Freshly announced, MacBook Air M3 not only benefit from Apple’s latest in-house processor, they also allow you to finally properly exploit the possibilities of the dual screen.
Apple Silicon chips have, without a doubt, been a big step forward in Apple’s computing ecosystem. Faster, less energy-consuming, the brand’s in-house processors have almost everything going for them. But in the transition from Intel architecture to ARM architecture, Apple machines lost something: flexible dual-screen support. Fortunately, this is now fixed.
Still limited to two screens in total
As the characteristics of the brand new MacBook Air M3 suggest, it is now possible to use the computer with two external screens, a use previously prohibited with Apple’s “classic” Silicon chips. It has always been possible to connect an external screen to that of the MacBook M1/M2/M3, but never two, unlike the Intel models which were capable of this. Devices equipped with “Pro”, “Max”, or “Ultra” chips could, on the other hand, already support multiple screens.
In any case, this limitation is now history with the MacBook Air M3… except for one small detail. If you want to use two external screens, you will need to close the computer screen. Once the computer is folded, you can enjoy your workspace on two screens at the same time (one in 5K/60 Hz and the other in 6K/60 Hz maximum). The need to doom the computer screen itself is probably because the graphics chip would otherwise struggle to keep up with 3 screens in parallel.
MacBook Pro M3s will also be entitled to it
Good news, the MacBook Air M3s will not be the only ones to benefit from this new feature. Apple confirmed this to the site 9to5Mac, the MacBook Pro M3 released last October will also benefit from this functionality with a future update. It’s impossible to know if this is 14.4 currently in the testing phase, but Apple has promised that the functionality is in the pipeline and will arrive across its entire M3 range. Here too, you will have to close the computer cover if you want to connect more than one screen.
Unfortunately, however, computers do not support the ability to connect multiple displays in series. You will necessarily have to connect the two screens to the computer itself to hope to use your MacBook as a desktop computer.
Source : 9to5Mac
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