Honestly, the Mac M1 should support two screens via USB-C. But for those having issues like I did, an ultrawide screen is the "best" solution. A 35" + Rectangle (or any tiling window manager of your choice) has been a killer combo.
Onboarding with an M1
21–30 of 165 posts
Re: Onboarding with an M1
#22I wonder how well the litany of terrible apps that you typically have to run in a corporate environment are doing on M1s. Things like Cisco's Anyconnect VPN, MS Teams, Active Directory Auth, and so on.
MS Teams runs beautifully on my M1. Cisco Anyconnect now installs a bunch of network filters instead of a single kext, but it works. The only programs that run poorly are Apple's own Mail app (often hangs on quit) and Safari (has crashed the whole Mac a few times).
Cisco Anyconnect has a nasty habit disrupting Sidecar.
Re: Onboarding with an M1
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
Agreed, as an M1 user and usual multi monitor user this is a big limitation! Realistically I’ll look at investing in an ultra wide soon to offer similar screen real estate. We also have a Lenovo laptop that we bought two of for our admin staff in our office to only find out afterwards multi monitor support was missing (despite having enough ports for it)... it’s a shame that this isn’t considered standard.
This was such a pain... we tried several combos and dongles. In the end we found this to work for driving the 2nd monitor. Startech Dual Display Port adapter https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07C69HG33/ We have noticed that the refresh rate on the second monitor isn’t great... but it works and isn’t horrible for developers. Edit: and we also have this due to the lack of ports (Thanks Jony) HyeperDrive USB C Hub http…
+1 for startech. Thunderbolt should be able to drive dual 4k at 60. Haven't used with the M1 but have with ThinkPads.
Re: Onboarding with an M1
#24I am using a MacMini M1 as my main development machine specifically to get around the single monitor limitation of the first gen M1 laptops. It is cheaper than a MacBook Pro as well, so it is a win all around. Edit: I do use one HDMI and one display port (from a USB c connector.) I drive both 4K monitors at a full 60hz. It is beautiful.
Its not a real win because you're using 1 HDMI, 1 usb-c display. The HDMI display is limited (low framerate, bad integration with the display). At best i call it a workaround
Why is the HDMI limited? Old version? Latest HDMI can run 4k 60 no problem.
Re: Onboarding with an M1
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think you mean Thunderbolt not USB-C. Thunderbolt ties into the GPU, but USB-C doesn't.
I am confused generally. My old Dell xps 13 didn’t have thunderbolt but I could still use the exact same USB c to display port cable that I used on my Mac mini. I am unsure if you need thunderbolt specifically to use USB c to display port cables. It seems you do not need thunderbolt but I am not an expert.
> I am unsure if you need thunderbolt specifically to use USB c to display port cables. It seems you do not need thunderbolt but I am not an expert.
Correct, you do not need Thunderbolt for this. Most laptops with USB-C support something called DisplayPort Alt Mode, which is essentially DisplayPort over the type-C connector; I'd imagine that's what those cables are doing.
Now, if you have a Thunderbolt display specifically, like the ones Apple used to sell? Your type-C port would need to support Thunderbolt to use that.
Re: Onboarding with an M1
#26Honestly, the Mac M1 should support two screens via USB-C. But for those having issues like I did, an ultrawide screen is the "best" solution. A 35" + Rectangle (or any tiling window manager of your choice) has been a killer combo.
Once I moved to dual screen tiling I don't think I could ever go back.
Same level of productivity boost as dual screen windowed was back in the day.
Re: Onboarding with an M1
#27As mentioned in the epilogue regarding single monitors, I feel that Apple was a little too silent regarding that limitation. It also caught me off guard especially as I purchased the LG 4K thunderbolt/usb-c monitors from the Apple website with the hope of connecting everything via daisy chain. I haven’t yet definitively found a DisplayLink hub that can output its video via thunderbolt and/or USB-C so whenever I see a…
I suffered more about having to trash my perfectly fine fullhd monitor(s) that worked great with linux until the day before, just because they decided to drop subpixel hinting with latest macos versions. Now I need 5-6 times more pixels to get comparable font rendering
Re: Onboarding with an M1
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
Its not a real win because you're using 1 HDMI, 1 usb-c display. The HDMI display is limited (low framerate, bad integration with the display). At best i call it a workaround
Why is the HDMI limited? Old version? Latest HDMI can run 4k 60 no problem.
HDMI, at least in the Mac mini 2018, is lossy compressed which shows itself in bleeding colors / slightly blurry 4K.
Re: Onboarding with an M1
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
Its not a real win because you're using 1 HDMI, 1 usb-c display. The HDMI display is limited (low framerate, bad integration with the display). At best i call it a workaround
I got 2 LG 4k monitors plugged into my Mac Mini M1, one USB-C (43 inch), and one HDMI (27 inch rotated). In both cases the Mac runs them at 60 hz, the 43 inch slightly scaled and the 27 inch around 1440p scaling. If I put them at full resolution (unscaled) they still run at 60hz.
how deep is your desk to be able to use all that screen real estate? I already suffer eye strain with my 34 4k as it's already too high
Re: Onboarding with an M1
#30As mentioned in the epilogue regarding single monitors, I feel that Apple was a little too silent regarding that limitation. It also caught me off guard especially as I purchased the LG 4K thunderbolt/usb-c monitors from the Apple website with the hope of connecting everything via daisy chain. I haven’t yet definitively found a DisplayLink hub that can output its video via thunderbolt and/or USB-C so whenever I see a…
Agreed, as an M1 user and usual multi monitor user this is a big limitation! Realistically I’ll look at investing in an ultra wide soon to offer similar screen real estate. We also have a Lenovo laptop that we bought two of for our admin staff in our office to only find out afterwards multi monitor support was missing (despite having enough ports for it)... it’s a shame that this isn’t considered standard.
That is why I think Dell XPS 13 is top: three external monitors via a Thunderbolt TB16 and a desktop experience only plugging a single cable.
This is not to say that the XPS 13 is perfect (need to change battery every two years in all the notebooks at the office and the notebook gets hot) but the notebook is great in many other factors.