The new 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air models sporting Apple’s new M3 chipset have a trick up their sleeve that will turn them into portable and productive machines. Instead of supporting just one external display, both of the company’s notebooks can support up to two monitors. However, there is one tweak that you need to perform before you can actually get multiple monitors running on either one of the new MacBook Air models.
The new MacBook Air models need to have their lids closed otherwise the multi-monitor setup will not work as originally intended
Similar to the more expensive 14-inch MacBook Pro that features the same M3 chip, both the 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air models can drive one external display with a 6K resolution at 60Hz. This is quite impressive because potential buyers can spend less money and get a similar feature. However, more magic is added to the newer models. Both M3 Macs can support two external displays up to a 5K resolution at 60Hz.
Unfortunately, this can only be achieved when the laptop lid is closed, which most of you would also know as clamshell mode. Strangely, the 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air models use the same M3 chip as the pricier 14-inch MacBook Pro, but the latter supports fewer external monitors.
It is possible that Apple has added an extra display controller that delivers sufficient bandwidth to drive two high-resolution monitors, and that this chip is missing from the MacBook Pro. Assuming this is not the case, it could just be that Apple has made it possible to support two external 5K 60Hz monitors thanks to some hidden software tweaking.
Until a detailed teardown is performed on the newer machines, we will not know for sure what makes this possible. If you are curious to get to the bottom of this revelation, you can pre-order any M3 MacBook Air right now for just $1,099 from Apple’s online store. Availability of the new machines starts on Friday, March 8.
About the author: Omar Sohail is a reporter and analyst for Wccftech's mobile section, specializing in the technology and business of the mobile industry. His expertise lies in the intricate hardware supply chain, covering developments in semiconductor manufacturing, chip lithography, and camera sensor technology.
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