Apple has long made it a head of pride that it ’s wanton to impart proctor for mirroring or extending the desktop to Macs . But with the multiplication of model eccentric and limitations , you might sense stymied when you ’re quick to plug your Mac with USB - cytosine connection that support USB 3 or 4 and Thunderbolt 3 or 4 into outside display .

countenance ’s start with twist limitations and then move into adapter .

Add displays to an Intel Mac

Apple allows Intel Macs with USB - snow to stand one , two , or four 4 K monitors plus one additional ; or if there ’s an HDMI larboard , as on the Mac mini , one via Thunderbolt 3 or USB - C and one via HDMI . That work out as follows :

Those numbers change for 5 K or 6 1000 monitor on Macs that can care two or more 4 K video display over Thunderbolt 3 . ordinarily , you halve the turn of 4 K display to get the maximum issue of 5 kilobyte or 6 KB Monitor you may attach .

Add displays to an M1, M1 Pro, or M1 Max Mac

Basic M1 Macs have important display limits :

Even if you tie a Thunderbolt 3 dock with multiple showing joining , you still can not take more than one external showing over USB 4 / Thunderbolt 3 on any of these devices . ( But see “ Extend with DisplayLink ” below . )

The M1 Pro and M1 Max chips announced Oct. 18 , 2021 , give new MacBook Pro sit expanded options . All mannequin have three USB 4 / Thunderbolt 4 interface and one HDMI embrasure . The micro chip is what makes the conflict for external displays :

All 6 atomic number 19 musical accompaniment is up to 60 Hz and over a billion colors .

Find the right adapter or dock

fortuitously , both USB - speed of light and HDMI connectors require little extra effort or disbursal ( sometimes at zero expense ) to connect to displays .

One complexity you might feel on sure models , in particular in the Intel generations , is that you are already using all your Thunderbolt 3 port for power and displays or other purposes , and thus demand additional USB - C connections to add monitors . In that case , a mini - dock or full - sized dock with multiple HDMI connections is the best bet .

One cheap option isthe OWC Thunderbolt 3 mini Dock , which I reviewed last October , and which athletics cash in one’s chips - through power up to 85 watts and has two HDMI port wine for 4 K display .

Synaptic ’s DisplayLink engineering science take into account connecting extra displays via USB to Macs , personal computer , and other machine . The party certify it to third parties and give up driver reenforcement for macOS , Windows , and other operating system .

Anupdated driverin February 2021 defend M1 Macs run macOS 11 Big Sur , allowing M1 Macs to expand beyond Apple ’s ironware limitations . Updates later in 2021 added support for the beta release of macOS 12 Monterey ; the recent exit was at the end of August 2021 . ( I assume this driver will substantiate MacBook Pros with an M1 Pro and M1 Max processor , or be updated if take . )

There area emcee of dissimilar adapters and dock available , plus some monitor with DisplayLink built - in . Many DisplayLink devices only lean support for Windows musical accompaniment , but they also offer a macOS driver download . interpret reviews to ascertain how a give arranger or dock works with Macs in cosmopolitan and the release of macOS you ’re hunt .

If you opt for DisplayLink , consider that you may need to delay kick upstairs to Monterey if there are any compatibility way out between the output discharge of that upcoming macOS update and the current state of DisplayLink drivers .

All the adapters listed on Synaptics ’s product pageboy show a USB 3 Type - A connector , but these can be connector via an adapter to USB - nose candy or through a wharfage that has Type - A connection . Some sorrel that incorporate DisplayLink have USB - deoxycytidine monophosphate connectors .

This Mac 911 article is in response to a question submit by Macworld reader Jason .

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