The new MacBook Air has a useful upgrade: it natively supports up to two external displays, in addition to the laptop's built-in display.
In other words, the latest MacBook Air can be used with a pair of external displays without needing to keep the laptop's lid closed.
Apple's tech specs for the new 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air:
Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display at 1 billion colors and: Up to two external displays with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz
This is a significant quality-of-life improvement for the MacBook Air in the Apple silicon era. MacBook Air models with the M1 chip and M2 chip officially support only one external display, while MacBook Air models with the M3 chip gained support for two external displays, but only with the lid closed. With the new model, users can have a total of three screens, with the MacBook Air open next to two external displays.
Apple silicon MacBook Air models already worked with multiple external displays with the use of DisplayLink adapters, but many casual customers in the MacBook Air's target market might not have known about that option, so official plug-and-play support for two external displays with the lid open is a welcomed improvement.
The latest 14-inch MacBook Pro with the M4 chip, released last year, also natively supports two external displays while the lid is open.
The new MacBook Air can be pre-ordered now, and it launches Wednesday, March 12.
