MacBook Air M5 Dual Monitor Extension Not Working with AV Access Docking Station

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MacBook Air M5 Dual Monitor Extension Not Working with AV Access Docking Station

I have a MacBook Air M5 that supports two external monitors. I'm also using an AV Access docking station to connect everything together (picture attached). However, the external monitors are mirroring instead of functioning as extended displays.

I've already tried using DisplayLink Manager, but it hasn't resolved the issue. Could this be related to the Type-C connectors on the docking station? Would upgrading to a Thunderbolt docking station fix the problem?

Posted on Apr 2, 2026 10:13 AM

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JulyIGHOR

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Apr 2, 2026 11:01 AM in response to abdulsamad579

No, a Thunderbolt dock will not fix this either.

The actual problem is Apple refusing to support DisplayPort MST in macOS, even though MST works on basically every other serious OS. Because of that, docks that split one USB-C display link into multiple outputs cannot provide proper native extended monitors on a Mac. They just mirror.

DisplayLink is not a real fix. It works by creating a fake virtual display in macOS, then compressing that screen into a video stream, sending it over USB to the dock, and having the dock decode it and push it to the monitor. That is a workaround, not proper native multi-monitor support.

The proper hardware fix would have been USB-C or Thunderbolt external GPU support with multiple real display outputs, so one external graphics device could drive several monitors directly. Apple killed eGPU support too, so that route is gone as well.

So Apple basically forces you into one real display per port path, unless you use DisplayLink and accept its fake-display USB video streaming hack.

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