MacBook Air cannot remember screen arrangements when using extended displays

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Level 1

4 points

MacBook Air cannot remember screen arrangements when using extended displays

Hello. A while ago I started using a dock with my MacBook Air 2025, since it supports up to two extended displays. However, it doesn't seem to remember the screen arrangement (i.e. which is left screen and which is right screen, where the main screen is positioned in relation to the others, etc). Often, it puts them in odd placements automatically, such as one screen being above the other, slightly to the right, etc. As soon as the computer has been in rest mode for more than around 10 minutes (I think), whatever screen arrangement I set up is automatically removed and thrown around, seemingly to a random arrangement.

I read that this can sometimes occur if screen are of identical make and model (which mine are), as macOS can confuse (or maybe it's the screen manufacturer's fault, who knows) it for one screen, but duplicated. This seemed to be the error at first, the names of the screens were identical in the menu, only separated by a "(1)" and "(2)" respectively; I tried to rename one of the screens using the software "BetterDisplay", and the name of both displays changed. I tried to rename one screen whilst the other was unplugged, but to no avail, as soon as I connected the other screen, it adopted the same name. Other oddities include one screen having a "preferred resolution" of 1920x1080 (even though both screens are 2560x1440) and 120 Hz (165 Hz ins't selectable), whilst another screen has a (correct) "preferred resolution" of 2560x1440 and 165 Hz.

Identical issues appear on my relative's MacBook Air 2025, so this does not seem to be specific to my computer.

However, interestingly enough, each screen has a different serial number and alphanumeric serial number ("EDID"). Previous discussions have centered around "EDID" being a source of this problem, this does not appear to be the case for me, as far as I understand it. So this shouldn't be an issue for my Mac to recognize. I'm pretty lost at this point. I have no idea why my computer can't just recognize the two screens as completely separate.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

MacBook Air 13″

Posted on Oct 27, 2025 12:01 PM

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Answer 1

dencoolaste Author

Level 1

4 points

Oct 30, 2025 9:53 AM in response to dencoolaste

Update (for future reference or anyone else experiencing this problem): For now I seem to have a solution, though it isn't perfect, as it requires external non-Apple software.

Download "BetterDisplay"
Change the screen settings of your external displays from "Recognize by UUID (recommended)" to "Recognize by EDID".

For some reason, this seems to work, which is strange given that my two monitors have separate UUIDs as well as different EDIDs (you'd think that the UUIDs were identical in this case, but nope). I can't yet speak on whether or not this will work ahead as BetterDisplay hides some features behind a "Pro" (pay) curtain. I'll try to disable BetterDisplay and see if the changes are permanent or not.

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