How many 27" Thunderbolt Displays does the 2020 M1 Mac mini support?

Question

Apple's website does state that "One display with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz connected via Thunderbolt" so it's probably not possible as per this question regarding how M1 powered MacBooks supporting only a single 27" Thunderbolt Display as follows:

However, would an M1 Mac mini support dual 27" Thunderbolt Displays if connected as follows?

If they cannot be daisy chained via Thunderbolt 1 would a second Thunderbolt Adapter perhaps change things if used as follows:

I've seen how the M1 can be connected up to 6x displays in total using Display Link. However, I'm specifically interested in using the 2x 27" Thunderbolt displays I already have.

If you've got this working with a Mac mini, please share your experience. Thunderbolt 1x supported daisy chaining up to 6x 27" Thunderbolt displays and it would be very interesting to know if this is at all a possibility?

Answer 1

Neither of those two suggested display configurations are possible, I'm afraid. You can only connect 1 of the 27" Thunderbolt displays to the Thunderbolt 3 ports on the M1 Mac Mini. It doesn't matter if you daisy chain two monitors or plug them into each of their own Thunderbolt 3 ports - it still won't work.

The only way to natively hook up 2 displays to the M1 Mac Mini is to drive one display (and one display only) through the Thunderbolt 3 port and the other through the HDMI port. Obviously the 27" Thunderbolt Display does not connect with the HDMI port.

When I say natively, I mean that it is ofcourse possible to use non-native display options - most popular would be a variety of DisplayLink products.

Adapters such as this do exist that converts the HDMI output to a USB-C style DisplayPort output. I guess you could plug a Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 adapter into that, but I doubt that it would work.