Can I connect two external monitors to the M1 Mac mini? Follow this tutorial on Mac Mini M1 Dual Monitor Setup. It’s hard to say, but the latest Apple Mac doesn’t have native support to connect more than two external display, while Intel-based Mac’s allows us to connect up to four external displays without any intervention.
After decades of using the Intel processor in MacOS, Apple finally has revealed its own Silicon M1 processor last year that is made using the Arm Architecture. The late 2020 MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and Mac Mini family feature the Apple M1 Silicon processor. This M1 Silicon processor does have a lot of cons, but few limitations will make you exasperated.
We’ve got a nice trick to connect more than one external monitor to Mac Mini M1; read the article to the end to get the complete idea about how it can be done. However, this workaround might not work in the future with newer macOS updates. As we all know, once Apple knows about this, they’ll try to stop, and that day would be your last day to use more than one external monitor using this trick. Undoubtedly, things will get sorted in the future by Apple itself. Till then, refer to this full guide to a successful dual monitor setup on the M1 Mac mini.
How to Connect More than One External Monitor with Mac Mini, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air
Can I Connect Multiple Display with MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, Mac Mini M1 Chip?
With the 2020 end, Apple released three of its best computers MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and Mac Mini powering its own Apple M1 Chip CPU, faster, reliable, and powerful than earlier machines.
As an External Display, we can connect, 1) external displays, 2) a projector or 3) an HDTV, Without Any Docking Station.
- Mac Mini M1: [How to Run 2 Displays From an M1 Mac Mini [Apple’s Silicon chip]]
- 1 External Display up to 6K using Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C), and Another display Up to 4k using HDMI 2.0.
- Mac Mini Intel:
- 1 External Display up to 6K using Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) port
- Up to 3 External Display up to 4K using Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) ports
However, if you’re in an industry that needs the setup of more than two external monitors, then M1 Chip could hurt your feelings. With Mac Mini, you can connect one display over HDMI Port and the second with USB-C. While the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air can connect to only one external display.
Best External Display for Mac Mini [M1 Compatible]
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- Best External Portable Display
- The Best Mac Mini M1 Compatible Monitors
- Best Gaming Monitors for Mac
- Best Gaming PC
- Best Gaming Mouse & Best Gaming Chairs.
Using Plugable Dock
Even if you try to force the system with a more external display, it won’t recognize; therefore, any effort to achieve your desire without installing the third-party driver will fail.
In future macOS 11 updates, Apple is likely to remove the limitations, for the best of us, by adding the native support to connect more than one external displays with M1 equipped MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and Mac Mini.
One of the Docking Station producers, Plugable, has made a way to overcome the limitations of connecting more than one external display monitor. The Multi-Display Dock by Plugable makes it possible by the combination of USC-C Alternate Mode and DisplayLink technology. You would need to download the third-party DriverLink driver to use the same.
- Buy Pugable Dock [1x HDMI and 2x DisplayPort++ Outputs, 5x USB Ports, 60W USB PD]
- Buy Plugable Dock [3x HDMI, 6x USB Ports, 60W USB PD]
To use this hack, you’ll be required to download and install a third-party driver on Mac with M1 Chip and complete mac mini m1 dual monitor setup.
The DisplayLink Manager Graphics Connectivity App v.1.1.0 supports the macOS Catalina 10.15, macOS Big Sur 11.
- Open the Mac DisplayLink driver link in any browser and download it to the Mac.
Once the Mac DisplayLink driver is installed, you’ll find a DisplayLink icon on the Apple menu bar; that’s where you can manage the DisplayLink right away.
Limitations of DisplayLink Driver
Installation of DisplayLink Driver merely takes few seconds; however, there are a few downsides to using this driver.
- First, this version of DisplayLink doesn’t support closed-display/clamshell mode, meaning when you close the MacBook’s lid, the connected external monitors will go off with MacBook. By default, the Mac with M1 Chip works finely with Clamshell Mode, whereas, with Intel-based MacBook, they were incompatible with Closed Display/Clamshell Mode.
- No support for Display Rotation.
How to Quickly Access DisplayLink Manager?
If you constantly need to use more than one External Display with Mac Mini m1, then it’s better to change settings for DisplayLink Manager to Launch at Startup or drag it to the Login Items inside Users & Groups. Here’s how to run 2 Displays From an M1 Mac Mini [Apple’s Silicon chip].
Launch DisplayLink Manager on Mac Startup
- Open the DisplayLink Manager on your Mac.
- Once it appears on the Dock, right-click on it and select Options.
- From there, click on Open at Login.
Add DisplayLink Manager at Mac Startup
Find which macOS is installed on your Mac, and Follow the Below steps to set DisplayLink Manager as your Mac Startup.
On MacOS Ventura
- Go to the Apple Logo from the top menu > System Settings.
- General > Login items.
- Click on the Plus icon to Add a Startup item “DisplayManager“.
- Click on Add and That’s it.
On MacOS Monterey
- Click on the Apple logo on the upper-left side.
- Choose System Preferences.
- Go to Users & Groups.
- Click on the Login Items tab.
- Click on the Plus button on the lower side to add DisplayManager.
- From the list of applications, find and select DisplayManager.
- Then click Add.
Don’t miss the best external speaker for Mac mini m1.
Hope you found your solution with a full guide to a successful dual monitor setup on the M1 Mac mini! Comment me for more help and troubleshooting!
