How to Set Up External and Dual Monitors on a Mac

Authored by: Support.com Tech Pro Team

1. Introduction

When you work with a lot of documents at once, or find yourself with a lot of windows open, it can become welcome, if not necessary, to have more display room for your work all at once on your computer. Rather than buy a single, larger monitor, you can use a second one to display either the same or different windows.

This guide will take you through the basics of setting up a second monitor for your computer.

Tools You'll Need:

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Access to a computer with iTunes installed
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Supplies You'll Need:

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Before You Begin:

You must have access to a computer with iTunes installed.
You must have that thing for the other thing so you can do the thing.

You must have this thing before you whatever.

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2. Set Up the Work Space for Dual Monitors

Our first step is to be sure we have all the necessary physical hardware available and a space to put it.

On Your Desk

Make sure there's enough space for both monitors to fit on the desk where you don't knock against them.
Make sure you can still reach your keyboard and mouse comfortably.
Make sure you can see both monitors when you sit down and make sure viewing the two monitors does not hurt your neck.

For Each Monitor on Your Desk

Each monitor needs a power cable or adapter, and an outlet to plug it in. The outlet could be on a power strip or power protector.

Arrows pointing a power cable to monitor and outlet

A video cable such to connect to your Mac that fits one of the ports on your monitor. This will either be a thunderbolt cable or a mini-display port. You may need an adapter for this.

Desktop

Video cable plugged into monitor and computer

Laptop

Video cable plugged into monitor and laptop

For Your Mac to Connect to a Monitor

You need a port for each monitor. Macs have Thunderbolt connectors and mini-display ports. You may need an adapter for this.

The ports on your computer must match the cables coming from both your monitors. Do not force the cable connectors as they should slide in easily.

For macBooks where you intend to use the built-in display as one of your monitors, you only need one place to plug in the second monitor on the macBook.

Adding another monitor adds, at minimum, two more cables to your computer setup. Please be sure these cables will not be caught or snagged by your chair, desk, or people walking by.

3. Connect the Additional Monitor

Now that you know you have all your cords, cables, and desk space, let's connect the second monitor to your Mac.

Connect the video cable to your monitor.

Connect the other end of the video cable to your computer.

Connect power to your new monitor:
One connector (1) plugs into the monitor.
The other connector (2) plugs into a power socket.
And sometimes, a third (3) connector plugs into the supply itself.

Monitor power supply connectors annotated.

Turn on your monitor.

Turn on your computer.

4. Manage Settings for Mac Monitors

Now that you've got everything set up, turned on, and working properly, you can adjust the settings to make it perfect for you. If you want to just mirror a smaller monitor on a larger one, you can do that. If you want to extend the display to add more space, you can do that too!

Let's open the display settings and take a look around.