Connecting 2 external monitors to an M2, 2022 MacBook Air

jasend1 wrote:

I have a MacBook Air 2020 M1. And I have a couple docking stations I’m trying to get working. I have one with one HDMI and one wjrh 2 HDMI’s. I also bought an HDMI o Thunderbolt chord.

I can’t get two displays working. You think it’s just a limitation? Or you know if anything I might be able to do?

The M1 MacBook Air supports just a single external display. Apple described this clearly in the Technical Specifications that were available at the time you bought the machine. There is no dock, no adapter that can increase the number of first-class, hardware-supported display outputs.

If you are using a workaround like DisplayLink to add second-class display outputs, that requires

• Using a dock or adapter that has a "magic decoder ring" chip set and
• Installing matching software on your computer.

CaddyShack18 wrote:

Have individual USB-2 connections plugged in. It will recognize one, but not both together. Both laptop ports work - and both monitors will individually work as second monitor regardless of port. Just can't see both together. Anyone know of a solution?

The specs for your model/year computer MacBook Air (M2, 2022) - Technical Specifications

state: "Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display at 1 billion colors and:

One external display with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz"

I am using the same MBA as you, I bought a Plugable DisplayLink adaptor on Amazon and it works perfectly. A lot of people seem to think that you get poor display quality with the adaptors, and maybe for graphic intensive gaming you do. But for every day, and even business computing, it works great. I have actually connected 3 27" displays to my Air and it handled it just fine.

Can you help me understand your setup? I have a MacBook Air 2020 M1. And I have a couple docking stations I’m trying to get working. I have one with one HDMI and one wjrh 2 HDMI’s. I also bought an HDMI o Thunderbolt chord.

I can’t get two displays working. You think it’s just a limitation? Or you know if anything I might be able to do?

It's not just a matter of physically stringing-together more monitors.

A system component must calculate where every pixel is placed and then "instruct" the monitor(s).

As already posted, the Mac under discussion simply doesn't have that capability beyond ONE external monitor.

The docking stations won't help, you need a DisplayLink adaptor and DisplayLink software to use two external monitors. I've actually used 3 monitors using the adaptor plus a USB C hub