For anyone who thinks of the world’s most popular laptop — MacBook Air — as Apple’s lightweight laptop in more ways than one, like it’s strictly for students and amateurs, it’s probably time to update your view. Today’s attractive working setup from Germany finds its slim-but-powerful M3 MacBook Air provides plenty of computing power.
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M3 MacBook Air drives 4K LG gaming display in tidy setup
Redditor KlarDuCK showcased the neat-and-tidy rig in a post entitled, “MacBook Air M3 desktop setup.” It may be nice and neat, but it doesn’t appear to be one of the flashy staged setups we sometimes see on social media.
It’s a working setup, and the user seems to find his M3 MacBook Air more than enough machine to power it (the laptop is, after all, robust enough to handle the demands of Apple Intelligence, coming in fall 2024). The 15-inch M3 MacBook Air sits open on a stand as a second display, driving a 27-inch 4K LG external monitor.
“Sweet set up,” said a commenter. “What the laptop stand if you don’t mind me asking? I have one but it’s way too high.”
“Thank you,” Duck replied. “I tried a lot and have this for over a year now.” Note that the links goes to German Amazon. We provided a very similar alternative in the gear links list below.
“I take my MacBook often with me to another desk setup and this stand makes it very comfortable to do so,” Duck continued. “The height is adjustable and the camera in a much better position for video calls. And the place it took is smaller than normal laptop stands.”
And it’s good think Duck’s displays sits open on a stand. Using it in clamshell mode (closed) can cause thermal throttling problems. And by the way, the dark box behind the laptop is an Xbox Series X and the small item just under the display is a docking station.
How many external displays can MacBook Air handle?
Typically, with a post like this that features one or more external displays, commenters will ask how they’re hooked up. And there’s always some confusion about how many displays a given MacBook can drive natively.
“What cable, and possibly link to it, are you using to have it hooked to monitor?” a commenter asked. “I got one for wife but she had the M1 Air and [I] think that was the issue and don’t think they support second monitors. But interested in seeing what cable you have cause she now has a Macbook Air M3 15 inch and so do I.”
“With the M1 and M2 you could only connect 1 external display,” Duck replied. “With the M3 you can connect 2 external displays at the same time, when the Mac is closed.
I use this cable since my MacBook Pro Intel time and never failed me to work.” (Again, go to the links list below for the American Amazon version of the gear.)
But then someone else chimed in with more information about Apple silicon’s external-display-driving chops.
“With M1/M2, if you use a DisplayLink dock you can have 2 external displays with the MacBook open,” they said.
“Seriously?” Duck asked. “And all displays can be extended or just mirrored?”
“Yes seriously. I was running it,” the commenter replied. “One USBC cable out to the dock, which also give power to the MacBook. Then from dock to the monitors with HDMI. I ran extended, but I guess mirrored if you like. I had a 34-inch ultra wide and a 15-portable running off it.”
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Computer and stand:
Display and cable:
Input devices:
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In addition to a large Liquid Retina display and a slim design, this model features a powerful M3 chip, 16GB unified memory and 512GB storage.
- Slim and lightweight
- Powerful M3 chip
- Big, gorgeous display
- Lacks the power of some Pro models
