Dual external displays (Yet another) monitor questions

[thasan]

hi all,
I have tried to look in to various forums and talked to genius in shops as well as had online chat with Apple people but couldn't seem to get a reliable answer. Hence my post.

I have a 2011 MBP that I am planning to replace with a touch bar 13 inch maxed out MBP.
I have been using an external display from iiyama prolite XB2779QS-1.

When I buy the new MBP, I want to have dual external displays (extended, not mirrored).
I understand that the best way is to get two USB C/Thunderbolt 3 displays, daisy chained. But this means by Iiyama display can't be used.

I was looking at various expensive docks last night and it seems some docks do support a variety of displays through a single USB C out. For example, the Kensington SD5000T. My questions is it really possible to connect any display using docks like these? If yes, which ones are most reliable and cheapest?
I don't want to get 4k or 5k externals. Just the current iiyama one and maybe another Standard 1920 res display.

Many thanks for reading

 

[Moriarty]

Mac OS does not support daisy-chained MST displays. The hardware is there, but the software just does not support it. You cannot daisy chain them, but you can still connect two displays to the one dock.

Many docks (such as Caldigit and Elgato) support one display via their DisplayPort output, and another through the second Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) port. This second display can be either a Thunderbolt 3 display, or connected with a USB-C to DisplayPort cable.

Any dock that advertises dual display support should in theory be able to do it this way.

 

[benboy12]

Mac OS does not support daisy-chained MST displays. The hardware is there, but the software just does not support it. You cannot daisy chain them, but you can still connect two displays to the one dock.

Many docks (such as Caldigit and Elgato) support one display via their DisplayPort output, and another through the second Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) port. This second display can be either a Thunderbolt 3 display, or connected with a USB-C to DisplayPort cable.

Any dock that advertises dual display support should in theory be able to do it this way.

I thought most of these docks only had one Thunderbolt 3 in/ If that's the case, could you run dual display through the dock? I thought you could only run through the dock and the other would have to run through another thunderbolt 3 port on the MBP. I am interested in this myself. The only other solution I have seen is the henge dock because it has two USB-C inputs.

 

[Moriarty]

@benboy12 read the link to the Elgato dock in my post.

Most Thunderbolt 3 docks have two TB3 ports. One for input, one for output.

Thunderbolt 3 can output two separate DisplayPort streams from one port. You can either plug two 4K SST displays into a dock, thus each display gets one DisplayPort stream, or you can plug in a single 5K display (which requires MST, thus both DisplayPort streams are taken).

 

[BigTomCallaghan]

hi all,
I have tried to look in to various forums and talked to genius in shops as well as had online chat with Apple people but couldn't seem to get a reliable answer. Hence my post.

I have a 2011 MBP that I am planning to replace with a touch bar 13 inch maxed out MBP.
I have been using an external display from iiyama prolite XB2779QS-1.

When I buy the new MBP, I want to have dual external displays (extended, not mirrored).
I understand that the best way is to get two USB C/Thunderbolt 3 displays, daisy chained. But this means by Iiyama display can't be used.

I was looking at various expensive docks last night and it seems some docks do support a variety of displays through a single USB C out. For example, the Kensington SD5000T. My questions is it really possible to connect any display using docks like these? If yes, which ones are most reliable and cheapest?
I don't want to get 4k or 5k externals. Just the current iiyama one and maybe another Standard 1920 res display.

Many thanks for reading

I am in a similar situation to you - just got a TB MBP 13" (have it connected to a 43" 4K single external display though) and I got the Caldigit TB3 dock. It was quite expensive, but I am impressed with how well it works. It drives my 4K display at 60Hz over USB-C to HDMI and would have no problem driving another monitor through the DisplayPort connection. Think any of the well-reviewed, reliable docks should work well for you.

 

[thasan]

I am in a similar situation to you - just got a TB MBP 13" (have it connected to a 43" 4K single external display though) and I got the Caldigit TB3 dock. It was quite expensive, but I am impressed with how well it works. It drives my 4K display at 60Hz over USB-C to HDMI and would have no problem driving another monitor through the DisplayPort connection. Think any of the well-reviewed, reliable docks should work well for you.

Oh, Thats really great to hear! Do you mean this?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B06XC5RPLW

For these docs, can you run two normal (say HDMI or VGA) displays if you use the appropriate USB C to HDMI adaptors?
[doublepost=1502464251][/doublepost]

Mac OS does not support daisy-chained MST displays. The hardware is there, but the software just does not support it. You cannot daisy chain them, but you can still connect two displays to the one dock.

Many docks (such as Caldigit and Elgato) support one display via their DisplayPort output, and another through the second Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) port. This second display can be either a Thunderbolt 3 display, or connected with a USB-C to DisplayPort cable.

Any dock that advertises dual display support should in theory be able to do it this way.

So both can be non USB-C/thunderbolt, right? Many thanks for this! Sometimes it is so confusing

 

[BigTomCallaghan]

Oh, Thats really great to hear! Do you mean this?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B06XC5RPLW

For these docs, can you run two normal (say HDMI or VGA) displays if you use the appropriate USB C to HDMI adaptors?

That is the one. To answer your question: sort of. It has one Thunderbolt 3 output, which you can get an adapter to go to HDMI or Displayport or whatever, and in addition to that, one dedicated Displayport, which you could hypothetically also use a dongle on to get your preferred connection.

So (1) USB-C to HDMI and (2) Displayport to anything would drive 2 monitors @ up to 4K / 60Hz.

 

[thasan]

That is the one. To answer your question: sort of. It has one Thunderbolt 3 output, which you can get an adapter to go to HDMI or Displayport or whatever, and in addition to that, one dedicated Displayport, which you could hypothetically also use a dongle on to get your preferred connection.

So (1) USB-C to HDMI and (2) Displayport to anything would drive 2 monitors @ up to 4K / 60Hz.

Thanks a ton!

 

[uncle.zed]

sorry wrong thread....