Ivy Bridge to Bring Triple Display Support to MacBook Air

Earlier today, we highlighted a leaked roadmap from VR-Zone detailing Intel's plans for its mobile Ivy Bridge processors set to debut in April and May of next year.

macbook air thunderbolt display
One detail of the report that bears special attention is the fact that the Ivy Bridge platform, both mobile and desktop, will support up to three independent displays, with one of those displays being an internal one.

While we're talking about graphics, as with the desktop Ivy Bridge processors, the mobile processors also support up to three independent displays, although one of these will be the built in display in the notebook, but hopefully we'll see notebooks with a DisplayPort connector as standard come next year.

The current Sandy Bridge platform is only capable of supporting two independent displays, limiting the MacBook Air to one external display. Similarly, the 13-inch MacBook Pro can only drive two external displays by turning off its internal display.

More powerful machines such as the larger MacBook Pro models can currently drive two external displays in addition to the internal one due to their inclusion of discrete graphics chips paired with the Sandy Bridge platform. But with Ivy Bridge opening the door to direct support for up to three displays via the Intel HD 4000 integrated graphics, even owners of smaller machines like the MacBook Air will have the option of significantly expanding their screen real estate by connecting to two external displays.

Related Roundup: MacBook Air
Related Forum: MacBook Air

Popular Stories

wwdc sans text feature

Apple Rumored to Announce New Product on February 19

Thursday February 5, 2026 12:22 pm PST by
Apple plans to announce the iPhone 17e on Thursday, February 19, according to Macwelt, the German equivalent of Macworld. The report, citing industry sources, is available in English on Macworld. Apple announced the iPhone 16e on Wednesday, February 19 last year, so the iPhone 17e would be unveiled exactly one year later if this rumor is accurate. It is quite uncommon for Apple to unveil...
Apple Logo Zoomed

Tim Cook Teases Plans for Apple's Upcoming 50th Anniversary

Thursday February 5, 2026 12:54 pm PST by
Apple turns 50 this year, and its CEO Tim Cook has promised to celebrate the milestone. The big day falls on April 1, 2026. "I've been unusually reflective lately about Apple because we have been working on what do we do to mark this moment," Cook told employees today, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. "When you really stop and pause and think about the last 50 years, it makes your heart ...
Finder Siri Feature

Why Apple's iOS 26.4 Siri Upgrade Will Be Bigger Than Originally Promised

Friday February 6, 2026 3:06 pm PST by
In the iOS 26.4 update that's coming this spring, Apple will introduce a new version of Siri that's going to overhaul how we interact with the personal assistant and what it's able to do. The iOS 26.4 version of Siri won't work like ChatGPT or Claude, but it will rely on large language models (LLMs) and has been updated from the ground up. Upgraded Architecture The next-generation...
maxresdefault

Apple Shows Off a Key Reason to Upgrade to the iPhone 17

Saturday February 7, 2026 9:26 am PST by
Apple today shared an ad that shows how the upgraded Center Stage front camera on the latest iPhones improves the process of taking a group selfie. "Watch how the new front facing camera on iPhone 17 Pro takes group selfies that automatically expand and rotate as more people come into frame," says Apple. While the ad is focused on the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max, the regular iPhone...
iOS 26

iOS 26.3 and iOS 26.4 Will Add These New Features to Your iPhone

Tuesday February 3, 2026 7:47 am PST by
While the iOS 26.3 Release Candidate is now available ahead of a public release, the first iOS 26.4 beta is likely still at least a week away. Following beta testing, iOS 26.4 will likely be released to the general public in March or April. Below, we have recapped known or rumored iOS 26.3 and iOS 26.4 features so far. iOS 26.3 iPhone to Android Transfer Tool iOS 26.3 makes it easier...

Top Rated Comments

ciociosan Avatar
185 months ago
finally! i've been waiting for something to do with the stack of thunderbolt enabled displays i've got laying about the flat!
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Nielsenius Avatar
185 months ago
Damnit! I was hoping for support for this...
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
GenesisST Avatar
185 months ago
Screw it, we're doing 5 screens!

(http://onion.com/bWBRid)
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
gmon750 Avatar
185 months ago
Honestly the air barely manages to drive a TB display, I don't even want to imagine two of them... What a torture.

"Torture"?? Really? By what basis have you concluded this? Personal experience?

My MBA is works great with my 27" Thunderbolt display. On top of that, It's running Windows7 via VMware on a second MissionControl desktop.

It's running great on my machine. Please, enlighten all of us on the EXACT setup you are using to come to such a conclusion. I suspect you have none of it.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
adcx64 Avatar
185 months ago
Pics or it didn't happen.

It didn't happen yet. How are you expecting pics?
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jayhawk11 Avatar
185 months ago
Can't wait to see the FPS on this setup :rolleyes:
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)