Future MacBook Air to Support Two External Displays?

Dec 6, 2011 - 5 Comments

MacBook Air and Thunderbolt display

Future MacBook Air models are likely to be capable of supporting two external displays in addition to the built-in screen, as powered by the upcoming Intel HD Graphics 4000 integrated graphics chipset, according to a recent post on MacRumors. The information comes from a leaked roadmap of Intel’s mobile Ivy Bridge processor plans, which are set for release between April and May of next year, citing the following:

While we’re talking about graphics, as with the desktop Ivy Bridge processors, the mobile processors also support up to three independent displays, although one of these will be the built in display in the notebook, but hopefully we’ll see notebooks with a DisplayPort connector as standard come next year.

The ability to drive two displays directly through Thunderbolt would be a welcome addition to the MacBook Air, particularly for users who require multi-monitor setups. Currently, the MacBook Air can only drive one external display through the Thunderbolt port, although by using USB adapters or even the iPad you can get around this limitation in a somewhat clunky fashion.

In terms of possible CPU capability, MacRumors points to the likely candidates for future MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models:

The 35W-45W (MacBook Pro) processors range from Dual/Quad Core 2.6GHz to 2.9GHz with single core turbo speeds of up to 3.6GHz, while the 17W (MacBook Air) processors range from Dual Core 1.8GHz to 2.0GHz with single core turbo speeds of up to 2.8-3.2GHz.

It’s unclear if any of these CPU choices would appear in the rumored MacBook Air 15″ model, which has also been suggested to debut sometime next year.

Naturally, all of this information should be considered speculative until there is an official announcement from Apple.

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Posted by: Matt Chan in News, Rumor

5 Comments

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  1. […] Dual Core & Quad Core Ivy Bridge CPU’s with speeds up to 2.9GHz […]

  2. James says:

    Great, now if we are using iTunes in full screen we can have TWO black (blanked out) displays instead of just one!!! (sigh)

  3. Brunswick Von Feldenklein says:

    If it’s two displays why do you have a big fat “X 3” in the graphic?

  4. David says:

    I don’t buy the roadmap, all the CPU’s are slower. Why would Apple use this? They’re slower and use more energy. Intel fail.

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