macOS Sonoma 14.6 Delivers Multi-Display Support to the M3 MacBook Pro

Better late than never
Apple M3 MacBook Air dual external display lifestyle
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Although Apple’s 2020 shift to Apple silicon meant far better performance and efficiency all around, it did come with one downside compared to prior Intel-based models: more limited display support.

This was probably one of several reasons why Apple took slower steps into equipping all of its MacBooks with Apple silicon. When the M1 chip debuted, it was only available on the MacBook Air, entry-level 13-inch MacBook Pro, and Mac mini.

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Meanwhile, Apple continued to sell the higher-end MacBook Pro models with Intel chips, not because they were inherently faster than its M1 Macs, but because those chips offered support for more RAM, more USB and Thunderbolt ports, and more displays.

It was a weird transition period that seems quaint today, with Apple’s M-series chips now available in every modern Mac and Intel Macs riding off into the sunset. However, it was a necessary one since it wasn’t until Apple released its more powerful M1 Pro and M1 Max chips in the following years that we got parity with the other features that Intel MacBook users had taken for granted.

Specifically, the original M1 MacBooks were limited to only a single external display. You could technically still use two screens as long as one of them was the MacBook’s built-in display, but using two external monitors with the lid closed wasn’t possible the way it had been on the Intel MacBooks.

In the Intel days, even the entry-level MacBook Air could handle two external 4K displays and the built-in screen, allowing for a triple-display configuration. That dropped to a single screen if you wanted to use a higher-resolution 5K or 6K display, but for most MacBook Air owners, 4K displays were just fine — especially in those days.

Meanwhile, the M1 and M2 MacBook Air couldn’t even use two external displays at the same time, whether the lid was open or closed. You could hook up a single display with up to 6K resolution, but you were still limited to only one.

That was problematic for folks who liked to use a docking station setup with an external keyboard and mouse/trackpad or even just wanted to work with two monitors of the same size and resolution. The only solution in the M1/M2 era was to opt for one of Apple’s pricier MacBook Pro models with an M-series Pro or Max chip, which could let you use up to two 6K displays on the M1/M2 Pro or up to three with the M1/M2 Max.

Thankfully, Apple finally addressed that non-Pro/Max limitation with its M3 chips, but it oddly only introduced it with the M3 MacBook Air in March. The 14-inch M3 MacBook Pro that Apple unveiled at its Scary Fast event in October was still left out — an even more unusual move considering that Apple unified the family with that model by retiring the oddball 13-inch MacBook Pro and putting its base Apple silicon into a 14-inch MacBook Pro with the same design as the pricier Pro/Max models.

Apple quickly promised that the M3 MacBook Pro would gain multi-display support in a future software update, matching the capabilities of the M3 MacBook Air. While it initially seemed like the update could be around the corner — it would have made sense for macOS Sonoma 14.4 to include it, as that’s what was installed on the new MacBook Air models — as Sonoma 14.4 and 14.5 came and went with no sign of improvement, some began to give up hope.

The good news is that Apple hasn’t forgotten — its software engineers have likely just had their hands full with other things. This week, Apple released macOS Sonoma 14.6 (along with iOS 17.6 and iPadOS 17.6), bringing the long-awaited dual display support to the 14-inch M3 MacBook Pro.

To be clear, this still doesn’t return us entirely to the flexibility of the Intel days. You’ll still need an M3 Pro/Max MacBook if you want to drive more than two displays at the same time. However, with macOS 14.6, the M3 MacBook Pro will work just like the M3 MacBook Air has since it was released, letting you run two external displays at up to 5K in resolution while the lid is closed or one display at up to 6K when the lid is open.


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