Max External Displays on Apple Silicon in macOS 13

Apple Silicon Macs running macOS 13 (macOS Ventura) natively support between one and eight external displays. The exact number of supported monitors is determined by the specific hardware architecture of the Apple Silicon chip tier—standard, Pro, Max, or Ultra—rather than software restrictions within macOS 13 itself. While baseline chips restrict portable Macs to a single external monitor, higher-tier desktop configurations can scale up to eight external screens simultaneously.

Base Chips: M1 and M2

Standard Apple Silicon chips feature limited display engines built for consumer-level power efficiency.

  • MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro: Support a maximum of 1 external display with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz, while the built-in screen remains active.
  • Mac mini: Supports up to 2 external displays. On M1 models, this allows one display up to 6K via Thunderbolt and one display up to 4K via HDMI. On M2 models, it supports one display up to 6K at 60Hz over Thunderbolt, and a second display up to 5K at 60Hz over Thunderbolt or 4K at 60Hz over HDMI.
  • iMac (24-inch): Supports 1 external display up to 6K resolution at 60Hz in addition to the built-in screen.

Pro Chips: M1 Pro and M2 Pro

The Pro tier expands the display engine to accommodate professional dual-monitor setups.

  • MacBook Pro (14-inch and 16-inch) & Mac mini (M2 Pro): Support up to 2 external displays.
  • On M1 Pro models, both displays can run at up to 6K resolution at 60Hz over Thunderbolt.
  • On M2 Pro models, you can run two displays up to 6K at 60Hz over Thunderbolt, or one display up to 6K at 60Hz alongside one 4K display at up to 144Hz via HDMI.

Max Chips: M1 Max and M2 Max

Designed for intense creative workflows, Max chips double the display pipeline of the Pro line.

  • MacBook Pro and Mac Studio: Support up to 4 external displays.
  • Users can connect up to three displays with 6K resolution at 60Hz over Thunderbolt, plus one additional display up to 4K resolution at 60Hz over HDMI.
  • M2 Max variants additionally allow configurations such as one display up to 8K at 60Hz or 4K at 240Hz over HDMI alongside three 6K displays at 60Hz.

Ultra Chips: M1 Ultra and M2 Ultra

The Ultra tier links two Max chips together, providing the maximum external display capacity on Apple Silicon.

  • M1 Ultra (Mac Studio): Supports up to 5 external displays (four displays up to 6K at 60Hz via Thunderbolt, and one display up to 4K at 60Hz via HDMI).
  • M2 Ultra (Mac Studio and Mac Pro): Supports the absolute platform maximum of up to 8 external displays running simultaneously at 4K resolution at 60Hz, or up to six displays at 6K resolution at 60Hz.

For base M1 and M2 Macs that natively limit output to a single external screen, users can exceed the hardware ceiling by using third-party adapters and docks equipped with DisplayLink or Silicon Motion software drivers. While this method enables two or more external displays via USB, it relies on CPU-driven video compression rather than native Apple Silicon GPU hardware acceleration.