The M4 MacBook Air could launch with a big display upgrade for multi-taskers

A person uses a MacBook Air connected to two external Apple Studio Displays.

(Image credit: Apple)

The M4 MacBook Air could offer improved external display support
It may connect to two external displays without you needing to close its lid
We can work this out by looking at the M4 MacBook Pro

Lots of people connect their laptops to an external display in order to extend their workspace, yet this is one area where the MacBook Air struggles. Sure, you can connect two screens to this computer, but only if you close the lid – without doing that, it only works with a single monitor. That’s less than ideal.

Fortunately, that could all be about to change with the imminent launch of the M4 MacBook Air. When the M4 chip lands in Apple’s most affordable laptop, it could finally allow for more flexible external display setups.

To understand why, we need to look at the MacBook Pro. As noted by 9to5Mac, the M4 MacBook Pro supports up to two external displays (if you have the M4 Max model, it will support up to four external screens). The M3 MacBook Pro could also support two monitors, but at lower resolutions and frame rates. In contrast, the M2 MacBook Pro only worked with one external display. That’s progress with each chip generation.

Better bandwidth

Dell U2723QE — (Image credit: Bryce Hyland / Future)

The likely reason why the M3 MacBook Air could only connect to two displays when its lid was closed came down to bandwidth: the laptop’s chip couldn’t support the required video throughput for three screens at once.

Now that the M4 MacBook Pro works with higher resolutions and frame rates, the suggestion is that it has greater video bandwidth than the M3 chip. And if that’s the case, there’s a chance that the MacBook Air could make use of that.

That means we could see the M4 MacBook Air support three screens in total: its built-in display, plus two external monitors, all without having to close its lid. That would potentially make it a very attractive device to prospective buyers.

Much of this is speculation and guesswork at the moment. But with the M4 MacBook Air expected to launch soon, it won’t be long until we find out whether it’s received this significant display upgrade.

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Alex Blake has been fooling around with computers since the early 1990s, and since that time he's learned a thing or two about tech. No more than two things, though. That's all his brain can hold. As well as TechRadar, Alex writes for iMore, Digital Trends and Creative Bloq, among others. He was previously commissioning editor at MacFormat magazine. That means he mostly covers the world of Apple and its latest products, but also Windows, computer peripherals, mobile apps, and much more beyond. When not writing, you can find him hiking the English countryside and gaming on his PC.