Check display support
You can connect one or more external displays depending on your Mac model. To find out how many external displays your Mac supports, check its technical specifications:
USB C to HDMI Cable 6FT, Amiroko USB 3.1 Type C (Thunderbolt 3 Compatible) to HDMI Adapter 4K Cable for MacBook, MacBook Pro, Dell XPS 13/15, Galaxy S8/Note 8 etc to HDTV, Monitor, Projector - Gray 4.3 out of 5 stars 536.
- Choose Apple menu > About This Mac.
- Click the Support tab.
- Click Specifications.
- On the webpage that appears, the number of displays your Mac supports appears under Video Support or Graphics.
If you're using a Mac with Apple silicon, you can connect a single external display to your Mac using one of the Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports. Docks don't increase the number of displays you can connect as an extended desktop. On Mac mini (M1, 2020), you can connect a second display to the HDMI port.
The best Mac Mini displays. LG UltraFine 5K. LG UltraFine 4K. BenQ PD3220U 32-inch. The PD3200U 32-inch monitor from BenQ is the best MacBook-friendly monitor on the market. If you’re a professional who needs extra screen space to complement your laptop, the BenQ PD3200U offers an unbeatable combination of adjustability and picture quality. The brilliant IPS display has excellent viewing angles and crisp 4K screen resolution. The best monitor for MacBook Pro we've tested is the ASUS ProArt Display PA278CV. This is a newer version of our top budget pick, the ASUS ProArt Display PA278QV. It largely performs the same as its predecessor, but it has a few additional features.
Connect your display
Connect your display to power, then connect your display to your Mac. Check the ports on your Mac to find out whether you need an adapter.
Change display options
After you connect your display, you can choose to extend your desktop or mirror your displays.
Use extended desktop mode
- Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click Displays.
- Click the Arrangement tab.
- Make sure that the Mirror Displays checkbox isn’t selected.
- Arrange your displays to match the setup on your desk. To change the position of a display, drag it to the desired position. A red border appears around the display as it's moved.
- To set a different display as the primary display, drag the menu bar to the other display. The primary display is where your desktop icons and app windows first appear.
Mirror your displays
- Make sure that your external display is turned on and connected to your Mac.
- Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click Displays, then click the Arrangement tab.
- Make sure that the Mirror Displays checkbox is selected.
Use AirPlay
With Apple TV, you can use your TV as a separate display for your Mac. Learn how to use AirPlay to mirror or extend your Mac display.
Learn more
For those who didn’t know, Apple has just released its Mac Pro to the world. The Mac Pro is cylindrical and small but it might be one of the most powerful desktop computers on the market. It will go from a price range of $3.000 and can go all the way up to $10.000. You can completely customize it to have up to 12-core Intel Xeon E5 processor, 64GB of RAM and 2 AMD D700 GPU’s. But what is even cooler is that it is one of the very few desktops that support 4K resolution screens and the Mac Pro can support up to 3.
See Also: Apple Thunderbolt 2 Display to be 27″ and 32″
Best Apple Monitor
Since Apple doesn’t offer any 4K resolution display, we thought we’d put together a list of the best 4K displays available organized by size. We have selected different monitors depending on their screen size, we have Small (from 21″ to 24″) medium (27″ to 31″) and Large (31″ and above).
4K Monitors: Small Size
Ahh so you are looking for a 4K monitor between 21inch and 24inch? We found that the best 4K monitor in this size range is the Dell Ultrasharp UP2414Q a $1.299 24″ monitor. The monitor includes a flexible stand allowing you to adjust the high and tilt of the display, with over 1 billion colors, 185PPI and 8MS response time this display is great for Video editing and picture editing.
4K Monitors: Medium Size
In the 27″ to 31″ size range there is more choice then from the 24″ and we came to the conclusion that the best 4K monitor from “Medium Size” is the Asus PQ321Q a 31″ monitor. If you thought 4K monitors were going to be cheap you were wrong, it comes at a pricey $3.000. The PQ321Q features 2 HDMI ports, 140PPI and 8MS response time.
4K Monitors: Large Size
Ah, so you think you can handle bigger then 31″? i hope your wallet and patients is just as big as your love for big screens because the bigger the more expensive and unfortunately there aren’t any more good 31″ or bigger monitors we can recommend but we thought was definitely worth mentioning is the LG UM95 series 31″ widescreen 4K monitor. a 21:9 widescreen display (making it look muuuch bigger then it actually is, the image above is not a prototype, its the actual monitor) that has “true 4K” which means it has a 4,096 x 2,160 resolution. The cool thing is it will also have a Thunderbolt 2 20GB port so you won’t have to make use of HDMI. As of now we don’t know a price but we expect it to be around the $4.000, you can also go for the UM65 which will come with less HDMI ports but also at a cheaper price. The bad thing? It will be revealed in January at CES so it will take a couple of months for it to become available.
Best Display For Mac Pro 2010
Why is there no Thunderbolt 2 Display yet?
Best Monitor For Apple Mac Pro 2010 For Sale
As of now Apple hasn’t confirmed anything on a new possible Thunderbolt display but we have spotted several signs that could mean Apple is working on one, we covered them in this article and they detail to a possible 27″ and 31″ 4K display.