DisplayLink Manager Now Supports External Display Rotation on M1 Macs

Synaptics today released a new beta version of DisplayLink Manager for macOS with long-awaited support for external display rotation on M1 Macs. A company representative said a final release is planned by late December provided that beta testing is successful.

macos external displays displaylink
DisplayLink adapters have proven popular with M1 models of the MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro, as they allow for multiple external displays to be connected, despite Apple's tech specs indicating that the notebooks only support one external display. DisplayLink Manager helps with setting up external displays via DisplayLink.

As seen in the above screenshot shared on Reddit, the new version of DisplayLink Manager allows for external displays connected to an M1 Mac with DisplayLink adapters or docks to be used in both landscape and portrait orientations.

DisplayLink Manager 1.6 beta is compatible with all macOS Monterey and macOS Big Sur versions and is free to download on the Synaptics website.

The new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models officially support up to two external displays with the M1 Pro chip, or up to four external displays with the M1 Max chip, without the use of DisplayLink adapters or other workarounds.

Related Forums: macOS Monterey, macOS Big Sur

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro Render Front Page Tech

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 10 New Features

Sunday March 23, 2025 10:00 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. iPhone 17 Pro's alleged design via Front Page Tech Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of March 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone...
iCloud General Feature Redux

iPhone Users Who Pay for iCloud Storage Receive a New Perk

Thursday March 20, 2025 12:01 am PDT by
If you pay for iCloud storage on your iPhone, Apple has a new perk for you, at no additional cost. The new perk is the ability to create invitations in the Apple Invites app for the iPhone, which launched in the App Store last month. In the Apple Invites app, iCloud+ subscribers can create invitations for any occasion, such as birthday parties, graduations, baby showers, and more. Anyone ...
iOS 18

Top 5 New Features Coming in iOS 18.4

Friday March 21, 2025 3:26 pm PDT by
We're not getting new Siri Apple Intelligence features in iOS 18.4 as expected, but the upcoming update does have quite a few new additions that will be worth upgrading for. We've rounded up the five best features to look forward to, and if you're not running the beta, you can expect to get access to these in early April. Priority Notifications If you have an iPhone or iPad that supports...
Generic iOS 19 Feature Mock

iOS 19 Coming in June With These New Features

Thursday March 20, 2025 2:04 pm PDT by
While the first iOS 19 beta is still more than two months away, there are already plenty of rumors about the upcoming software update. Below, we recap the key iOS 19 rumors so far. visionOS-Like Design In January, the YouTube channel Front Page Tech revealed a redesigned Camera app that is allegedly planned for iOS 19. According to Front Page Tech host Jon Prosser, the Camera app...
Generic iOS 18

Apple Seeds iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 Release Candidate With Priority Notifications, Ambient Music and More

Monday March 24, 2025 10:07 am PDT by
Apple today seeded the release candidate versions of upcoming iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 updates to developers for testing purposes, with the software coming a week after Apple released the fourth betas. iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 can be downloaded from the Settings app on a compatible device by going to General > Software Update. With iOS 18.4, Apple is adding the Priority Notifications...
airpods max 2024 colors

Don't Buy Into Apple's Hype About AirPods Max Gaining Lossless Audio

Monday March 24, 2025 4:24 pm PDT by
Apple today announced that AirPods Max with a USB-C port will be gaining support for lossless audio and ultra-low latency audio with a firmware update next month, alongside the release of iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4, and macOS 15.4. For context, audio files are typically compressed to keep file sizes smaller. There are lossy compression standards like MP3, and Apple's own Advanced Audio Codec...
Foldable iPhone 2023 Feature Iridescent Search

Foldable iPhone Expected to Launch Next Year, Costing Around $2,000

Monday March 24, 2025 3:43 am PDT by
Apple will launch its long-rumored foldable iPhone next year with a ~$2,000 premium price tag attached, expects well-connected Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman. Gurman's comments on Apple's launch plans for its first foldable device appeared in the Q&A section of his latest Power On newsletter. Earlier this month, the reporter said Apple's foldable iPhone could be arriving "as early as 2026,"...
iOS 19 Rounded UI Elements Light

iOS 19: What to Expect From Apple's Dramatic Design Overhaul?

Monday March 24, 2025 9:47 am PDT by
Earlier this month, Bloomberg reported that Apple is planning "one of the most dramatic software overhauls in the company's history" – an update that aims to bring iOS, iPadOS, and macOS into closer visual alignment. The redesign is said to be "loosely based" on visionOS, the software behind Apple's Vision Pro headset, and will reportedly update the look of icons, menus, apps, windows, and...

Top Rated Comments

Mick-Mac Avatar
44 months ago
I remember trying my best to work with displaylink a few year back - it was never quite right and there was always something broken. I just gave up on it. Frankly, I'm kind of amazed it's still a thing.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
audioadrenaline Avatar
43 months ago
We wouldn't have to screw with this if Apple would just support Multi-Stream Transport.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
colinsky Avatar
44 months ago
I'm running an LG 5K Ultrafine and two Dell U2715 2560x1440s on my m1 Mini with DisplayLink. Eager to see if the DisplayLink Manager update resolves my wake-from-sleep problem--all the windows in all the monitors re-collect in the center monitor upon waking from sleep.

Sigh, nope, still all collected in the center monitor. If I restart, the windows stay in their proper places.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
chrizel Avatar
44 months ago
Bought a DisplayLink dock in August with one of the newer DisplayLink chips which support 4K/60. Using it at home with my 13” M1 work MBP and my personal M1 MBA to drive an LG 5k and a Dell monitor. Besides some rare situations when connecting the device where the screen won’t turn on (which can be fixed by reconnecting the cable) - I’m satisfied with DisplayLink. Can recommend. But do your research and buy one of the newer devices with the 4K/60 chip.

What I really like: the DisplayLink dock is connected to the LG 5k, so to the MacBooks I still have one single cable that provides power, all screens, networking, usb devices etc.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AppleTO Avatar
44 months ago
I hope these new drivers work better than DisplayLink used to years ago.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
saudor Avatar
44 months ago

I hope these new drivers work better than DisplayLink used to years ago.
yeah it's substantially smoother these days. The update during the mojave era was a big improvement where for basic tasks, it became super smooth

EDIT: should also add that these things are useful even for intel. Radeon dGPUs are dumb in the sense that as soon as you connect a different display to it, it never properly enters an idle state even without load. The memory clock and sometimes the core clock (depending on the differing resolutions, refresh rates, and scaling factor) gets stuck at higher/max and pumps a ton of heat.

Things like displaylink and sidecar (depending on the Mac) partially uses the iGPU/T2 for hardware acceleration so the dGPU doesn’t freak out and the system remains much cooler
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)