How do I connect two external monitors to my MacBook Air M3?

I purchased this laptop with two external monitors. Based on topics in community, I purchased 2 docking stations a j5 create usb1c triple docking station and a usb-c to digital AV and I cannot get the second monitor to be recognized by my Mac. IDK what to do to get 2 monitors to work. I’m at the point of wanting to trade my Mac for a PC. This shouldn’t have to be this difficult. I need help. I’ve spent over 3 hours with Apple support and nothing.




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Posted on Apr 13, 2025 12:39 PM

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Apr 13, 2025 3:29 PM in response to Jasmie6296

"How do I connect two external monitors to my MacBook Air M3?: I purchased this laptop with two external monitors. Based on topics in community, I purchased 2 docking stations a j5 create usb1c triple docking station and a usb-c to digital AV and I cannot get the second monitor to be recognized by my Mac. IDK what to do to get 2 monitors to work. I’m at the point of wanting to trade my Mac for a PC. This shouldn’t have to be this difficult. I need help. I’ve spent over 3 hours with Apple support and nothing."

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Just curious...

Verify the Connection(s):

With all of these displays connected, see if these all even seen in System Information. How to check:

  1. Hold Down: the Option key
  2. Click: the Apple menu
  3. Choose: System Information or System Report
  4. Select: Graphics/Displays from the list on the left
  5. Look For: these displays
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Apr 13, 2025 3:48 PM in response to Jasmie6296

The M3 MacBook Air can only drive two external displays when the lid is closed.


Macs do not support DisplayPort MST daisy-chaining or its equivalent, and can only drive one display over a plain USB-C dock. You need to use a Thunderbolt dock, hub, or dual display adapter to drive two displays off one a single Mac host port in a hardware-supported way.


That J5Create dock is not a Thunderbolt dock, and it does not even drive all of its display outputs in a way that would be hardware-supported on a Windows PC. It uses a second-class workaround that requires installation of a third-party driver to get some, or all, of its display outputs to work at all.

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How do I connect two external monitors to my MacBook Air M3?

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