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Pressure

macrumors 603
May 30, 2006
5,182
1,545
Denmark
You forgot to double the height.

8K 30Hz 8bpc is doable with a single tile HBR3 connection.
8K 60Hz 8bpc is the max with two tiles HBR3 3840x4320

The UP3218K does not support DSC. Does it support 10 bpc? The specs and EDIDs say yes (1.07 billion colors = 2^30).
For 10bpc, the options are:
8K 24Hz single cable.
8K 48Hz dual cable.

Intel Macs that support DisplayPort 1.4 can do the single cable options already (you have to override the EDID - remove Apple's override - to restore the 8K options).
Of course. If only they had used DSC.
 

arossco

macrumors newbie
Jul 4, 2014
22
13
This is especially ironic because Apple invented the concept. My 1987 Macintosh II was capable of using up to 6 displays if you installed 6 NuBus graphics cards. Talk about being ahead of its time!

Anyway, multiple displays for creative professionals was possible from the earliest days of the Mac (even before the Mac II you could install graphics cards in certain Macs).

I don't know what Apple was thinking if they weren't testing for multiple screen setups even on their base models. It's understandable they chose to not support it, but being confused about it is just rediculous.
I added a second monitor ( Colour VGA ) to my Mac SE/30 back in 1990, using an expansion card in the PDS slot. Was totally amazing to see back then !
 

jqc

macrumors 6502
Jun 30, 2007
394
204
Does this mean both the Dells are running 2560x1440?
Is the 50Hz due to the monitors or due to the displaylink hub? I just checked my Dell monitors, they are running at 60Hz in Windows.
Is this the Pro or Air? Did the fans kick in?
Thank you.
yes both are running 2560 at 50hz - I think 50hz is a limitation of a the dock. Its a pro and the fans did not kick in.
 

joevt

macrumors 604
Jun 21, 2012
6,967
4,262
OWC put out a press release saying their docks have compatibility with the M1 macs. Can anyone confirm this? If so, I will order one as a dual monitor setup is important for my workflow.
The OWC docks do not add DisplayPort inputs so no additional displays can be supported using their docks.

LG 5K Ultrafine will only do 4K??? Ugh.
CORRECTION: M1 Macs have two DisplayPort connections to Thunderbolt, which can be used to provide full resolution (5K) on a tiled display like the LG UltraFine 5K, Dell UP2715K, or HP Z27q. But the two DisplayPort connections cannot be used to connect two separate displays. Whether a display is tiled or not, only one can be connected via Thunderbolt. This has been tested with a HP Z27q that can show the input resolution in its on screen menu. ioreg output confirms this for the LG UltraFine 5K. ioreg also confirms DSC for the 6K case.

I wonder if Apple made the second DisplayPort connection unusable for a second display so that they no longer have to write specs that say you can only connect half the number of 5K displays as 4K displays? Nuts.
 

lightfire

macrumors regular
Aug 10, 2017
143
30
With this 1440p monitor, is there a dock recommended that will give higher refresh rates of 144 Hz with a USB-C and displayport adaptor?
Thinking on getting this one to go with my MBP that should arrive in a couple of weeks.
 

Morfling

macrumors newbie
Nov 21, 2020
1
0
Does this mean both the Dells are running 2560x1440?
Is the 50Hz due to the monitors or due to the displaylink hub? I just checked my Dell monitors, they are running at 60Hz in Windows.
Is this the Pro or Air? Did the fans kick in?
Thank you.
I am curious if the dock can do 4K 3840x2160. That would be amazing as 3rd display (external) via DisplayLink.
 

Pressure

macrumors 603
May 30, 2006
5,182
1,545
Denmark
The OWC docks do not add DisplayPort inputs so no additional displays can be supported using their docks.


CORRECTION: M1 Macs have two DisplayPort connections to Thunderbolt, which can be used to provide full resolution (5K) on a tiled display like the LG UltraFine 5K, Dell UP2715K, or HP Z27q. But the two DisplayPort connections cannot be used to connect two separate displays. Whether a display is tiled or not, only one can be connected via Thunderbolt. This has been tested with a HP Z27q that can show the input resolution in its on screen menu. ioreg output confirms this for the LG UltraFine 5K. ioreg also confirms DSC for the 6K case.

I wonder if Apple made the second DisplayPort connection unusable for a second display so that they no longer have to write specs that say you can only connect half the number of 5K displays as 4K displays? Nuts.
Are you saying we can connect two Thunderbolt 3 to DisplayPort 1.4 cables and get the full bandwidth (32.4Gbps per Thunderbolt port) for a tiled display or are we still restricted by the 40Gbps bandwidth from the Thunderbolt controller?
 

joevt

macrumors 604
Jun 21, 2012
6,967
4,262
Are you saying we can connect two Thunderbolt 3 to DisplayPort 1.4 cables and get the full bandwidth (32.4Gbps per Thunderbolt port) for a tiled display or are we still restricted by the 40Gbps bandwidth from the Thunderbolt controller?
So far, only two DisplayPort from a single Thunderbolt port of the M1 Mac mini has been tested - using a HP Z27q 5K dual link SST tiled display.

The 40 Gbps limit is per Thunderbolt port. It's not possible to use the entire 80 Gbps though. I'm still waiting for someone to test RAID of two Thunderbolt NVMe drives. I expect the RAID to do near 5000 MB/s which may be under 40 Gbps still. To use more bandwidth requires adding DisplayPort signals to the mix - probably a dual cable display like the HP Z27q or Dell UP2715K would be best (unless the Dell UP3218K magically starts working) since the M1 Macs can only connect one display, and 5K is more bandwidth than 4K, and 6K uses HBR2 with DSC which is less bandwidth than 5K without DSC - with one DisplayPort connection per port (if that's possible - needs testing). Then add the two NVMe Thunderbolt devices in software RAID - that should break the 40 Gbps barrier.
 
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Pressure

macrumors 603
May 30, 2006
5,182
1,545
Denmark
So far, only two DisplayPort from a single Thunderbolt port of the M1 Mac mini has been tested - using a HP Z27q 5K dual link SST tiled display.

The 40 Gbps limit is per Thunderbolt port. It's not possible to use the entire 80 Gbps though. I'm still waiting for someone to test RAID of two Thunderbolt NVMe drives. I expect the RAID to do near 5000 MB/s which may be under 40 Gbps still. To use more bandwidth requires adding DisplayPort signals to the mix - probably a dual cable display like the HP Z27q or Dell UP2715K would be best (unless the Dell UP3218K magically starts working) since the M1 Macs can only connect one display, and 5K is more bandwidth than 4K, and 6K uses HBR2 with DSC which is less bandwidth than 5K without DSC - with one DisplayPort connection per port (if that's possible - needs testing). Then add the two NVMe Thunderbolt devices in software RAID - that should break the 40 Gbps barrier.
Ok, I suppose we could test it with these cables and the UP3218K?
 

joevt

macrumors 604
Jun 21, 2012
6,967
4,262
Ok, I suppose we could test it with these cables and the UP3218K?
Yes, that's the idea. Any DisplayPort 1.4 USB-C to DisplayPort cables should be sufficient.

Modes to test (the manual doesn't mention resolutions between 4K and 8K but maybe it can work if the display has a scaler capable of scaling lower resolutions to 3840x4320).
5K tiled dual cable (10 bpc)
5K single cable (8 bpc)
6K tiled dual cable (10 bpc)
8K30Hz single cable (8 bpc)
8K60Hz tiled dual cable (8 bpc)

Does the UP3218K have picture by picture mode? The manual does not mention the ability to connect two different DisplayPort signals but it seems that it works : #24 With the M1 Mac, you might need a second computer (unless you want to try DisplayLink or HDMI to DisplayPort for the other half...)
half 4K: 1920x2160
half 5K: 2560x2880
half 6K: 3008x3384
half 8K: 3840x4320

The odds that dual cable will work is like 10:1 against.
 

joevt

macrumors 604
Jun 21, 2012
6,967
4,262
There is a beta of SwitchResX 4.11 currently being worked on. I haven't tried it yet.
 

MK500

macrumors 6502
Aug 28, 2009
434
550

hunkster

macrumors member
Nov 19, 2020
58
23
For DisplayLInk, this dock works extremely well on my M1 Air for 2 displays (up to 4K). It is only $140. Only downside is you need to charge separately (It does not charge your Mac).

Thanks for the recommendation. Does this Dock support only USA voltages or can it do UK/Singapore voltages?
 

MK500

macrumors 6502
Aug 28, 2009
434
550
Does this Dock support only USA voltages or can it do UK/Singapore voltages?
Here are the specs printed on the power supply:
IMG_6291.JPG
 
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hunkster

macrumors member
Nov 19, 2020
58
23
For DisplayLInk, this dock works extremely well on my M1 Air for 2 displays (up to 4K). It is only $140. Only downside is you need to charge separately (It does not charge your Mac).

Does this have any setup steps like the macbook air needs to be unplugged from the DisplayLink before powering up? How about sleeping and waking from the macbook air, do the monitors function ok or need to be nursed a bit?
 

Domino8282

macrumors 6502a
Apr 22, 2010
983
196
Southeast USA
Can anyone recommend a reasonably-priced ultrawide display that will work properly with the M1 MBA? And I don’t suppose there’s any software that can trick Big Sur into treating an ultrawide as two separate monitors in extended mode?
 

MK500

macrumors 6502
Aug 28, 2009
434
550
Does this have any setup steps like the macbook air needs to be unplugged from the DisplayLink before powering up? How about sleeping and waking from the macbook air, do the monitors function ok or need to be nursed a bit?
I’m going to give the quick answer and then do a follow-up post where I test this thoroughly.

Using my default setup which is:
MacBook -> USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter -> DisplayLink dock via USB

Everything is dead simple. Close MacBook to sleep. Then just turn on dock, plug single cable into MacBook, tap a key and you are up in a few seconds (monitors take a few seconds to wake from low power). Just unplug and open screen to go back to mobile. Switch off dock. I can repeat this procedure over and over with no flakiness.

When docked at my desk I can put the system to sleep from the Apple menu and my displays go to sleep. If I later hit any key it takes approximately 5 seconds for my displays to wake (go from red light to green). This is normal for my two 1440p displays no matter what I have connected to them.

So I find this a very production-ready solution.

BUT, I have begun testing using the dock only (no Multiport adapter). I’m doing this because I know some of you may run this way to save some money, although I don’t recommend it for performance reasons. It is a bit flaky this way. Examples: The internal screen is still shown in “arrange” even when in clamshell. Unplugging the laptop can result in some “phantom displays”. I have a feeling all of this can be worked around; but wanted to report.

I’ll go into all this in more detail when I have had time to do a full assessment. For now I recommend spending the extra on the Multiport adapter + Displaylink dock to keep things smooth and easy.
 
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dieselm

macrumors regular
Jun 9, 2009
195
125
The cable used to connect the LG 5K Ultrafine (model 27md5ka) to the M1 Macbook matters. It definitely supports 5K with an official Apple thunderbolt 3 cable.

I bought the monitor used. The cable from the seller was a USB-C type cable which only connected at 4K. Usb-c cables look identical despite differences in power and bandwidth. You can get thrown off because it won't fail. It just works at a lower resolution.
 

Idec50

macrumors regular
Feb 22, 2019
108
50
TX
Can anyone recommend a reasonably-priced ultrawide display that will work properly with the M1 MBA? And I don’t suppose there’s any software that can trick Big Sur into treating an ultrawide as two separate monitors in extended mode?

Any of the Dells, 3415/3417/3419. You don't need the monitor to charge your laptop, so TB3 is not needed. What you have mentioned about software is fascinating. Still, I think you'd want it to optionally treat the external monitor as three monitors (usually content is narrow enough to fit three windows). I'll let you know what I've done, but please let me know if you find a better solution ...

So, I use Magnet for snapping by dragging (I turn off Magnet's hotkeys). I then disable dragging in BetterTouchTools but use it to create some hotkeys. I use ⌥ + 1 for left third, ⌥ + 2 for middle third, ⌥ + 3 for right third, ⌥ + q for left half, ⌥ + w for right half. This makes a ton of sense. I even jump around safari tabs and windows across each of these window locations using the 'swift window switcher' for Alfred, but that's not required.

Where it gets tricky is with the default window buttons (the green button goes to full-screen, which then creates a new desktop space and blows up everything you've done to manage the windows). Using BTT, I remap the left-click green button to "maximize window," which just enlarges it without creating an extra fullscreen desktop space (you could then put the default to right-click). I find there are many design decisions in macOS that work best with a single small screen ...
 
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