Early 2015 MacBook Air and two external monitors: how to do it and maximum resolution?

I have an Early 2015 13" MacBook Air with Intel HD Graphics 6000 1536 MB. I'm trying to figure out what its capabilities are in terms of connecting two external monitors.

First, if I just used the two external monitors and did not use the MacBook Air's built-in monitor, what is the maximum resolution I could run both external monitors at simultaneously? For example, could they both do 1080p resolution, or perhaps higher? And does it matter whether I use the built-in monitor? (I've scoured the internet looking for information about this but haven't found anything so far!)

Second, is there a device I can use just for connecting two external monitors via DVI, HDMI, or DisplayPort to the MacBook Air's Thunderbolt 2 port, other than an expensive general purpose Thunderbolt 2 dock like one of these? I should add that I'm not interested in using devices that connect to a USB 3 port and use a DisplayLink driver.

Solution 1:

Just for posterity I'll answer my own question:

After doing quite a bit of searching around, I eventually figured out that the easiest and cheapest way to accomplish this would be to use the StarTech brand Thunderbolt 2 Dual-Monitor Docking Station. Even with a MacBook Air, you can still plug in two external monitors simultaneously. I found reports that it works as advertised. Note that I have not purchased one and tried it myself, though.

Solution 2:

If anyone is still interested-- a great way to get dual monitors for the MacBook Air (early 2015) 11" (in my case) is to utilize the Thuderbolt port for one of the monitors...... and then use an old Apple TV and use AirPlay for the second.

Ultimately, you'll need to know how to use your Apple TV to cast your MacBook Air onto another display (e.g., a TV), but when you do (while already being connected to one display through your Thunderbolt port, you can find the option to 'Use As Separate Display' when you click the "screen cast" icon in the upper right-hand corner of your screen.

Using this method, you can get 3 screens in total:

1. The Thunderbolt port monitor
2. The Apple TV-connected monitor
3. Your MacbookAir's monitor

Hope this helps someone (and I hope I capitalized all my proper nouns correctly).

Solution 3:

The MacBook Air (Early 2015) can natively support a single external display with a resolution up to 3840x2160.

From the Technical Specifications:

Dual display and video mirroring: Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display and up to 3840 by 2160 pixels on an external display, both at millions of colors.

To get a second external monitor, you will need a USB to DVI or HDMI or VGA adapter.

I should add that I'm not interested in using devices that connect to a USB 3 port and use a DisplayLink driver.

You have to. The integrated graphics chipset only supports a single external monitor so you need another adapter to support an additional monitor; there's no getting around this.

Solution 4:

Sharing this in case anyone finds it useful. You can get 2 thunderbolt displays, plug the thunderbolt end from one of them into the other thunderbolt display's port, then plug that display's thunderbolt end into the MacBook Air's thunderbolt 2 port.