Does anyone know if the M3 MacBook Pro (not M3 pro CPU, fucking Apple) will support the dual display with the laptop screen closed? It’s stupid that that wasn’t a feature in the older models.
That’s awesome. Sadly it’s M3 exclusive, but I didn’t have any hope for it coming to the M1. We have 50+ of those machines at work and a few people want dual display without the display link compromise.
You’re barking up the wrong tree by asking how many displays the CPU supports. The CPU is not involved in displays at all.
It’s the GPU that matters, and the M3 MacBook Pro is available with GPUs ranging from “barely good enough” to “holy fuck that’s a lot of compute for a laptop”.
The entry level GPU configuration can drive a single external display. The high end can have four external displays. The mid range can do two.
I agree, it was clearer in the old days when the CPU and GPU were separate line items on the order page… but if you go to the tech specs page and scroll down to “Display Support” for a full page of text explaining in perfectly clear language exactly what each configuration supports.
It’s not as simple as just “what GPU” either — it also depends on the specs of your display (for example, is it HDMI or Thunderbolt? Does it run at 60Hz or faster? Is it 4K or higher? Those things matter and Apple doesn’t even detail all of it, for example Display Stream Compression can free up a lot of bandwidth. If your display needs 64 Gigabits per second… such as this one then even at the high end you can only have one of them on Apple’s most expensive laptop. I have no sympathy - that’s a $300,000 display that doesn’t even come with an actual display (you need to pay someone to build the wall for you and that might cost even more). Perhaps you should consider a Mac Studio instead? It can drive three of those projectors.
But back to reality, I do feel your pain. I’ve got two Macs on my desk, with Universal Control to share a single keyboard/mouse between them, because neither of my Macs can drive enough displays for the work I do. I can’t wait to upgrade to a better GPU and go back to using a single computer. They are available now - but not as cheap as I’d like.
It’s a complete SOC. CPU, GPU, RAM all integrated into one unit on the motherboard. When people talk about the “M3” in the MacBook Pro they’re talking about all 3 things at once.
Does anyone know if the M3 MacBook Pro (not M3 pro CPU, fucking Apple) will support the dual display with the laptop screen closed? It’s stupid that that wasn’t a feature in the older models.
Yes, they said it’s coming soon via software update.
https://9to5mac.com/2024/03/04/14-inch-m3-macbook-pro-multi-display-support/
That’s awesome. Sadly it’s M3 exclusive, but I didn’t have any hope for it coming to the M1. We have 50+ of those machines at work and a few people want dual display without the display link compromise.
My brother in Christ, that is literally in the byline of the OP. Just click the link before commenting, I beg you.
I did. Where does it say the pro gets the feature? I don’t care about the air.
So your takeaway is that the Air will have a feature the Pro doesn’t. Good luck out there buddy, I have a feeling you’re in for a rough life.
That’s literally the current situation unless Apple pushes out an update before Friday’s launch.
My MacBook M1 Pro does 2 monitors closed. I even have a usb dongle for a third monitor. Am I misreading your question?
Your dongles probably have display link adapters in them. Display link works, but destroys your CPU since all the graphics are rendered there.
My CPU is doing just fine. Also, it’s just for log files, so it’s not doing too much anyway.
You’re barking up the wrong tree by asking how many displays the CPU supports. The CPU is not involved in displays at all.
It’s the GPU that matters, and the M3 MacBook Pro is available with GPUs ranging from “barely good enough” to “holy fuck that’s a lot of compute for a laptop”.
The entry level GPU configuration can drive a single external display. The high end can have four external displays. The mid range can do two.
I agree, it was clearer in the old days when the CPU and GPU were separate line items on the order page… but if you go to the tech specs page and scroll down to “Display Support” for a full page of text explaining in perfectly clear language exactly what each configuration supports.
It’s not as simple as just “what GPU” either — it also depends on the specs of your display (for example, is it HDMI or Thunderbolt? Does it run at 60Hz or faster? Is it 4K or higher? Those things matter and Apple doesn’t even detail all of it, for example Display Stream Compression can free up a lot of bandwidth. If your display needs 64 Gigabits per second… such as this one then even at the high end you can only have one of them on Apple’s most expensive laptop. I have no sympathy - that’s a $300,000 display that doesn’t even come with an actual display (you need to pay someone to build the wall for you and that might cost even more). Perhaps you should consider a Mac Studio instead? It can drive three of those projectors.
But back to reality, I do feel your pain. I’ve got two Macs on my desk, with Universal Control to share a single keyboard/mouse between them, because neither of my Macs can drive enough displays for the work I do. I can’t wait to upgrade to a better GPU and go back to using a single computer. They are available now - but not as cheap as I’d like.
It’s a complete SOC. CPU, GPU, RAM all integrated into one unit on the motherboard. When people talk about the “M3” in the MacBook Pro they’re talking about all 3 things at once.
Huh? My 2019 mbp can do that, without display link.
It’s an infamous Apple silicon limitation