More Monitors = SLOWER MacBooks
Summary
TLDRIn this intriguing video, the creator conducts an extensive performance analysis of Apple's latest MacBook lineup, including the M3 Max, M2 Max, M3, M3 Pro, and a MacBook Air with an M2 chip. By connecting multiple external displays, ranging from 4K monitors to portable screens and iPads, they explore the impact on CPU, GPU, and memory performance. Through a series of benchmarks and tests, the video unravels the intricate interplay between display setups and hardware capabilities, shedding light on the trade-offs and potential limitations. With a touch of humor and practical insights, the creator provides a comprehensive evaluation that caters to developers, tech enthusiasts, and anyone curious about maximizing their MacBook's potential in a multi-display environment.
Takeaways
- π¨βπ» The video tests the performance impact of connecting multiple external displays to various M-series MacBook models (M2 Air, M2 Max, M3 Pro, M3 Max) using different display configurations.
- πΊ Connecting more external displays generally leads to higher memory usage by the 'Windows Server' process on macOS and some performance degradation, especially for CPU-intensive tasks.
- π₯οΈ The M2 Max and M3 Max MacBook Pros handled multiple external displays relatively well, with only minor performance hits.
- π» The M3 Pro and non-Pro M3 MacBook models showed more significant performance drops when connected to several external displays, particularly for CPU-intensive workloads.
- π₯ The M2 MacBook Air struggled the most with multiple external displays, experiencing substantial performance slowdowns due to lack of active cooling.
- π‘ Using DisplayLink technology to connect additional displays beyond the Thunderbolt port limit further impacted performance across all models.
- π₯οΈ Factors like display resolution, refresh rate, and video playback also influenced the performance impact of external displays.
- π Memory usage and 'Windows Server' process resource consumption increased with more connected displays, reflecting macOS's dynamic resource management.
- β οΈ Performance trade-offs exist when using multiple external displays, potentially affecting CPU, GPU, and memory-intensive workloads.
- π€ Balancing screen real estate and performance requirements is crucial for individual workflows when using external displays with M-series MacBooks.
Q & A
What is the purpose of testing different MacBooks with multiple external displays?
-The purpose is to test the limits of the latest MacBook lineup by assessing their performance when connected to various types and numbers of external displays, including 4K monitors, portable displays, and high refresh rate displays.
What types of tests were conducted to evaluate the performance of the MacBooks?
-Three main tests were conducted: a CPU-intensive Mandelbrot fractal generation test, a GPU-heavy whisper audio transcription test, and a memory-intensive merge sort algorithm test. These tests targeted different aspects of the MacBook's hardware performance.
How did the external displays affect the performance of the MacBooks, particularly the memory usage?
-Connecting external displays generally increased the memory usage, with the 'Windows Server' process (responsible for managing UI windows) consuming more RAM as more displays were added. The exact impact varied across different MacBook models and configurations.
What was the maximum number of displays connected to a single MacBook, and how did it impact performance?
-The maximum number of displays connected to a single MacBook Pro was seven (including the internal display), achieved using Display Link technology. This setup caused noticeable slowdowns in CPU, GPU, and memory tests, indicating the limits of the hardware when driving multiple high-resolution displays simultaneously.
How did the performance of the M3 Max, M2 Max, M3 Pro, and M3 MacBook Pro models compare when connected to external displays?
-The M3 Max and M2 Max models generally handled external displays better than the M3 Pro and M3 MacBook Pro, with the M3 Max showing the best overall performance. The M3 Pro and M3 MacBook Pro experienced more significant performance drops, particularly when driving multiple high-resolution displays.
What was the impact of external displays on the MacBook Air M2 model, which lacks active cooling?
-The MacBook Air M2, lacking an active cooling fan, experienced substantial performance degradation when connected to multiple external displays, especially in CPU-intensive tasks. The lack of active cooling caused the CPU to throttle significantly, leading to much longer test completion times.
How did the author test the capability of using other devices as external displays for the MacBooks?
-The author discovered options in macOS to use other devices like Apple TVs and other MacBooks as external displays for his test MacBook. He tested this functionality and found that while possible, there was significant lag when using another MacBook as an extended display.
What was the author's overall conclusion regarding the impact of external displays on MacBook performance?
-The author concluded that while adding external displays provides more screen real estate for productivity, it can significantly impact performance, particularly for CPU-intensive tasks. Finding the right balance between screen real estate and performance is essential based on individual workflow needs.
How did the author's testing methodology help provide a comprehensive evaluation of the MacBooks' capabilities?
-The author conducted multiple tests targeting different hardware components (CPU, GPU, and memory) while systematically increasing the number and types of external displays connected. This comprehensive approach allowed for a thorough evaluation of the MacBooks' performance under various display configurations.
What was the purpose of mentioning the channel members and offering them early access to the full video?
-The author extended a thank you to the channel members who had early access to the full video and provided feedback. This suggests that the channel members are a supportive community that helps improve the content, and the author values their input.
Outlines
π₯οΈ Testing MacBook Performance with External Displays
The author details the setup for testing the performance of various MacBook models (M3 Max, M2 Max, M3, M3 Pro, and M2 Air) with multiple external displays, including 4K monitors, portable displays, and an iPad. The tests measure CPU, GPU, and memory performance while running intensive tasks like generating fractal patterns, audio transcription, and merge sort algorithms. Initial baseline tests without external displays are conducted to establish a reference point.
π₯οΈ Performance Impact of Adding External Displays
The author connects multiple external displays to the MacBook Pro M3 Max using Thunderbolt cables and DisplayLink technology. Performance tests are run with the added displays, including playing 8K videos. The results show minor slowdowns in CPU, GPU, and memory tests, demonstrating the trade-offs of a multi-monitor setup. Issues with monitor rotation settings and display recognition are also encountered.
π₯οΈ Testing MacBook Pro M3 and M3 Pro with External Displays
The author tests the performance impact of external displays on the M3 Pro and the regular M3 MacBook Pro models. The M3 Pro shows a noticeable performance drop with added displays, particularly in CPU and GPU tests. The non-Pro M3 MacBook Pro also exhibits slowdowns, but its performance remains decent overall, especially with just one external monitor connected.
π₯οΈ MacBook Air M2 Performance with External Displays
The author evaluates the performance of the MacBook Air M2 with external displays. While the machine initially performs well, adding multiple displays via DisplayLink and an iPad significantly strains the CPU, leading to substantial slowdowns in CPU, GPU, and memory tests. The lack of active cooling in the Air contributes to these performance impacts under heavy workloads.
Mindmap
Keywords
π‘Multim monitor setup
π‘External displays
π‘Performance impact
π‘CPU performance
π‘GPU performance
π‘Memory performance
π‘Thunderbolt
π‘DisplayLink
π‘Windows Server
π‘Dynamic Resource Management
Highlights
Testing the latest MacBook lineup with multiple external displays to analyze their impact on performance.
Comprehensive setup includes two 4K displays, a curved gaming monitor, two portable displays, and a glossy 144Hz monitor.
Establishing baseline performance for CPU, GPU, and memory-intensive tasks without external displays.
Adding external displays initially showed minimal performance impact on the powerful M2 Max MacBook Pro.
Connecting all six external displays caused temperature increase, fan activation, and minor performance slowdowns.
M3 Max MacBook Pro showed better performance than M2 Max, with higher memory usage due to macOS dynamic resource management.
Ability to use other devices like Apple TVs and MacBooks as extended displays, although with noticeable lag.
M3 Pro MacBook Pro exhibited clear performance drops when adding external displays, especially with four or more.
Non-Pro M3 MacBook Pro performed decently with one external display but showed slowdowns with additional displays.
M2 MacBook Air (24GB RAM) handled tasks well initially but suffered significant CPU performance degradation with five displays due to lack of active cooling.
Importance of finding the right balance between screen real estate and performance based on individual workflow needs.
Substantial performance impact observed on the M2 MacBook Air when using DisplayLink and an iPad as extended displays.
Demonstration of macOS dynamic memory management, where available RAM is utilized even when applications are not running.
Anomalies and issues encountered with monitor rotation settings and display recognition when using DisplayLink technology.
Appreciation for channel members who provided feedback and support for the content creation process.
Transcripts
today I'm diving deep into the latest
MacBook lineup testing their limits with
external displays and their impact on
performance I got MacBook Pros M3 Max M2
Max M3 M3 Pro and a MacBook Air with an
M2 Chip and all these have different
external display support according to
official Apple documentation I'm testing
this out with two LG 27in 4K displays
set up vertically next to me code reads
beautifully when it's a vertical screen
look how much code I can fit in a jlink
34 in 144hz curved gaming monitor two
portable displays by m Duo each with 120
HZ refresh rate and a shiny glossy do
monitor used to be called Eve now it's
called do that one's 144 HZ as well
suddenly it's really warm in here I
don't know
why beginning with the basics I'm
unplugging two monitors to focus solely
on the laptop's internal display for
initial tests the built-in screen is
much nicer looking by by the way I'm
allowed to have opinions
okay we don't sit around just with one
test open one Benchmark or one IDE this
is why we have multiple monitors in the
first place I'm going to start out with
15 tabs open with chrome couple of
instances of Visual Studio code for
those of you that are developers I'll
make the code available those of you
that are not developers suffice to say
that one of these pieces of code is
going to run an intensive test that
generates the manle BR sequence that's
the fractal patterns in numeric format
and that's going to be a CPU heavy task
another one is a GPU demanding whisper
project for audio transcription and
finally there's a memory heavy merge
sort algorithm that one uses a lot of
memory we'll see how all these get
affected as the tests go on now running
these the 64 GB MacBook Pro is using
14.4 GB of RAM showing no swap or
compression and the Windows server is
consuming 370 megabytes Windows Server
this is a Mac what the heck is Windows
doing on it well despite the naming
similarities Windows Server Windows
server is a process on Macs that manages
your open UI Windows makes sense right
and when you add more monitors Windows
Server should use more memory we're
going to test that out I started by
timing the CPU intensive mandal Brad
Python program without external monitors
this clocks in at 25.8 seconds next I
ran whisper that's the GPU heavy task I
might just interchange these terms going
forward this one's processing a video
file which is one of my videos and it
took 51.6 seconds and finally I tried
using different numbers of integers to
do the merge sort I tried 10 million uh
that one uses 500 megabytes of RAM and
that completed in 32 seconds these
initial tests establish our Baseline for
CPU GPU and memory performance and offer
a clear comparison point for the impact
of additional displays now let's plug
the monitors back in I connected
monitors using Thunderbolt cables to two
Hobs linking two displays on each side
the setup includes playing a few YouTube
videos part of my usual Chrome Home tab
collection and some coding workspaces
I'd say for an average developer this is
probably um on the lighter side of load
now currently Windows Server RAM usage
has risen to 1.17 GB with overall memory
at 17.1 GB no swap or compression
initial CPU and GPU tests showed slight
variation within the margin of error
suggesting minimal impact from the
connected displays despite what I
expected the GPU is operating around 80%
utilization and it didn't suffer
significantly from the multim monitor
setup but this is a really powerful
machine and we're still within the
bounds of Apple's documentation so for
now we're okay all right I've changed
things around just a little bit here for
the two side displays this one and this
one I've actually set the resolution
higher to the maximum possible that it
can do I don't normally use my monitors
at such high resolution because well
getting old it's hard to see stuff and
while I'm doing this I'm monitoring the
memory usage by Windows Server the
memory usage overall and the GPU history
I am seeing a little bit of variance
there but in general it's going down
after that test we did also for these
monitors up here I started playing 8K
video uh for this one right here and
this one right here I'm actually also
scaling those to the highest possible
resolution both of them and I'm not
seeing a degradation in the GPU in the
usability of the system or the amount of
memory being used but I still think it's
worth running all those tests again with
these new settings just to make sure so
it looks like everything took a little
bit of a hit but that's just it it was
only a little bit of a hit that's
probably not even worth talking about
but I'm going to share it anyway cuz
that's why you're watching this video
our GPU test is now down to 52.5 seconds
our CPU test is down almost a full 2
seconds to 30 seconds and our memory
test is down to 35.3 seconds hm so
something is happening before we move on
to our next computer I just had to do it
I hooked up all these monitors all six
of them to one MacBook Pro Pro making a
total of seven displays from this
MacBook and the way I did it was of
course using a technology called display
link now this setup required some
rearranging due to a peculiar issue with
monitor rotation settings one of my LG
monitors that was vertical couldn't
rotate to 90Β° unlike the other of the
same exact model also one monitor
previously recognized as an LG monitor
is now identified as an Apple xdr
display these anomalies suggest possible
display Link in your with monitor
management which adds an unexpected
layer of configuring a multim monitor
setup hopefully only a onetime thing for
each machine under normal circumstances
I don't have this problem at all when I
only have one external monitor hook toop
or two I wanted to add an iPad to bring
my display count to eight from the
comments I've seen some of you use iPads
in side card mode and this actually
raised the temperature to 70Β° from the
usual 40Β° now I do have all these other
monitors spinning all the same time so
it's not just Scar the fans which were
previously off are now steady at around
14400 RPM due to the added heat from
driving all the monitors and the chassis
warms to
36Β° it's manageable for most tasks
though but this might pose some
challenges for intensive activities like
game development I recently did an
intense video with unity which I'll link
down below too with all displays active
Windows server memory usage slightly
increased and overall memory consumption
Rose to 23/2 GB performance tests showed
minor slowdowns with the CPU and GPU
test slightly impacted this starts to
reveal some of the trade-offs of a
multim monitor setup all right now I'm
resetting everything to Baseline by
disconnecting everything now it just
looks crazy in here cuz there's only one
monitor active next machine this is the
M3 Max magma Pro I'm only expecting
better things at this point I ran
whisper in 52.2 seconds and mandal BR
showed a significant Improvement at 17.6
seconds the memory test completed in
29.9 seconds so without monitors
connected Windows server is already at 2
GB of RAM the system's total memory
usage is higher than on the M2 Max
starting at 24 GB including some swap
usage and I wouldn't put too much weight
on how much memory is being used on the
system this increased memory footprint
even before connecting any monitors kind
of shows Mac os's Dynamic Resource
Management so you'll see different
numbers and different levels of memory
and you'll be scratching your head
wondering what's going on here why is my
16 GB machine using 15 gbt of RAM and
I'm not even running anything well it's
Mac OS you'll see this time and time
again and it's nothing to be afraid of
not everything came back on to life uh
those two are not working I got to
figure out why I swear I'm losing it
this is a new machine I did not install
display link on this and therefore we
don't get all those monitors we only get
four now while messing around with this
I found something interesting here in
this drop- down menu for adding my iPad
as an external display I noticed options
for other devices including two Apple
TVs and several MacBooks that I'm
testing testing that are in this office
too can I use these as additional
monitors this MacBook Air
here matters all that
but all the sound from all the videos
are coming to here I guess I always knew
you can mirror to an Apple TV but I had
no idea you can mirror or extend your
screen to another laptop this MacBook
Air is now an extension of the set of
screens for the MacBook Pro I mean there
is a significant lag here don't get me
wrong but if you really needed to do
this
I guess you could that lag is just nasty
that was interesting for the M3 Max The
Whisper test completed in 51.7 seconds
3500 RPM for the fan right
now it's the loudest MacBook I've ever
owned and it's proud of
it memory test took longer at 31.7
seconds and the cpu's manle BR test
slowed down to 22.4 seconds surprisingly
Windows server memory usage remains
stable not what I expected the main
resource consumers here were Google
Chrome Helper processes and this might
have something to do with running 2 8K
videos simultaneously I got to get these
other monitors on here I'm using display
link for extra monitors again I didn't
have it installed in this one so I need
to install the drivers and give display
link all the permissions and sign my
life away and after installation I wait
to see if the displays just light up
boom look at that they just pop on after
connecting the new monitors the screen
layout automatically changes which is
annoying and it requires me to
reorganize the setup to my original
configuration this is not so bad with
two or three monitors but it's pretty
bad now surprisingly the GPU test
finished in 48.5 seconds faster than
before however the memory test slowed
down to 32 seconds and the CPU slightly
slowed down to 23 seconds presenting a
mixed effect on performance which is
unusual onto our next machine this is
the M3 Pro and it's supposed to handle
less screens than the big boys that we
just tested so let's see what Happ
happens when I plug him in whisper at
55.3 seconds mandle broad at 35 seconds
and memory test at 36.9 seconds
definitely a clear performance drop here
looking at the Windows Server process we
got 571 mbes of Ram with a total usage
at 9.8 GB out of the 18 available
significantly lower than the usage of
other devices and I've said this before
that's how Mac OS manages memory it's
not like all of a sudden Google Chrome
decides to use more memory because it
knows it's on M3 Max machine with more
memory available able no it's Mac OS and
it's actually perfectly normal all right
let's plug in this side first this is a
thunderbolt dock that has these two
monitors connected to it and I should
see them both pop up indeed they did
let's do one more just attempt some fate
this is the HDMI output to this monitor
over here nothing happens over there so
I guess we're done connecting the
monitors immediately increase memory
usage to 11 GB with Windows Server
consuming 757 MB this demonstrates an
immediate memory impact by adding
displays the temperature is a little bit
higher now but that's to be expected
after doing the CPU test which has
slowed down quite a lot here we've got a
big drop in performance down to 41.1
seconds just from standard two display
setup nothing crazy now while the
machine remained responsive which is
good the GPU slowed down to 1 minute and
the memory test slowed down to 40
seconds pretty typical usage conditions
but we do have a performance dip here
after switching to a display link Hub
two additional monitor instantly popped
on and this raised the memory to 13.8 GB
and Windows server to 1.24 GB this setup
tacks the GPU and I anticipated this
that 8K duck is so beautiful I can see
every feather and performance test then
showed a dip memory test took 41 1/2
seconds GPU test 1 minute and 6 seconds
and the CPU test was the most impacted
slowed down to 46.7 seconds this was our
GPU test right here sound effects they
make everything great all right who's
next the nonpr magbook pro it doesn't
even have a thunderbolt hole on this
side testing the M3 Macbook Pro not the
pro or the max just the M3 this one
reveals some slowdowns however its
performance was decent the memory test
completed in 30 seconds Manel BR in 44.4
seconds and Whisper GPU test in 1 minute
and 8 seconds starting from a slight
disadvantage of having just 8 GB of RAM
the outcome kind of aligns with
expectations for this Hardware
configuration since I can't plug this on
this side there's no holes let's bring
this on this side there we go that's not
true there is an HDMI output there I
could have used that but let's see how
Thunderbolt does one and that's it so
how we get one I tell you what though
this machine is pretty spiffy with just
one monitor plugged into it let's get an
8K video going maxing out the native
displays on this non-pro MacBook Pro
slightly extended memory test times to
30.9 seconds with a whisper GPU test at
1 minute and 10 seconds and the CPU at
47 seconds I'd say not bad despite being
8 GB model it used 6.7 GB of RAM and
just over 3 GB of swap here we see Mac
os's Dynamic RAM management based on
availability dipping into that swap a
lot of people are complaining about that
but in reality you probably won't even
notice it you'll probably get rid of
that machine or sell it before you even
experience any problems with that SSD
another story for another time with
display link memory pressure appeared in
influencing performance the memory test
is at 31 seconds GPU at 1 minute and 12
seconds and CPU at 48 1/2 seconds so
we're pushing this machine much harder
now and it's starting to show but not
terrible there's one more machine left
and I'm expecting the same results as
this one this is the MacBook Air M2
kicking off the MacBook Air this being a
24 GB Ram version and straight off the
bat it's gobbling up 16 GB again don't
jump to conclusions if you skip to this
section Mac OS loves to sprawl out when
it's got room this isn't a sign that
it's overloaded just Mac OS being Mac OS
making sure that it's using what's
available remember folks 8 GB of RAM on
a Mac is like 16 GB on
Windows leave your comments down below
all right kidding kidding okay but if
you want me to do a breakdown on how
memory works and how it's different on a
Mac or Windows let me know in the
comments down below too here Windows
service chilling at 689 mbes diving into
the test and you'll see 35 seconds from
memory and mandle BR CPU test outpacing
the M3 MacBook Pro at just 53 seconds
and the GPU is starting pretty strong at
a minute and 6 seconds it goes to show
you again that the air is not just about
light work it can do some serious damage
I'm running the CPU test and it's really
quiet in here and I'm wondering is this
test even running I had to do a double
take the temperatures are at 108Β° but
there's no noise cuz there's no fan so
I'm expecting this test to take a little
bit longer and of course the CPU test
suffered the most because of those
temperatures if I ran this more than
once in a row it would really
drastically slow down but the CPU is at
58.6 seconds here not horribly worse but
a little worse the GPU is actually about
the same 1 minute and 7 seconds and the
memory test is faster faster 34.4
seconds total now that the M3 MacBook
airs were announced those chips are
supposed to be hotter so we'll see how
that affects performance stay tuned for
that on this channel Channel I've got a
surprise for you this MacBook Air is now
connected to 1 2 3 4 displays so that's
a total of five including the internal
One display link helped out here let's
take a look at Windows Server 880 megab
of ram 15.3 GB of memory used so we're
not really doing much here the machine
is still perfectly usable like it was
before now it's important to realize
that fan can really do wonders
especially when dealing with some really
heavy workloads like I've been throwing
a this thing and uh the result kind of
shows let me show you now we're waiting
for the GPU results but the CPU timing
shocked me 4 minutes and 28 seconds ouch
it seems like this collection of
monitors display link and iPad
significantly strains the CPU that's a
shocker but because there is no active
Cooling in this machine this is what
happens the memory test also extended to
1 minute and 30 seconds wow almost three
times longer than before this is a
substantial impact on performance
clearly Having side cut open having
display link playing is having a really
huge adverse effect our GPU test just
finished and we're at 3 minutes and 26
seconds for the GPU result the slowest
I've seen so far addore screens turned
out to be more than just getting more
surface area to do my work it was a real
test of what these machines can handle
under the hood everyone's workflow is a
little different so hopefully you can
find a good balance between having
enough real estate and performance for
your own needs I want to extend my thank
you to the channel members who got to
see the full version of this video early
and gave me some feedback on it thank
you so much and if you want to join to
help support the channel and get access
to members only videos there's a join
button right down below knowing what you
know now about performance check this
video out to see how to get M2 and M3
based machines to display more than one
external screen thanks for watching I'll
see you in the next
one
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