or at least eased to the level where it actually maps to the capability of the M1/2 chips. 

Lastly, 

"Arguing here is of no value and will not change the spec."

It literally could, Apple could patch this whenever they choose to, and I would like to see it patched.

Well I have to say, this is the best thing ever, I have every since I bought my mac tried to figure out how to do two additional monitors and now I got it. This was a breeze and I can see three different screens and work on each one separately. I want to give a great shout out to you for this suggestion for the J5. One thing to all that may review this, I paid a total $72.21 this was off the $90 price at Walmart in store price. Better to order it from Walmart online you will save money and enjoy the look of having three screens to work with.. I am so excited!!!!!!

Servant of Cats Said:

“[…]It's a cute trick, but it's not the same thing as making the M1 or M2 drive an extra monitor directly.[…]”

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Use it without Reluctance:

Cute or not, try this yourself, and you’ll love it. There’s nothing of a driver installed. It’s just play-and-play.

Yes, you can buy a much more expensive Mac that supports multiple external displays. Because that is the whole point of Apple preventing the use of multiple displays on the Air - to force you to buy a more expensive computer to get the functionality that almost all other modern computers support. It is simply a money grab and Apple has perfected it. Yes, I will head over to Product Feedback.

Slartibartfast_42 Said:

“Thanks for your input good to know you are finding the 3rd party solution to work. If you have details of resolutions it can push it would be good to get an idea of the limitations (I assume it could do two 4k screens but for others this would help)”

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You are welcome.

How I Use This:

I’ve only tried it on three 4 screens. My projector has 1080P and is of 4K. You need a 4K cable to make use of the 4K HDMI output. Attach the projector to this port through the 4K cable, and the projector has a video output port that is HDMI, and that even adds another screen: the fourth. That’s all I have for external screens.

There is nothing saying it is not capable. There are limits on its ability. That occurs due to numerous factors none of us probably know. It could be price points, sales of add-ons, etc. A business is a business, is a business. Because we want something to work that should work, does not mean it will work. A business is a big fat baby that is hungry all the times and will only eat money. Companies make money from each other. So, Apple's response is: if you want it to do that right now, make something and we will put it on the Apple Store as an accessory; otherwise, buy the products. That is just how business operates, whether the consumer loves it or not.

As an add on: I have never had problems running externals displays, 2 at a minimum from any computer from Apple with the exception of the MacBook Air. My minis, I run 2-4 external monitors. My MacBook pros external 2. All good quality monitors up to 4k. MacBook Air (newer version) 1 external with some possible workarounds. Easiest workaround is lower power lower quality monitors. Chain them together, nothing else needs x 2 external. Even a decent monitor kills the ability to use 2 external. So you are speaking low quality monitors that are good for doing paperwork and low quality images/video. It is possible. If you work in an office its good, work somewhere you need editing of pictures or videos, get rid of the air and get a pro.

DisplayLink however works on another standard. It takes DisplayPort video-protocol and converts it into normal "data". The software used also have had about 20-60% use of the CPU. Not sure at all of the use for the 15".

DisplayLink is a ****** technology, but it and some few others like siliconmotion works. It is however a bad workaround.

Many people would see Thunderbolt or Displayport with the kind of data throughput they offer and assume they support this. Also they don't offer MST on Displayport which has been software locked for years.

I don’t get why one would be an apologist for this kind of anti-consumerism.

Glad thats working for you, remember to submit feedback to apple that this is something you would like to see natively supported. Its not good enough that they software lock capabilities to upsell ‘pro’ laptops.

The M1/M2 is driving an extra monitor with extra overhead here so it clearly can be supported directly with less overhead. This has been the point of this entire discussion.

The ability to do something in a "slow path', with software, with drawbacks, proves that it must be possible to do a similar thing in a better way in a "fast path" that might require dedicated hardware support?

And to retroactively add that dedicated hardware support to existing hardware with a software patch?

Thanks for your input good to know you are finding the 3rd party solution to work. If you have details of resolutions it can push it would be good to get an idea of the limitations (I assume it could do two 4k screens but for others this would help)

I have the MBA M1 and I am able to connect two external displays and use the built-in as 3rd screen. The two externals are HP 27" and Samsung ultrawide 34".

I just purchased a 15" MBA and came here because it won't work with two external monitors! The second one is not connecting, but as soon as I unplug the first one, the second one is detected and connects.

This is disappointing!

The 2018-2020 Intel-based MacBook Airs could drive two external 4K displays, or one external 5K display.

As I recall, from looking at processor data sheets on Intel's site, a lot of Intel integrated GPUs supported three video outputs. The MacBook Air would have consumed one for its internal screen, leaving two. But neither of those two supported 5K displays, so I think the Mac had to use two iGPU outputs to drive one 5K display.

Thus the specifications where the number of external displays depended on the resolution of those displays.

I totally agree with TheLittles-I just upgraded to the MacBook Air 15” and using the same item he mentioned and it works like a charm. I still have the other USBC port available. I would say the investment was well with it. As I said in my previous comments it was cheaper to buy it online at Walmart and pick it up or have it delivered, then to ** it in the store. Hope this helps!!!