Connecting Dual Studio Displays: One or 2 Thunderbolt ports?

[GooseInTheCaboose]

If you want to use dual Apple Studio Displays with an M1Pro MBP, is it possible to daisy chain the displays and only plug ONE cable into the MBP, occupying just a single thunderbolt port, to charge the MBP as well as supply content to BOTH displays? Or do you need to use 2 thunderbolt ports on the MBP, one for each display?

 

[kboller07]

One for each display. Each studio display has only one thunderbolt port so in theory if you daisy chained them, you would have no way to connect even one to your MacBook Pro.

 

[joevt]

Use a Thunderbolt 4 hub to connect two of Apple Studio Display or Apple Pro Display XDR to a single Thunderbolt port of an M1 Pro Or Max or Ultra.

 

[GooseInTheCaboose]

Does it work well? Is there ever any lag from there not being enough bandwidrh in the one port?

 

[tstafford]

OP: Definitely requires a TB4 doc. And, while I could be wrong, the only TB4 doc I know of that supports dual 5K is the Caldigit TS4. Many support dual 4K of course.

 

[chrfr]

OP: Definitely requires a TB4 doc. And, while I could be wrong, the only TB4 doc I know of that supports dual 5K is the Caldigit TS4. Many support dual 4K of course.

Pretty much any Thunderbolt 4 dock will work. Sonnet lists theirs as supporting 2 x 5k, for instance.

Echo 11 Thunderbolt 4 Dock

Budget friendly Thunderbolt 4 docking station with four Thunderbolt ports, three 10Gbps USB 3 and one USB 2.0 ports, GbE port, combo audio jack, SD card slot, and dual display support. Compatible with Mac, Windows, Chromebook, and iPad Pro.

www.sonnetstore.com

Edit: you can spend less and just use the Sonnet Echo 5. I’m surprised that the Caldigit Element Hub doesn’t show support for dual 5k displays since it’s fundamentally the same thing.

 

[tstafford]

Pretty much any Thunderbolt 4 dock will work. Sonnet lists theirs as supporting 2 x 5k, for instance.

Echo 11 Thunderbolt 4 Dock

Budget friendly Thunderbolt 4 docking station with four Thunderbolt ports, three 10Gbps USB 3 and one USB 2.0 ports, GbE port, combo audio jack, SD card slot, and dual display support. Compatible with Mac, Windows, Chromebook, and iPad Pro.

www.sonnetstore.com

Edit: you can spend less and just use the Sonnet Echo 5. I’m surprised that the Caldigit Element Hub doesn’t show support for dual 5k displays since it’s fundamentally the same thing.

Thanks for clarifying that. When I was searching I never came across that one. Nice to see an option that specifically says it supports dual 5K. I never found one that did - they all said dual 4K (but maybe they could do more I guess). (And I was not loving the price nor availability of the Caldigit at the time)

 

[joevt]

Thanks for clarifying that. When I was searching I never came across that one. Nice to see an option that specifically says it supports dual 5K. I never found one that did - they all said dual 4K (but maybe they could do more I guess). (And I was not loving the price nor availability of the Caldigit at the time)

They all support dual 5K and dual 6K for displays that use DisplayPort 1.4 HBR2 x4 with DSC such as the Apple Studio Display and the Apple Pro Display XDR.

The Mac just needs to be able to output two HBR2 x4 with DSC DisplayPort 1.4 signals to the same Thunderbolt port. M1/M2 (not Max or Pro or Ultra) only support one display from Thunderbolt. Some older Intel Macs don't support DSC.

Only one LG UltraFine 5K because it requires two HBR2 x4 signals.
For Macs that don't support DSC, the Apple Studio Display requires two HBR2 x4 signals (like the LG UltraFine 5K) and the XDR requires two HBR3 x4 signals.