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2013 MacBook air with two external monitor

Thanks for reporting back coolguy. Has anyone else tried it with the one of the other USB 3.0 display adapters such as Plugable or Startech? User reviews on Amazon seem to indicate that this works well, according to the setup below:

1. Native MiniDP -> DP of Display 1
2. USB 3.0 Display adapter (Plugable/Startech) -> DVI of Display 2

I'm thinking about using this setup. I have a 2010 MBA, waiting for results on this first before I pull the trigger on the 2013 MBA. Thoughts?

Plugable Display Adapter

entatirg: Not sure if the i7 would contribute much else - I'd imagine the performance would be based on the GPU/graphics power. In this case, an Intel HD5000 (on both i5 and i7).
 
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Surely there's some thunderbolt dock you can buy, and plug TB to DVI adapters into that?
 
technowar said:
Has anyone looked into Belkin's TB Express Dock?
Click to expand...

The TB express dock is great, and I use it, BUT it's not suited for two displays. While they advertise "2 thunderbolt ports," and technically, it is true, the fact is you have to use one of those ports to plug IN to the dock, and the other is used for downstream daisy chaining. So, once you've plugged in, you only have one usable port for adding a display or additional hardware.

You could try adding a USB 3.0 display, but I have a feeling it'll be just as choppy as the Toshiba.

The definitive test will have to be someone with a Thunderbolt display and a second display to daisy chain off of it.
 
So has anybody tried the new MBA '13 running 2 external displays with the USB3 adapter? (aka Plugable or Startech USB -> DVI adapters)

I'm curious if there's any noticeable performance decreases?
 
I think the best bet for this is to use a Matrox DualHead2Go box. This will let you run two displays simultaneously.

I haven't been able to find a whole lot on Matrox's products online, but the little information I've seen looks promising (the only problem is they are a bit pricey).

I've tried connecting a second display via USB and it's a terrible experience (granted, I'm on a 2012 MBA and the adapter I used was USB 2), but that bit of lag and dropped frames and everything just wasn't ideal.
 
Thanks to coolguy1 for posting those experiences - you saved me a fair bit of time! I guess we just sit back and wait for Mavericks and pray.
 
Hi, I took a punt and bought a J5 USB to VGA connector to add another LG 27" monitor. I have previously setup a Thunderbolt to VGA adapter which is working well. Result is brilliant. I have read through the various forums etc and the Apple Genius Bar said no way two external monitors would work, even with a mid-2012 Macbook Air. I thought I should log in and let people know that is rubbish. I just ran video on both screens, there is no lag or loss of frame rate other people seem to had. The only issue, slight, was adjusting the screen resolution. Go to System Prefs and the second screen adjustment box on the second monitor allows you to fix that. Two monitors with the Macbook Air sitting in clamshell mode is pretty cool.
 
scoot40 - that's great news!

Is the J5 USB-VGA a usb 2.0 or 3.0 setup?

Also, I know one of them is 27" but what's the size of the other monitor you're powering? And can you offer some specs of your current mid-2012 MBA?

Hearing about your success makes me want to get a Plugable USB 3.0 - DVI adapater to power my two 24" Dells.

Thanks for reporting in!
 
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It Sucks, we can't even get a proper dual screen setup or a docking stations like the DELL :(
 
so I finally got my AOC 22 inch USB monitor and it does work in addition to the ASUS PB238 IPS display I'm running off my display port/thunderbolt connection. I even am using the displaypad app with my first gen iPad to have 4 screens running in total with my macbook air (air screen, ASUS displayport, AOC USB, and iPad Wifi). It's pretty sweet and convenient having all this space now lol
 
This is my setup that works with no lag that I can see on my i5 macbook air 2013:

2 external displays (benq gw2750h 1080p, has vga/dvi/hdmi inputs)

1 is connected with a displayport->hdmi adaptor I got on ebay for $2.
other monitor is connected via dvi with a EVGA UV Plus 39 adaptor (usb).

The EVGA UV Plus 39 adaptor supports 2 monitors (dvi and hdmi) at same time but I did not test this. I bought it for $70 today at a local pc store.
 
jweiix said:
scoot40 - that's great news!

Is the J5 USB-VGA a usb 2.0 or 3.0 setup?

Also, I know one of them is 27" but what's the size of the other monitor you're powering? And can you offer some specs of your current mid-2012 MBA?

Hearing about your success makes me want to get a Plugable USB 3.0 - DVI adapater to power my two 24" Dells.

Thanks for reporting in!
Click to expand...

Jweiix, sorry for the slow reply. Not sure if its 3.0 assume it is, how do you tell? Both monitors are LG 27" The Macbook Air is 13" mid-2012, 8gb 1600 MHz DDR3, Intel Graphics 4000 512MB. The setup is a necessity I reckon. Give it a shot your Dell's should work.
 
just tried the plugable 3.0 to hdmi adapter on my 2013 mba i5 4gb with dell 2412m 1920x1200.

noticed significant lag on fullscreen youtube video ~0.5sec. viewing in browser is not too bad, so it might be that i5 is not powerful enough, or driver needs to be more efficient.

tried different resolutions, less lag with lower resolution as expected.

also tested j5 usb 2 to vga before bought plugable. lag is worse than with plugable. could see shadows when moving windows around.
 
Dandu said:
I use that at work, but it's not very interessant : Mac OS X see one screen with a big definition, not two different screen.
Click to expand...

I actually don't have a problem with spanning across two monitors. Is that the only negative you have about it?

Information about the zotac is difficult to find.
 
This is a problem with the Dock, if you chosse to place it down.

And i have a problem with two old 1600x1200 screen, Mac OS X see a 3200x1200 screen (it's OK), but the display say that there are in 1920x1200.

With two 1080p display, no problem.
 
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