M3 Macbook Air - Dual Monitor Issue

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M3 Macbook Air - Dual Monitor Issue

Someone has brought up this issue before, as for my case, 1 monitor if it is connected directly to my macbook it works just fine, same if i connect it to a type-c hub/dock. The problem happens when i connect my 2nd monitor to the hub/dock, and close the lid of my macbook, both monitors will turn off. if i open the lid, my first monitor will show up. My second monitor is does not have a type-c cable but a standard hdmi cable which i connected it to the hub into my mac.

I am not too sure what did i do wrong. Hope i'll be able to get some assistance from you experts here because i am so confused lol.

MacBook Air (M3, 2024)

Posted on Jan 9, 2025 2:56 AM

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Answer 1

Jan 9, 2025 10:19 AM in response to nadzil

There are several vendors of Thunderbolt docks. Some that have been in the business of selling Thunderbolt products to Mac users for a long time are:

Other World Computing

SonnetTech

CalDigit

(I have no affiliation with any of them, except as an occasional OWC customer for other, non-Thunderbolt gear.)

I would suggest sticking to docks whose descriptions say that they can drive two displays. There are some (e.g., Dell and HP ones) that can drive three or four monitors, but they do so using DisplayPort MST in a way that Macs do not support. (Much like some plain USB-C docks drive two, using DisplayPort MST in a way that Macs do not support.). Then you run into issues unless you can figure out which particular pairs of ports connect to different video signals on a Mac.

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