[clashmoore]

As mentioned in the epilogue regarding single monitors, I feel that Apple was a little too silent regarding that limitation.

It also caught me off guard especially as I purchased the LG 4K thunderbolt/usb-c monitors from the Apple website with the hope of connecting everything via daisy chain.

I haven’t yet definitively found a DisplayLink hub that can output its video via thunderbolt and/or USB-C so whenever I see articles about M1’s and developer setups I happily check in to see if anybody has found a setup.

[mistersquid]

I understand the lack of multi-monitor support in the M1s is an issue. But just after the launch of the M1, I came across a video that demonstrated an M1 Mac mini driving six monitors. [0] There is also a short write up about that workaround, for those who don’t want the video. [1]

There are similar workarounds for the M1 MacBoooks. [2]

Is this a reasonable workaround until Apple provides M1 hardware that can run more than 1 monitor out of the box?

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jLAwSvs7vE

[1] https://www.slashgear.com/m1-macs-can-run-up-to-six-displays...

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzPKfn746Zs

[n42]

DisplayLink is a software encoded and compressed video stream that the hardware dongle decompresses on display. The experience is not great on my M1 MacBook Air. Sometimes it doesn't work and I have to plug/unplug, DisplayLink doesn't support refresh rates higher than 60hz, and you have to keep their software running in my task bar for it to work, and there are occasional visual artifacts. If you're planning to use your M1 in a multi-monitor setup, I suggest waiting for Apple to support it natively, especially if you're doing any kind of design work.

If you occassionally just want to plug in to multiple displays, it can bridge the gap. It's no substitute for a dedicated workstation.

[runjake]

#2 is using a DisplayLink device to run multiple monitors. I presume the other videos do too.

There's no trick or way around this on an M1-equipped Mac. Something else will be handling the graphics.

DisplayLink generally works excellent for running most apps. It does not work well where you’re pushing a bunch of bits at the screen rapidly, eg. First person shooters or high definition video.

That said, one of my DisplayLink monitors is used for IP camera feeds, and while the little traffic light on the USB dongle is blinking incredibly fast, I don’t notice any stutters.

Everyone already knows about this and the author mentions this in their post.

[clashmoore]

I've seen these too, but the LG 4k monitors that Apple sells on their website, and suggests as a display purchase along with the M1, have only Thunderbolt and USB-c IO. All these example setups use monitors with HDMI, etc.

[aulin]

I suffered more about having to trash my perfectly fine fullhd monitor(s) that worked great with linux until the day before, just because they decided to drop subpixel hinting with latest macos versions. Now I need 5-6 times more pixels to get comparable font rendering

[eyelidlessness]

I’m also still mourning the loss of subpixel AA with my primary display being 4k@1x. For several versions of macOS it was removed from the System Preferences UI but still available with a defaults command, but I’m pretty sure that’s gone now too.

[aulin]

right, you're not even supposed to use those 4k at native resolution if you want good fonts! some sources still list a couple of manual commands that supposedly enable antialiasing again but I don't think they do anything anymore.

[eyelidlessness]

It’s 43” haha. It has roughly the same pixel density as a 27” at 2560x1440.

[ixacto]

32” 4k on a m1 mini at a scaled resolution of 2560x1440 looks great.

[misnome]

Yes, very silent. We ordered a replacement for my old work machine and only realised that limitation after - too slow to stop the purchase order. We’ve ordered an ultrawide monitor to compensate.

I feel the “Pro” label is somewhat misleading, and has definitely damaged my trust further.

[FroshKiller]

The specs page for the Pro on Apple's site was up front about this and still is. Check it out here: https://www.apple.com/macbook-pro-13/specs/

Scroll down to Video Support and see: "One external display with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz."

When I was making a buying decision back in November, the limited external display support came up in every analysis & review I read. I'm not trying to give you a hard time here, but I genuinely don't know how you missed this.

[nsxwolf]

A lot of people missed it. No one expects features to be removed from the latest and greatest model.

[barkingcat]

It's called wishful thinking with blinders.

What? The M1 MacBook Pro is not the magical device with no compromises???

People were way too enthusiastic and purposely skipped over any weaknesses of the form factor.

People were claiming that it was capped at 16G ram because there were no purpose for having 32G ram (it was amazing to see the hacker news technical set reclaim Bill Gate's "640K ought to be enough for anybody" and "1 monitor is enough for every use case").

There are no perfect computers. Even Apple has to compromise. They were clearly stated but people just didn't want to accept that the M1 isn't a perfect computer that could do everything.

[hobs]

Apple didnt have to compromise here, but did - they've definitely sold customers on the "everything just works" approach, and so updating those details and then expecting all the customers who were literally sold on the concept of not having to check on all the details to check them... interesting approach.

My mother bought a new macbook m1 with me telling her about the monitor stuff and she cant even get her 1080p normal external to work with the dock that the apple store sold her.

[supermatt]

Take the dock back. I’ve tried 4 or 5 different ones, and the only one that was any good is the caldigit ts3+. If it’s not DisplayPort/usb-c video output then the dock is using some converter internally that messes everything up.

It’s definitely an Apple issue, but the specific problem can be worked around by basically not using hdmi (I appreciate we don’t all have that luxury :/)

[barkingcat]

This is an extremely entitled viewpoint. I'm not sure which "Apple" you are talking about, but as far as my experience has been for the last 20 years of Apple computers, Apple is the king of forcing consumers to compromise.

Do you want 256G ssd size or do you want the upgraded processor or memory size? Do you want 2 usb-c ports or 4 usb-c ports? do you want touchbar or no touchbar?

Apple has market segmentation and compromise down to a science. Apple computers have been forcing people into a compromise for their entire history. Want more features? Give more money. need that money for rent? ok buy the 256G version instead that you can't upgrade because everything is soldered in.... you have more money? pay for 512G version.

And in the dock's case - that's always been the case where apple will happily charge you more money to get certain accessories to work properly. (want this accessory to work? you gotta get the right adapter! oh that old adapter won't work, you gotta get a new one for 80$! oh sorry even with an adapter that old dock won't work anymore, you gotta get the right interface! usb-c vs thunderbolt vs firewire vs usb-c 4!)

[supermatt]

I’m not aware of anyone (except those using VMs) who are complaining about the memory. I personally went from 16gb to 8 and don’t miss it. Do you actually own/use an m1 Mac?

[eertami]

If it works for you, it works for you.

However in 2021 I am not interested in a computer with less than 32GB ram. Sure, I could work around the limitations and close not in use programs/tabs to avoid going OOM, or using swap, but life is short and memory is cheap. I'd rather not have to worry about it.

[barkingcat]

Yes I am using one.

There are workloads that don't fit into 16G ram. Even with paging, there are legitimate needs for 32G and beyond memory sizes.

[dijit]

I am not using VMs (unless you count the JVM or something) and I regularly exceed 16GiB of ram. I offloaded my docker VM to another machine because it was so bad.

For context I regularly have open (what I consider to be standard apps):

* IntelliJ IDEA (Pycharm or Clion, never both)

* Slack

* Chrome

* kitty (20 or so terminals)

* Outlook

* yabai & bartender

* littlesnitch & adguard

[smoldesu]

I have an M1 Macbook Air with 8 gigs of memory, and it's definitely a bottleneck for me. I haven't even thought about trying a VM on it...

[NetOpWibby]

Thank you

[Tagbert]

These first M1 models replace the very low end of the MacBook Pro line, not the full line. They replace the versions with the slowest processor and only two USCB-C ports. That is why the rest of the MacBook Pro line still exists waiting for the next performance version of the M-series chips.

[tasogare]

Looking at the number and type of ports is a pretty good indication that features are being removed. I love the 2015 form factor: retina, good keyboard, thin enough, 2 USB-A, 2 Mini-DisplayPort, 1 HDMI, jack, SD card port, MagSafe. I wish a M1 model with an equivalent enclosure would be produced.

[FroshKiller]

No one expects a brand-new hardware platform to have different capabilities from other devices in its class?

[numpad0]

A lot of people weren’t aware that multiple displays through single DisplayPort connector is hardware, not software, capability

[e-clinton]

It’s not “brand new hardware”, it’s just another MacBook Pro. Being a MacBook Pro, I expect a keyboard, trackpad, screen... and the ability to plug-in monitors, just like every other MacBook Pros has for however many years.

They shouldn’t have called it a pro.

[brokenmachine]

The logic of a 𝚃̶𝚛̶𝚞̶𝚖̶𝚙̶ Apple supporter: "He didn't say that. And if he did, he didn't mean that. And if he did, you didn't understand it. And if you did, it's not a big deal".

Apple apologists have been regularly redefining what "pro" means every year, along with a lot of other things that aren't a big deal.

[themolecularman]

Same here. Even right now as a type this I have my 2nd external monitor sitting next to the one I'm staring it, it's just off though.

Another commenter mentioned finding a video showing that it could in fact be "hacked" to use more than one external monitor. I tried purchasing the specific DisplayLink products in the video and still wasn't able to have success :(

[pmarreck]

FWIW I've been quite happy with a UWQHD ultrawide for both work and play

[Tagbert]

If you get the ultra wide and have trouble getting the resolution setup you might need SwitchResX. It let’s you override the default resolutions with custom ones. Some of the ultra wide monitors support resolutions that are not expected in the default setup.

[Closi]

Agreed, as an M1 user and usual multi monitor user this is a big limitation!

Realistically I’ll look at investing in an ultra wide soon to offer similar screen real estate.

We also have a Lenovo laptop that we bought two of for our admin staff in our office to only find out afterwards multi monitor support was missing (despite having enough ports for it)... it’s a shame that this isn’t considered standard.

[MobileVet]

This was such a pain... we tried several combos and dongles. In the end we found this to work for driving the 2nd monitor.

Startech Dual Display Port adapter https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07C69HG33/

We have noticed that the refresh rate on the second monitor isn’t great... but it works and isn’t horrible for developers.

Edit: and we also have this due to the lack of ports (Thanks Jony)

HyeperDrive USB C Hub https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MUAEI7J/

[waheoo]

+1 for startech. Thunderbolt should be able to drive dual 4k at 60. Haven't used with the M1 but have with ThinkPads.

[wslh]

That is why I think Dell XPS 13 is top: three external monitors via a Thunderbolt TB16 and a desktop experience only plugging a single cable.

This is not to say that the XPS 13 is perfect (need to change battery every two years in all the notebooks at the office and the notebook gets hot) but the notebook is great in many other factors.

[dijit]

FWIW (and, anecdotally); my company just started rolling out XPS 13's and had to stop as they are overheating constantly.

Instead, people are going to be getting latitudes.

[andrewmackrodt]

I have the XPS 13 2-in-1 and the thermals under Windows leave a lot to be desired. It's possible to apply a small undervolt and increase the Intel turbo limits which significantly improves performance while being able to run with the balanced fan profile. If anyone wants my ThrottleStop config I can upload it to pastebin.

I run Ubuntu day to day and it has much better performance and less fan noise (presumed better thermals) than Windows.

[tinco]

Our product has a webgl component, and the XPS13 would constantly crash Ubuntu when the webgl view was open. It was so unworkable the developer switched to windows with WSL2 just to have a stable environment.

Which is annoying because the whole reason I was buying XPS laptops for our devs was supposedly good Linux support. Maybe the laptop was overheating?

[ClumsyPilot]

I have given up on 13" laptops for performance demanding work, you just can't stuff cooling into that package.

[rainbowzootsuit]

Perhaps a EGPU via thunderbolt would work? (Not that GPUs are so readily available right now, but just to get N monitor ports as needed offloaded) Have you investigated that at all?

I recently ran into something somewhat similar of needing "active" displayport adapters to connect more than two monitors at a time to a video card.

[FroshKiller]

M1 Macs do not support eGPUs.

[rainbowzootsuit]

Ah ok. Would be functional for the Lenovo presumably.

Another possibility is a device that merges monitors' and then presents as one to the computer intended for video walls.. I know of the ones that Matrox makes but might need windows to setup.

https://www.matrox.com/en/video/products/video-walls/quadhea...

[rvz]

> I feel that Apple was a little too silent regarding that limitation.

That's the whole point. It's about what Apple doesn't tell you that matters, which I have said before [0]. Especially for a new product announcement and release, which is why I don't immediately buy their products because everyone else is hyping it everywhere.

Now they are discovering the pitfalls and foot-guns later on after purchasing it, whilst I enjoy my trusty old Intel Macbook that can connect to more than one monitor.

I guess when Apple announces a M1X / M2 Macbook, the reviewers will be telling you that 'It's not worth buying if you already bought into M1'. If that's the case, they are right, since you're now at a sunk cost IF you wanted multi-monitors on your M1 Macbook Air.

What's better is that you wait for the next generation so that you don't fall for buying into Apple's limitations in their new products.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26327064

[rgbrenner]

They did tell us though. It’s listed on the tech specs: one monitor on the m1 laptops; 2 on the mini. That’s why I bought a mini.

[clashmoore]

If I could describe why I've been an Apple laptop user since their Powerbook days, it's because I didn't want to worry about fiddly computer setups and stuff - just purchasing a machine that works and an afternoon to get my environment up and running (for dev).

In all my previous experiences, purchasing into newly released products has always been a step forward in every measurement. I would say dongles have been the only pain points when moving to new generations.

This is the first product that took a step back in an important way and I wasn't expecting it. And it doubly hurt me as Apple's website store suggested these LG 4k monitors to go along with my new M1 and their store showcased the awesome thunderbolt daisy chain and driver support out of the box.

So while DisplayLink technologies do allow for an inferior multi-display setup - I haven't found one yet to drive dual LG 4k monitors that Apple sells.

[Nextgrid]

If your objective is to use two monitors side by side, couldn't you find a device that presents itself as an ultra-wide monitor (combined width of both monitors) and allows you to connect two monitors on the other end?

[MertsA]

No, that'd be a problem with the dock and menu bar straddling the two monitors. Not to mention maximizing a window would split it between monitors.

[hpoe]

Couldn't the newest generation of a device not remove what are considered standard features from their device especially when it costs more than anything on the market and it's big selling point is that it "just works"?

[Stratoscope]

I wonder if the single monitor limitation is a hardware or software issue?

The reason I ask is that my ThinkPad X1 Extreme can only handle a single external monitor running any recent version of Ubuntu, but on Windows 10 I run it with two or three external monitors with different scaling factors. I've used either a ThinkPad Thunderbolt dock or currently a Cable Matters mini-dock with two DisplayPorts and one HDMI.

So I gave up on Linux on the hardware and run it in a VMware VM under the Windows 10 host, or under WSL2 depending on what I'm doing.

[hedgehog]

There are also compatibility issues with ultrawide monitors and DDC support is missing (so there's no way to do brightness or volume for external displays). The new machines are still better for most people but as always evaluate before upgrading.