apple m3 macbook air

Apple has launched its latest MacBook Air featuring the M3 chip with a standout feature of dual external display support (with a notable caveat). The M3 MacBook Air models now have the ability to support two external native displays simultaneously when the laptop lid is closed. Closing the MacBook Air M3's lid essentially "turns off" the built-in display and can route that extra display through its Thunderbolt-enabled USB-C ports, allowing users to harness the power of two external monitors for enhanced productivity and workspace. As with previous generations, adding more than two displays is still possible with the use of software-based devices such as our DisplayLink docking stations and graphics adapters.

In this post, we’ll share our initial interoperability test results for many popular Plugable Thunderbolt and USB-C products that have been tested with the new M3 MacBook Air.

Note: This post will be updated ongoingly to include additional tested products.

After initial testing and validation, here are the results for a number of compatible Plugable docking stations (both Thunderbolt and driver-based USB-C) with the M3 MacBook Air:

Thunderbolt Docking Stations:

TBT4-UDZ - Thunderbolt 4 and USB4 Docking Station with 96w Charging - Compatible

  • Supports 2 displays; macos does not support MST

TBT3-UDZ - Thunderbolt and USB-C Dual Display Dock with 96w Host Charging - Compatible

TBT4-UDX1 - Thunderbolt 4 and USB4 HDMI Docking Station With 96w Charging - Compatible

TBT4-UD5 - Thunderbolt 4 Dock For 4k Dual Monitors or Single 8k, 100w Charging - Compatible

  • Under investigation: 4K display connected to HDMI 2 may be limited to 30Hz refresh rate

TBT3-UDC3 - Thunderbolt  and USB-C Dual Display Dock with 96w Charging - Compatible

USB-C Driver-based Docking Stations and Graphics Adapters:

Docking stations use a combination of DisplayPort Alternate Mode over USB-C and driver-based solutions (DisplayLink or SMI) to support 2 or more displays even without clamshell mode

UD-ULTC4K - Triple Display Dock with 3x HDMI, 3x DisplayPort, and 100w Charging - Compatible

UD-ULTCDL - Triple Display Dock with 3x HDMI and 100w Charging - Compatible

UD-3900C4 - Quad HDMI Display Docking Station with 100w Charging - Compatible

  • Supports 2 displays; macos does not support MST

UD-6950PDZ - Triple 4K HDMI and DisplayPort Dock with 60w Charging - Compatible

UD-3900PDZ - Triple HDMI Docking Station With 60w Charging - Compatible

USBC-6950M - Plugable Dual Monitor USB-C To HDMI Adapter - Compatible

USBC-6950PDZ - Plugable USB-C Dual HDMI Docking Station, 100w Pass-through Charging - Compatible

Thunderbolt / USB-C Dongles and Hubs:

TBT4-HUB3C - Thunderbolt 4 and USB4 Hub - Compatible

USBC-11IN1E - USB-C 11-IN-1 Hub with Ethernet - Compatible

USB4-HUB3A - 5-IN-1 Thunderbolt 4 and USB4 Hub - Compatible

USBC-4IN1 - 4-IN-1 USB-C Hub with 4K HDMI, 100W Charging - Compatible

USBC-7IN1E - USB-C 7-IN-1 Hub with Ethernet - Compatible

USBC-7IN1 - USB-C 7-IN-1 Hub - Compatible

USBC-TDP - USB-C to DisplayPort Adapter - Compatible 

USBC-THDMI - USB-C to HDMI Adapter - Compatible

If your Plugable product isn’t listed here and you would like to know or request testing, just leave a comment below or contact our support team at support@plugable.com. We’d be happy to look into it!

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