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Display Issues with MacBook Pro M1 and Others in 2021and 2022!

8:29 video

Over many months of using M1 MacBooks and Big Sur, I’ve had almost constant issues with external displays. I’ve tried multiple Macs, displays, cables and docks with no working solution. How is this a thing in 2021? Consider this a rant: it wasn’t the video I planned, but it’s the one I needed to make.

The reports

A few days ago, MacRumors had a post about M1 Mac mini customers whose Mac won’t wake a connected third-party display from sleep. One user (Mike) described a new M1 Mac mini with 16 GB on Big Sur 11.2.3: every time the computer and screen sleep, the screen gets “No Signal” after waking, and the only way to get a signal is to unplug and replug the Thunderbolt cable, sometimes repeatedly. Sound familiar? I made three videos in November and December last year on these and other issues with the M1 MacBooks.

My history

  • At first, I couldn’t get 60 Hz over Thunderbolt or DisplayPort on an expensive, amazing BenQ PD3220U. Big Sur 11.1 fixed that, but many other issues began: weird mirroring and distortion, overlapping desktops, the built-in screen partially mirrored on the external display, leaving the internal display a laggy mess.
  • I tested Thunderbolt, DisplayPort and HDMI with the M1 MacBook Pro, M1 Air and the 16-inch MacBook Pro, and they all showed issues: distortion over Thunderbolt or DisplayPort, color inversion over HDMI, and displays that simply wouldn’t turn on.
  • I bought two other 4K displays. The cheapest, a Samsung UJ59, seemed to work with all computers, but it was a bad monitor I couldn’t use for anything accurate. The Samsung UR55 failed on HDMI but mostly worked on DisplayPort. Maybe specific monitors suit the Mac better, but should everyone buy a sub-par cheap display because it works better? No.
  • I stuck with the mid-range UR55 (28-inch 4K), which had fewer issues than the BenQ. When Big Sur 11.2 came out, it seemed to solve my DisplayPort issues: for weeks my MacBook Pro reliably woke my display every single time. HDMI still gave inverted colors, but I figured DisplayPort was fine.
  • A month later, on March 8th, Big Sur 11.3 came out, and I’m back to almost constant display issues waking or plugging in my MacBook to the same display that worked for a month. Examples: waking from sleep over DisplayPort, the desktop picture only on part of the screen while the menu bar thinks it’s across the whole desktop; a warped, stretched resolution where I can’t see the menu bar clock and the dock is cut off; and reversed colors on waking over HDMI with Apple’s AV adapter.

More issues

A February MacRumors article said Apple told service providers it’s investigating pink squares or pixels on displays connected to M1 Mac minis. Apple’s troubleshooting steps: put the Mac mini to sleep, wait two minutes, wake it, unplug the display and plug it back in, adjust the resolution in System Preferences > Displays, and repeat if it recurs after restarting. With each problem, unplugging the cable and reconnecting or rebooting usually fixes it, but why is this a thing in 2021?

“It’s first-gen”

Some say that buying a first-generation M1 product means expecting these issues. That’s like saying that with a new car generation, I should expect the windshield to pop out while driving. I reject that a standard peripheral connection shouldn’t just work, and that a severe issue should take more than three months to fix. And I get similar problems on a 16-inch MacBook Pro, so it isn’t limited to first-gen products and seems OS related.

What are we supposed to do?

Be grateful that Apple offers a $5,000 Pro Display XDR that may work better? Limit ourselves to a cheap third-party display with terrible colors, brightness and viewing angles because it works better? (I don’t know whether that one still works, since I didn’t keep it.) Forgo external displays entirely, which isn’t an option for the Mac mini, and even built-in displays have had issues, like one I saw the other day.

Is this a deal-breaker?

No, probably not. There are still a ton of benefits to the Mac: apps optimized for the hardware like Pixelmator Pro, and the ecosystem, such as iMessage. But with the continuing display issues, the very common Bluetooth connection issues and the unreliability of Continuity and Handoff, I’m a little concerned about expensive products from a company that prides itself on things just working. Am I blowing this out of proportion, or have these issues made you think twice about a new Mac? If you want to see my testing between computers, displays and adapters, see that video.

Some links in this post are affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I may receive a small commission. See my ethics statement.

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