mac studio to 2x 4k monitor? best way to connect?

[Chancha]

both monitors have usb c ports so if both are plugged into separate Thunderbolt ports on the max studio they will work to mirror or extend the displays?

looking for the best image quality and don’t care to use up 2 of the 4 Thunderbolt ports.

thanks in advance.

You can choose either or both to be mirror or extended independently, macOS will just see them as discrete displays.

The only scenario I know of that will "force" mirroring is on DisplayPort daisy chaining over DSC where macOS does not officially support (but that is out of the scope of this discussion).

Although HDMI is supposed to work fine but my experience is that avoiding HDMI at all and stick with DisplayPort (over type-C in your case) is going to be more stable and less likely to compromise in "image quality" (eg. the mini is known to not behave well with HDMI monitors due to EDID mismatch and then losing RGB output ability etc.)

 

[Akapplefan]

You can choose either or both to be mirror or extended independently, macOS will just see them as discrete displays.

The only scenario I know of that will "force" mirroring is on DisplayPort daisy chaining over DSC where macOS does not officially support (but that is out of the scope of this discussion).

Although HDMI is supposed to work fine but my experience is that avoiding HDMI at all and stick with DisplayPort (over type-C in your case) is going to be more stable and less likely to compromise in "image quality" (eg. the mini is known to not behave well with HDMI monitors due to EDID mismatch and then losing RGB output ability etc.)

Thanks for the help.

will test it out when i get the Mac studio.

currently i am using a MacBook Pro 14“ hooked up to the 2 monitors via an anker apex tb4 dock. When I plug both monitors separately into the thunderbolt Ports on the dock my Mac mirrors the image on both displays and it doesn’t recognize them as separate displays. So only solution is to plug one into the tb port and the other via hdmi.

hope the Mac studio is different and will recognize as 2 separate displays?
does that make sense?

 

[PianoPro]

Do I even need an adapter at all?

Or can I just go:

Usb c (from the monitor) to thunderbolt port on Mac.

Usb c (from the monitor) to thunderbolt port on Mac.

Don't need a TB to dual HDMI/DisplayPort adapter if you want to use up 2nd TB port. May depend on how many monitors you actually want to run. I'll only use 3 monitors with one on an HDMI port and 2 on a TB port.

 

[PianoPro]

currently i am using a MacBook Pro 14“ hooked up to the 2 monitors via an anker apex tb4 dock. When I plug both monitors separately into the thunderbolt Ports on the dock my Mac mirrors the image on both displays and it doesn’t recognize them as separate displays. So only solution is to plug one into the tb port and the other via hdmi.

hope the Mac studio is different and will recognize as 2 separate displays?

That's because you are using a USB-C to dual monitor adapter that has an internal MST (Multi Stream Transport) hub that Mac OS do not support. You need a TB adapter like the one I linked to above.

 

[Akapplefan]

Don't need a TB to dual HDMI/DisplayPort adapter if you want to use up 2nd TB port. May depend on how many monitors you actually want to run. I'll only use 3 monitors with one on an HDMI port and 2 on a TB port.

Only need to connect 2 monitors max.

 

[Chancha]

Or to give him a more comforting answer: attaching the display directly to the Mac Studio TB ports, will get rid of potential limits usually found in 3rd party docks and adaptors. Realistically only for people running out of TB4 ports would they really need a dock to route displays.

 

[Akapplefan]

That's because you are using a USB-C to dual monitor adapter that has an internal MST (Multi Stream Transport) hub that Mac OS do not support. You need a TB adapter like the one I linked to above.

i got it now. So because i won’t be using a dock with the Mac studio it will recognize the monitors and therefore can control them as intended in system preferences.

 

[Akapplefan]

Or to give him a more comforting answer: attaching the display directly to the Mac Studio TB ports, will get rid of potential limits usually found in 3rd party docks and adaptors. Realistically only for people running out of TB4 ports would they really need a dock to route displays.

This makes sense thanks!

what was throwing me off was my issues with the 3rd party anker dock.

 

[yycguy]

I have 2 x LG 32UN880-B and I use USB-C input in both of them. The LG 32UN880-B comes with USB-C and DisplayPort cables. With the Mac Studio you only need to use 2 of the 4 Thunderbolt 4 ports for the two monitors then you have 2 spare ports for other peripherals.

Who is the man? You are the man for having 2 of these. I have one, bought 9 months ago and love it.

 

[Canezmd]

Problem is that using 2 usb to dp with the same monitor… the studio can’t remember which one is where! When it wakes up, sometimes it puts the right one on the left and vice versa. You’re constantly going into settings and correcting the location of the monitors.

 

[PianoPro]

Problem is that using 2 usb to dp with the same monitor… the studio can’t remember which one is where! When it wakes up, sometimes it puts the right one on the left and vice versa. You’re constantly going into settings and correcting the location of the monitors.

Did you try one to DP and one to HDMI? I had two to HDMI and only got rid of the problem by switching one to DVI (which I'm guessing you don't have).

 

[Canezmd]

Did you try one to DP and one to HDMI? I had two to HDMI and only got rid of the problem by switching one to DVI (which I'm guessing you don't have).

Yes, I just switched to that setup. It's working so far.

Super annoying that we can't run 2 DP cables without issues... especially on a Mac that's made for multiple monitors.

Does this happen with multiple studio displays???

I only use 2 displays, what kind of chaos would 4 screens be with them scrambling every time the Mac sleeps, reboots or changes users!!!

 

[Sepphod]

I have a new Mac Studio with 2 Dells P2415Q with Displayport 1.2. I bought Cable Matters USB C to DP1.4. The Mac Studio won't detect the display on any TB4 port. But I can see the cable in the system report. Any ideas why this happens? For any hint regarding a USB C to DP cable are welcomed

thx

 

[Sepphod]

ok I did a restart and yeah now it works. weird.. anyway thx