Driving 4K Displays with M1 MacBook Air

LanceVance on 21/05/2024 - 12:34
Last edited 21/05/2024 - 12:35

Hi All,

Using my M1 Macbook Air through a dock to drive 2 1080p displays at home. They are connected through a Dell dock that features DisplayLink so this gets around the standard 1 external screen limitation for that device. I want to upgrade my main monitor to a 4K one and am wondering if anyone else has run multiple displays from the same device using the same workarounds with at least one of them being 4K.

I'd rather not outlay for the new hardware and unexpectedly run into an unknown limitation.
Documentation on this is very hard to find, especially with all the crossover with Apple's naming conventions such as M1 Pro/Max etc.

Any help much appreciated, thanks!

Computing Computer Peripheral LCD Monitor

Comments

  • AustriaBargain on 21/05/2024 - 12:43

    Yes it'll work. May have trouble with a cheap adapter, but I used the USB C adapter from Apple that I bought six years ago for the iPad Pro and it worked fine for 4K HDMI 60hz on my M1 MacBook. If you had a big enough 4K display you'd effectively have four 1080p screens worth.

  • payless69 on 21/05/2024 - 13:33

    My M1 Air drives a single 4k 27" Samsung monitor next to the built in display with a $10 Kmart adaptor. It already struggles with the Dell 32"4k.
    Endless workaround adaptors usually in the $300 range++ are out with common sentiment that it will slow down your machine. Generally worth looking out for a late i7 powered Mac just to have more display freedom.
    Once this machine is out I will compare the M3 or perhaps M4 to save nasty fan noises.

    • LanceVance on 21/05/2024 - 14:20

      How do you mean it struggles with the 32" 4K?
      I've already got the required workaround adaptors, I'm just wondering if theres a limit to the resolution that it will put out when already using the Displaylink hack.

  • lunchbox99 on 21/05/2024 - 16:04

    I use a Dell WD19TB - does dual 4k @ 60Hz but sometimes one of the displays only detects at 30Hz. If you plug in to the dock while one monitor if off then turn it on, it detects at 60Hz too. Just some weird thing

    • LanceVance on 22/05/2024 - 09:30

      Interesting, and thats a machine with a standard M1 chip? I didn't think that Dock had the required DisplayLink drivers.

  • Gareth on 21/05/2024 - 18:22
    +1

    If the 4K monitor is to be connected via the DisplayLink dock, it will depend on what that dock supports. I believe most DisplayLink devices should be able to do a 4K monitor with a 2K monitor, but YMMV.

    DisplayLink uses some of the CPU's power to compress video data before sending it to the dock, so with a monitor with 4x resolution, you would expect it could use ~4x the CPU (although the M1 is pretty capable). (For more details on DisplayLink, this is a good primer)

    If you're connecting outside of DisplayLink then the capabilities of the M1 matter - which should handle the 4K output with no problems - with the proviso of any limitations added by cables, docks and adapters in the chain.

    • LanceVance on 22/05/2024 - 09:27
      +1

      The only one who understood the question, thank you!

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