Saturday, August 9, 2025

thunderbolt – How to best connect an external monitor to an M2 Mac Book Air

In my search for a 27″ external monitor to use with my M2 MacBook Air with two Thunderbolt 3 ports I am getting conflicting advice on the best way to do so.

At the MacMost site (paraphrased) the advice was this:

  • The way that would produce the best results would be a connection from my TB3 port to a monitor’s USB C or Mini Display Port or Display Port.

  • The worst connection would be a one from my TB3 port to a monitor’s HDMI port.

On another Mac forum I frequent, a well-respected member opined:
Monitors with TB inputs are almost universally over-priced.  And for no good reason other than you don’t have to purchase an adapter if your Mac doesn’t include an HDMI port.  But adapters are cheap, you just have to shop carefully for one that meets specs…and…HDMI is a universal audio/video standard.  You can find monitors that are excellent deals with them.

So, in the opinion of anyone who has read this far, for a “general user”, i.e., not a gamer, photo editor etc., to get the best results which is the recommended method of connecting my M2 MB Air to a monitor as this will drive my search for a monitor with the connection method readers recommend.

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