Dual Monitor Setup

[zamboknee]

I have a Retina MBP (Mid 2014) and an Elgato Thunderbolt 2 that I thought I could use for a dual monitor setup. I got a Displayport/thunderbolt cable to HDMI adapter (monitor 1) and a regular HDMI (monitor 2) in hopes of plugging both of these into the Elgato but turns out that the Elgato won't support minidisplayport to HDMI when another HDMI is plugged in for another monitor.
I COULD just plug the Displayport/thunderbolt adapter into a thunderbolt on side of macbook pro but I wanted to be able to just plug in the elgato and go but it isn't looking like that's possible.
Anyone have any recommendations on having a dual monitor setup with a closed Macbook Pro Retina and Elgato Thunderbolt 2?
Thanks

 

[Samuelsan2001]

I have a Retina MBP (Mid 2014) and an Elgato Thunderbolt 2 that I thought I could use for a dual monitor setup. I got a Displayport/thunderbolt cable to HDMI adapter (monitor 1) and a regular HDMI (monitor 2) in hopes of plugging both of these into the Elgato but turns out that the Elgato won't support minidisplayport to HDMI when another HDMI is plugged in for another monitor.
I COULD just plug the Displayport/thunderbolt adapter into a thunderbolt on side of macbook pro but I wanted to be able to just plug in the elgato and go but it isn't looking like that's possible.
Anyone have any recommendations on having a dual monitor setup with a closed Macbook Pro Retina and Elgato Thunderbolt 2?
Thanks

No the Elgato thunderbolt 2 dock specifically states it can't do what you want in the blurb, unless one of your monitors is thunderbolt enable in which case you may be able to daisy chain another monitor.

 

[zamboknee]

No the Elgato thunderbolt 2 dock specifically states it can't do what you want in the blurb, unless one of your monitors is thunderbolt enable in which case you may be able to daisy chain another monitor.

any recommendations?

 

[BoneDaddy]

Dualhead2go ME... Bought mine used for 50 bucks and though it worked fine, I sent it in under warranty for a new one. Otherwise, you're looking at 150-200 dollars. I use it in conjunction with the OWC TB dock.

 

[JTToft]

StarTech has a Thunderbolt 2 dock with support for two DisplayPort monitors. All other docks only support one, unless, as mentioned above, one is a Thunderbolt monitor, in which case all docks support two monitors.

https://www.startech.com/Cards-Adap...ations/thunderbolt-2-laptop-dock~TB2DOCK4K2DP

Otherwise, an external graphics solution such as the DualHead2Go mentioned above is your only option.
If you can, perhaps return the Elgato and get the StarTech?

 

[cheezeit]

I just plug all cables and 1 monitor into Elgato. Then one tb cable to MacBook, and second monitor is display to tb to MacBook. Only 2 cables, I can live with it. Not as bad as hooking all cables up

 

[BoneDaddy]

I just plug all cables and 1 monitor into Elgato. Then one tb cable to MacBook, and second monitor is display to tb to MacBook. Only 2 cables, I can live with it. Not as bad as hooking all cables up

I agree that it's not a big deal, but I also understand the OP wanting to be able to avoid that, and he should be able to. I absolutely love just plugging in one cable and EVERYTHING on my music desk is ready to go. I only plug in the second TB if I need my third monitor.

But if someone is going to spend 2-300 on a dock that is supposed to provide this solution, they shouldn't have to deal with doing things that they've spent money to avoid doing.

OP
In my opinion, the best bet is the Dualhead. Even if you decide to buy the Elgato, the Dualhead and the Elgato will go very nice together and you'll actually get 3 monitors out of the deal. Elgato out to one monitor, and Elgato out to Dualhead which goes to two monitors that extends into one long desktop. With Matrox powerdesk, changing from window to the next is convenient. But the biggest reason why I think it's good to have the Dualhead anyway, is that even in the absence of a doc and 2 TB ports, you'll still have two monitor possibility.

 

[zamboknee]

I agree that it's not a big deal, but I also understand the OP wanting to be able to avoid that, and he should be able to. I absolutely love just plugging in one cable and EVERYTHING on my music desk is ready to go. I only plug in the second TB if I need my third monitor.

But if someone is going to spend 2-300 on a dock that is supposed to provide this solution, they shouldn't have to deal with doing things that they've spent money to avoid doing.

OP
In my opinion, the best bet is the Dualhead. Even if you decide to buy the Elgato, the Dualhead and the Elgato will go very nice together and you'll actually get 3 monitors out of the deal. Elgato out to one monitor, and Elgato out to Dualhead which goes to two monitors that extends into one long desktop. With Matrox powerdesk, changing from window to the next is convenient. But the biggest reason why I think it's good to have the Dualhead anyway, is that even in the absence of a doc and 2 TB ports, you'll still have two monitor possibility.

With the Dualhead does that mean I have to use DVI coming out of monitors INTO dualhead?

 

[BoneDaddy]

No. I use the ME and DVI into HDMI on both monitors, which doesn't transfer audio, but as a musician, I have a setup for audio. You can also get the DP and use display to HDMI which does transfer audio.