Ask HN: Anyone know workarounds to MacBook Air M2 missing dual-monitor support? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Anyone know workarounds to MacBook Air M2 missing dual-monitor support?

22 pointsterabytest14 comments

I bought a second external monitor to pair with my existing one, only to find out my M2 MacBook Air won't support it.

I found workarounds[1] online such as "DisplayLink", which requires custom drivers and a $127 external adapter, and "SiliconMotion"[2] which I'm unclear on how to use. I've seen people on Reddit say the experience barely approximates the native feel, with features such as "Night Shift" not being supported and noticeable lag, even for office use, which is what I plan to use it for.

I made sure to purchase the adapter with the most advanced chipset available (the Startech device[3]) but I am worried the experience will be subpar. I chose an adapter to DisplayPort instead of HDMI thinking it might perform better but that's to be seen.

Short of buying an M3 Pro MacBook Pro, which is obviously off the table, do I have alternatives? Are there any homebrew solutions that work around this out there?

[1]: https://m1displays.com/

[2]: https://www.siliconmotion.com/downloads/index.html

[3]: https://www.startech.com/en-us/display-video-adapters/usb32dp24k60

It's really annoying market segmentation :( more than 1 external monitor is not a feature that should be restricted to "pro" models imo.

Yeah, this is really annoying just to read about.

I've been using DisplayLink and the Startech adapter for 6 months and it's been rock solid. There is also a Dell hub in the middle as I could never get it working without.

Flow is as follows: Macbook -> USB-C -> Dell USB-C hub -> USB-A/B -> Dell monitor (USB hub) -> Startech adapter (USB A) -> 2x Dell Monitor DisplayPort.

FWIW I have 2 Dell 27 1080p both aligned portrait with a MBAir M2 on the side.

As for lag I haven't really noticed or perhaps I've got used to it... I do however use both screens for Teams video calls and it's pretty smooth quality.

Yep, a DisplayLink hub is the way. I've also been using one for 6 months and while it is perfectly stable, there are annoyances. For example certain protected video streams won't decode, and F.lux doesn't quite work on all monitors the way it should. Overall though I've put up with it. It's really an outrage that Apple restricted this basic functionality just because it could.

You might be fine with DisplayLink and two monitors, however in my experience DisplayLink with an M1 and four external monitors was nearly impossible to use because of the input lag. Sometimes the entire DisplayLink driver would crash. I bought an M3 Max instead, there is no robust alternative.

I'm using displaylink and get a daily display freeze about 1h after the first wake-up of the day. The issue is open for over a year now and I'm effectively ignored.

Even when it works, the lag is noticeable. Would not recommend going that way.

Update: I just received the StarTech adapter, connected it to the monitor via DisplayPort and plugged it into my Satechi Thunderbolt 4 Hub.

All seems to work well. Picture quality appears good, the input lag is minimal (slightly higher than on the default screen, but not overly noticeable). I ran the UFO test[1] on it and couldn't notice any major issues, besides extremely subtle jittering.

I plan to use this screen for my text editor mainly, so I think it will be okay.

[1]: https://www.testufo.com/

Yes, it sucks. I switched to a 34” Ultrawide and that gave me… most of what I would get out of a second monitor.

This. I went down this path to solve the 2 monitor issue, and ended up finding the ultrawide monitor (with Magnet[1]) a much better experience.

For what it's worth, using the built-in HDMI port on the M1 Macbook Pro and either:

* a cheap USB-C to HDMI adapter

* a cheap USB-C to (Mini-)Display port adapter

will allow you to drive two monitors and the laptop panel simultaneously. I have no problem driving the Ultrawide at 3440x1440@100Hz via HDMI and/or Displayport, though without the convenience of USB-C/Thunderbolt.

[1] https://magnet.crowdcafe.com

I'm using DisplayLink with a Dell hub, based on the recommendations on the site you link. It's working great for me, but I don't use NightShift. It does have flux integration, apparently, but I don't use that either.

Not what you're looking for, but my two cents anyway.

Awesome, I'll keep the Dell hub in mind if the adapter I bought doesn't work.

Out of curiosity, do you notice anything out of the ordinary when using the DisplayLink monitor? I.e. mouse lag, compression artifacts, or anything else?

Just want to provide a second data point on the Dell hubs - I have two, one D6000 and one D3100. They're both DisplayLink, one appears to be higher end than the other.

While I was using them with the M1 Mac Mini, they were excellent, at least for the 1080p 75Hz monitor I was using them for. Fortunately it was being used as a second monitor to a much larger 4K primary display. I will say that subjectively it sometimes felt like it was running at say, 40-50fps rather than at 75, especially if there was lots of motion, but I never did experience significant artifacts or anything that would have suggested it was not native.

This was after installing the proper drivers and all of its optional addons, and this led to a fairly "it just works" experience for me. Monitors showed up under Settings as monitors and didn't disconnect randomly or do anything that caused me to pay particular attention to them.

If anyone wants me to test them with something else, I still have them around, so maybe I can try it out if that would be helpful.

As for anyone looking for a DisplayLink dock, I would say these work pretty well. You can find them cheap on eBay if you like to do things like that.

We distribute displaying enabled docks. The UD22 just works.

*display link

Reply on news.ycombinator.com