My $2.2k laptop can't drive two screens

82 点作者 cunidev12 个月前

17 条评论

The reason why non-Pro-chip MacBooks can't drive three displays is very simple: Apple gives each display its own SRAM buffer to scan out from, separate from the main system RAM. The display controllers on Apple chips are literally larger than the CPU cores because of this.The reason why they do this is because it lets them run system RAM at lower power or suspend it entirely without affecting the displays. Which saves a good chunk of power - AFAIK after Asahi added support for the display coprocessor firmware (which implements this trick) they got a few extra hours of battery life.My main complaint is that you can't turn off the primary laptop display to get an extra external display back. That's probably why most people need >2 display controllers in their laptops. Though AFAIK this may have been fixed in the M3?

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rc515012 个月前

A) the device in question was provisioned by his employer, so it's not his laptop, ergo, the price is irrelevant. If he's not able to complete his work tasks on the device, then it's on him to communicate with his manager to procure a device that allows him to do so.B) if the device was purchased by him, then the onus is on him to have researched the device's full functionality prior to the spending any amount in any currency.C) "What Apple is doing is trying to squeeze even more profit out of all users who didn’t read the fine print."Sounds a bit to me like the author of this blog is feeling a little guilty and self conscious about being apart of this subset of 'non-fine-print-readers'.

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euazOn12 个月前

The workaround that works very well for me: use DisplayLink. <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38149233">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38149233</a>

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bn-l12 个月前

I don’t think it’s that Apple is so good but that the competition is so garbage that it makes anything halfway decent seem amazing.

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bastard_op12 个月前

I recently came across this fact of Apple's display limits after Vision Pro came out. I thought that it would be great for virtual desktop/productivity use, but sadly limited only to a Mac I don't have. I found that the amount of monitors able to be shown was limited to those supported by a mac, to support 2 displays, you needed a Pro, and for 3 a Max. Wait, what?As someone that has been using 3-6 displays for the past 20 years, I really don't get how or why this is hard for Apple to figure out. They're the only ones that haven't.While Apple can't figure out how to show more than physical supported displays virtually, 3rd party Vision apps such as Immersed have, making proper apps that can render I think up to 5 displays. Over wifi or even usb-c, it'll never be as good as DisplayPort or other hard-line connection, so compromise is necessary regardless. It is "good enough" for these others like Immersed, and far better than anything Apple is giving.The only company I hate more than Apple is Meta, but I'll probably buy a $500 Meta Quest 3 + my already suitable PC before I ever do Vision Pro + Mac for some $10k, and get far more functionality (and available apps).

atemerev12 个月前

Well, if there is another laptop that runs something suitable for development (Fedora is fine), has 10-12 hours of battery time, lightweight, and with a hi-DPI display... oh, there are none. Sorry. No manufacturer in the world ever could make it, for some reason.

gberger12 个月前

Vote with your wallet

hyperhello12 个月前

Apple gives you two weeks to return hardware with no questions asked.

JohnTHaller12 个月前

A user can't be blamed too much for assuming a $2k+ laptop with Pro in the name supports multiple external displays. A 2013 MacBook Pro can drive two external displays. But the base M1 and M2 MacBook Pros can not. The base M3 apparently can with specific hookups and a specific connection procedure requiring you to close the MacBook's lid but can't use standard docks with DisplayPort MST like other laptops can.And I say this as someone who bought and uses a used M1 MacBook Air and knew about the display limitation when I purchased it (and almost went with a used Mac Mini instead due to that limitation).

therealmarv12 个月前

Meanwhile my Intel i5 Macbook Pro 13" from Early 2020 which was around 1.8K when bought new in 2020 CAN DO IT! So it has been better in the past!Apple downsized in regards to multi-monitor support so that you were forced to buy an M1...M3 Pro CPU which costs substantially more for only being able to drive more than one monitor.A shame that they did not fix the clamshell mode on the basic M3 Macbook Pro yet.Hopefully Apple wakes up with Qualcomm X Elite chips soon flooding the Windows laptop market (and they can all drive at least 3 external monitors).

FredPret12 个月前

Is Gnome on Fedora as polished as he says, or is that just frustration talking?

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kaycey202212 个月前

Is this expected? I’m able to drive a 2nd 4K screen no problem on my MacBook Air m2. It’s at the cost of some battery life though. Also my machine is fully specced out - 24g memory, 1tb hard disk.

bofaGuy12 个月前

I have the same laptop. I am able to run two monitors plus my internal screen without display link. The trick is to use ALT mode on one. This is dependent on at least one of the monitors supporting ALT mode.

zdw12 个月前

Buy laptop stand. Put laptop screen next to external screen. Look, two screens!Also you aren't frying the hardware by running it in clamshell mode (was a worse problem with earlier, warmer running hardware)

93po12 个月前

i hate windows and refuse to use it, but this is also the most annoying thing apple does outside not allowing real third party browser support in ios. it's 2024 and the robots are having human conversations with us and rockets are landing themselves. i think apple could make this work just fine if they wanted to

alanfranz12 个月前

Honestly: * It’s not two, but three displays (title is wrong in the original post) * differences between chips are clearly explained in comparison page <a href="https://www.apple.com/it/shop/buy-mac/macbook-pro/14-m3" rel="nofollow">https://www.apple.com/it/shop/buy-mac/macbook-pro/14-m3</a>

Ajay-p12 个月前

could not use the HDMI and USB-C port at the same timethe “base” M3 chip is essentially an overclocked iPad chip put into a computer, and it does not have two display controllers.