Troubleshoot connecting external monitors to Macbook Air

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4 points

Troubleshoot connecting external monitors to Macbook Air

Hi All:

I have a 2022 Macbook Air with the M2 chip, having some trouble connecting to dual monitors. In the event it's an issue, I have a work-issued PC dock (IBM Thinkpad) that connects to two monitors, mouse, keyboard. I connects via USB, I'm using a USB-C adapter to connect to the Mac. The Mac is detecting both the mouse and keyboard, though neither monitor is detected. I've used system -> displays, held down the Option key, though the 'detect' box that appears is greyed out and nothing happens when I press it. Is this just a sign of total incompatibility or am I missing something? Any help is greatly appreciated!!!

Posted on May 2, 2024 1:11 PM

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Answer 1

May 2, 2024 2:35 PM in response to tfoss78

The M2 MacBook Air only supports one external monitor.

Since the dock that you are using connects via USB-A, it can’t be using your Mac’s native hardware-accelerated display support. It must be using some workaround that requires installation of software on your MacBook Air that you do not have installed. So your Mac isn’t sending any display updates to the external “stunt box” and there is nothing for that “stunt box” to display.

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Answer 2

tfoss78 Author

Level 1

4 points

May 2, 2024 4:14 PM in response to Servant of Cats

Thanks for the nudge in the right direction, this worked. For anyone wondering, the software that solved my problem was DisplayLink.

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