Nope you can connect four:

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT213503

There are _still_ some "new" macbooks sold which only support 1 external monitor. Which honestly would have been ridiculous 10 years ago not even speaking about now.

Then even with a newest M3 model apples somehow assumes that external monitors with less resolution then 6k don't exist hence anything but MAX models only supports 2 external monitors even if they are all 1080p. Through to be fair 3+ external monitor setups aren't that common with larger/higher resolution monitors.

And issues with dasy chaining monitors seem somewhat common, but that's hearsay so maybe not true.

The limitation on the number of external monitors is due to the number of display controllers on the chip. Apparently they take up a considerable amount of space on the die. The base M chips only have 2. They made a technical trade off that we are all paying for. It is unlikely they will ever fix it. :(

Daisy chaining monitors via thunderbolt has always had problems since it came out. Some monitors just don’t play nice with each other.

It's not a benchmark to bludgeon PC users with so nobody cares.

My Thinkpad from 2013 supports 3 external displays.

That’s possible since like forever. It just depends on the graphic chip the Mac comes with

Been like that "forever" but also "depends on the graphic chip" meaning it wasn't universally supported. I've not come across a Windows machine with USB-C that can't support multiple displays using $20 hubs from Amazon (even cheap machines). Yet I had to carry multiple dongles for my MBP for multiple monitors.

What do you mean? I have 3 connected to mine

Do you have to use that displaylink software with terrible framerate and latency compared to native?

I tried to get 3 monitors working on a work Mac with a new triple DisplayPort dock and had a terrible time, I went back to my Linux desktop since I can easily get smooth 165hz native performance on three monitors

I use a dual DisplayPort doc then connect one monitor directly. I'm running 2x 1440p and 1x 1440p ultrawide this way. This is a work setup, so I don't really need massive performance. It's all 60hz and no noticeable latency.

I don't believe that triple DisplayPort works well with mac. I believe two is the limit.

I have a 4K monitor connected via usb3 displaylink and it gets 60fps.

Yeah, the key here is you must use a DisplayLink adapter. Most laptops other than Apple MacBook Airs don’t need this to have more than one extra monitor.

But they cannot last 20h on a battery, win some, lose some

i find the latency is pretty bad even though it’s 60fps

The M1 only supported 1 external monitor.

Air, the Pro does 2 or 3.

https://support.apple.com/kb/SP854?viewlocale=en_SA&locale=e...

You can on mine, but you can't daisy chain them with thunderbolt like you can on Winders.