13'' M1 Macbook Pro vs 13'' Intel 10th Gen Macbook Pro

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Can someone explain me why people now claim that the only 2 Thunderbolt is a dealbreaker? I mean the lack of ports on Apple devices is an issue ever since. Don't tell me that you don't have a USB-C dock with all ports you need. You can get for 40$ a dock with 3-4USB-A and additional USB-C, HDMI, card reader, Ethernet and so on. I don't think that anyone is shocked anymore by that. (And having said that, I still think it's annoying, especially if now all ports are on the same side.)

2 ports - 2 monitors
4 ports - 4 monitors
MacOS doesn't support multiple monitors over single TB connection, unless mirrored

 

[bill-p]

2 ports - 2 monitors
4 ports - 4 monitors
MacOS doesn't support multiple monitors over single TB connection, unless mirrored

That's not true. Here's 6 connected to the M1 Mac Mini, or 5 connected to the MacBook Air/Pro.

Granted, not everything is going through Thunderbolt, but there is no such limit as 2 ports = 2 monitors.

 

[belink]

That's not true. Here's 6 connected to the M1 Mac Mini, or 5 connected to the MacBook Air/Pro.

Granted, not everything is going through Thunderbolt, but there is no such limit as 2 ports = 2 monitors.

Nice twist but that is not the context of reply. MBP has 2 ports only - thus only 2 monitors possible. Question was why MBP with 4 ports is better option. Because it provides option to connect 2 extra monitors.

Looks like macOS does not support DisplayLink MST unless it was fixed in big sur:

Apple Macbook Dual Monitor MST

I was looking into buying dual monitors for my Mid 2012 non-Retina MacBook. I really liked the looks of the Dell UltraSharp 24 (U2414H) According to Dell, the Monitor supports MST for the Display ...

apple.stackexchange.com

I guess using Display Link manager provides a workaround but there are some additional steps needed. Like you have to start Display Link Manager before using this setup. Also it is not workaround from Apple but from third party. That means I'm not sure what downsides are without using it on a daily basis. Also no guarantee it will be supported next tiome Apple upgrade or update OS. And it definitely did not go through Aplle QA cycle.

Anyway, good to know.

 

[bill-p]

Did you even watch the video? Try at 3 minutes in. Here:

He tested the MacBook Air with 2 ports. It supports up to 5 displays plus its own internal display. So that's a total of 6.
The MacBook Pro works pretty much the same way.

 

[belink]

Did you even watch the video? Try at 3 minutes in. Here:

He tested the MacBook Air with 2 ports. It supports up to 5 displays plus its own internal display. So that's a total of 6.
The MacBook Pro works pretty much the same way.

Yep, updated comment above

 

[bill-p]

Yep, updated comment above

Again, did you watch the video? The MacBook Air is using just one Thunderbolt 3 port... going to a CalDigit dock.

So only 1 port is enough. The downside is really just that you have to set up DisplayLink.

Your link even says that Apple added support for MST since 10.10.3... and we're on MacOS 11. It's been ages.

I don't think Apple will suddenly rescind support for MST since it's a standard of DisplayPort 1.2, not some optional thing that they can just decide to "not support". So the fact that DisplayLink works means the hardware always supported the feature, just that the OS doesn't do it (natively) yet. I'd bet Apple will eventually introduce this feature when later Apple Silicon Macs come out. There's really no reason why the M1 shouldn't be able to support more than 2 displays through a single Thunderbolt 3 connector.

 

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Again, did you watch the video? The MacBook Air is using just one Thunderbolt 3 port... going to a CalDigit dock.

So only 1 port is enough. The downside is really just that you have to set up DisplayLink.

Your link even says that Apple added support for MST since 10.10.3... and we're on MacOS 11. It's been ages.

I don't think Apple will suddenly rescind support for MST since it's a standard of DisplayPort 1.2, not some optional thing that they can just decide to "not support". So the fact that DisplayLink works means the hardware always supported the feature, just that the OS doesn't do it (natively) yet. I'd bet Apple will eventually introduce this feature when later Apple Silicon Macs come out. There's really no reason why the M1 shouldn't be able to support more than 2 displays through a single Thunderbolt 3 connector.

Practically next post in the link says:
Unfortunately it does appear to be limited to an MST display that relies on multiple streams like the 4K MST Displays mentioned further down on the Apple Support page, and not MST for chaining multiple DP1.2 Displays as I haven't been able to find any information about this being possible.

From my own testing with the new MacBook Pro 2016 13" with two thunderbolts ports, a StarTech DP 1.2 USB Type-C to DisplayPort cable, two Dell U2414H and a standard DisplayPort to DisplayPort cable to chain with, the display on the end of the chain just mirrors the other display. This is with DisplayPort 1.2 enabled in the settings on both displays.

Which seems to confirm that MST DisplayPort daisy chaining on OSX 10.12.2 on the 2016 MacBook Pro line is unsupported, with no sign of it getting supported anytime soon.

 

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Practically next post in the link says:
Unfortunately it does appear to be limited to an MST display that relies on multiple streams like the 4K MST Displays mentioned further down on the Apple Support page, and not MST for chaining multiple DP1.2 Displays as I haven't been able to find any information about this being possible.

From my own testing with the new MacBook Pro 2016 13" with two thunderbolts ports, a StarTech DP 1.2 USB Type-C to DisplayPort cable, two Dell U2414H and a standard DisplayPort to DisplayPort cable to chain with, the display on the end of the chain just mirrors the other display. This is with DisplayPort 1.2 enabled in the settings on both displays.

Which seems to confirm that MST DisplayPort daisy chaining on OSX 10.12.2 on the 2016 MacBook Pro line is unsupported, with no sign of it getting supported anytime soon.

It didn’t work fr me with MBP2019 and Mojave

 

[bill-p]

It didn’t work fr me with MBP2019 and Mojave

Here you go:

Other folks have been able to get it to work. I know I was able to daisy chain 2 Thunderbolt 3 4K displays with my 2018 13" MacBook Pro. Now I have a single ultrawide monitor, but I'm fairly certain MST worked for daisy chaining Thunderbolt 2/3 displays.

Perhaps that's what you need to get: Thunderbolt 3 rather than USB-C to DisplayPort 1.2 adapters.

 

[belink]

Here you go:

Other folks have been able to get it to work. I know I was able to daisy chain 2 Thunderbolt 3 4K displays with my 2018 13" MacBook Pro. Now I have a single ultrawide monitor, but I'm fairly certain MST worked for daisy chaining Thunderbolt 2/3 displays.

Perhaps that's what you need to get: Thunderbolt 3 rather than USB-C to DisplayPort 1.2 adapters.

Well it is great when you have TB3 displays. I have multiple Dell 24 inchers with DP and HDMI inputs only.

Quick search hints that issue still not resolved in Big Sur

https://www.reddit.com/r/MacOS/comments/hezpoz