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Dock Recommendation - Dual Monitor for M1 Pro

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Pete80

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Hi, I'd like to be able to connect my 2021 MacBook Pro (with M1 Pro chip) with a single USB-C or Thunderbolt cable, to natively support dual monitors and charging, without needing multiple cables plugged into the laptop. Is this possible please, and if so can anyone recommend a suitable dock where they have been able to get this to work?

From what I can tell if I'm using a USB-C dock I am limited to one monitor per connection, so to use dual monitors I either need a Thunderbolt dock, or separate connections to the laptop for each monitor (whether 2x USB-C, USB-C + HDMI, etc) - is this correct?

My wish list:
- Single connection to the laptop that provides power, both monitors, other accessories such as external sound card and audio interface, etc, without needing multiple cables
- Something that natively recognises both monitors on the laptop without extra drivers or workarounds (i.e. avoiding the need for 3rd party Displaylink drivers)
- Preferably, something that will work with a windows laptop too, so I can easily swap my own Mac laptop for my work laptop (Dell running Windows 10, also with USB-C/Thunderbolt port)

Thanks!
Pete
 
Exactly, you'll need a Thunderbolt dock. Any Caldigit TB3/TB4 dock with at least 1 HDMI or preferably DisplayPort output will work. You can plug the second monitor into a free TB port on the dock with a USB-C-to-DP adapter (cable).
 
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I have a Caldigit TS4 -- connects my 14" MBP M1 Pro to two 5K Studio Displays, a CD/DVD-R drive, an external SSD, ethernet, wired keyboard and audio, all with a single Thunderbolt 4 cable. And it keeps my MBP charged. It's been 100% problem-free since the day I bought it.

Prior to the TS4, I had an OWC Thunderbolt 4 dock. That one gave me trouble with the ethernet port dropping its connection periodically, but did include a third TB4 out port. It also only had a front-mounted audio jack which kind of got in the way, while the TS4 has rear jacks for speakers/mic and a front jack for headsets.
 
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