The M3 MacBook Pro is Getting Multi-Display Support

Today’s launch of the M3 MacBook Air came with a pleasant surprise. For the first time since switching to Apple Silicon four years ago, Apple’s most affordable MacBook will be able to drive two external displays rather than just one.

Although prior M-series MacBook Air models allowed users to work on two displays, one of those had to be the MacBook’s built-in screen. In other words, you could connect an external monitor and mirror or span your desktop onto it from the built-in screen, but those who preferred to work with their MacBook’s lid closed were stuck with a single screen.

This was one of the few downgrades from the Intel era. As much as the M1 chip offered fantastic performance and battery life for the new MacBook Air, it dropped the expansive display support of its Intel predecessors.

In fact, in the Intel days, a MacBook Air could handle two external 4K displays plus the built-in panel, allowing for a triple-screen configuration. That only dropped to a single external display if you were using 5K and 6K resolutions.

Sadly, even today’s M3 MacBook Air doesn’t return us to that level of external display support. You’ll now be able to connect two screens simultaneously, but only when the lid is closed, so you’re not using the built-in display.

Still, that’s a reasonable compromise for a machine in the class of the MacBook Air. The biggest demand for a dual-display configuration comes from those who want to work in a traditional desktop setup with an external keyboard and mouse or trackpad, leaving the MacBook docked in a corner. Those who need more than that can still opt for a MacBook Pro Apple’s higher-end silicon, which can drive two or more external displays, depending on the chip — up to two 6K displays on the M3 Pro and up to three 6K displays and one 4K display on the M3 Max.

The M3 MacBook Pro

Sadly, even though Apple unified the MacBook Pro family last fall by moving the odd duck 13-inch MacBook Pro to a similar 14-inch design, the base M3 chip meant it still had the same limitations as the non-Pro/Max Apple silicon that came before: support for only one external display, period.

However, today’s M3 MacBook Air lineup, with its support for two external displays in lid-closed mode, almost immediately begged the question of why the MacBook Pro with the same chip was being left out. The good news? It isn’t.

The folks at 9to5Mac confirmed with Apple that an upcoming software update for last fall’s 14-inch M3 MacBook Pro will give it the same ability to drive two external displays with the lid closed. This will reportedly be identical to how it works with the new MacBook Air.

There aren’t any details on when that software update will appear, although, with macOS Sonoma 14.4 in the last stages of its beta cycle, that’s likely what will be installed on the new MacBook Air and could, therefore, also provide the same features to the M3 MacBook Pro when it lands.

It’s worth noting that the multi-display support still comes with a small catch. In addition to needing to leave the lid closed, the M3 MacBooks will still only be able to drive one 6K external display; the second display that can be added when the lid is closed will be capped at 5K resolution. However, that’s probably not a dealbreaker since a good 6K display will cost you about the same as a fully tricked-out MacBook Air.