Dual external non-apple monitors on MBP?

[Delizie]

Hello

I currently have an early 11, 13" MBP as well as a Dell Ultrasharp U2414H. I daisy-chain second Ultrasharp monitor seeing as they are equipped with DisplayPort-out (MST).

Question is - do the Macbook support that, or am i stuck with only 1 external monitor and that tiny little 13" screen?
I would be perfectly fine with not being able to use the macbook screen with the dual external monitor connected.

Thanks.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

No Idea on daisy chaining but

you could always connect the second minitor through the HDMI or second thuderbolt port and have all three (built in) working no troubles. Or thunderbolt dock could give you an easy docking solution with 2 screens attached....

 

[Marpleesi]

you could always connect the second minitor through the HDMI or second thuderbolt port and have all three (built in) working no troubles. Or thunderbolt dock could give you an easy docking solution with 2 screens attached....

Samuelsan2001 good advice but the early 11, MBP 13" only have one thunderbolt-port and no hdmi, so daisy-chaining with dell monitor will be only solution, not to say that it will work perfectly. with little searching on google i found this:
http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/peripherals/f/3529/t/19536737
someone did get two Dell Ultrasharp U2414H monitors to work in windows but only seen as one monitor.

Also this maybe helps, info about display support on early 11 MBP:
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook_pro/macbook-pro-unibody-faq/macbook-pro-air-how-to-connect-a-second-external-third-display.html

🙂

 

[dusk007]

I think the first gen Thunderbolt only had Displayport 1.1a with which there is no daisy-chaining. Only TB 2.0 comes with DP 1.2 and that is afaik required for daisy-chaining.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

Damn missed the 2011 part

Samuelsan2001 good advice but the early 11, MBP 13" only have one thunderbolt-port and no hdmi, so daisy-chaining with dell monitor will be only solution, not to say that it will work perfectly. with little searching on google i found this:
http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/peripherals/f/3529/t/19536737
someone did get two Dell Ultrasharp U2414H monitors to work in windows but only seen as one monitor.

Also this maybe helps, info about display support on early 11 MBP:
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook_pro/macbook-pro-unibody-faq/macbook-pro-air-how-to-connect-a-second-external-third-display.html

🙂

Cheers I missed that yeah not so good on multiple displays on the earlier ones.

 

[Delizie]

Thanks for the replies, guys. I guess i'm gonna have to stick with a single monitor unless i go for the more sketchy solutions.

Time for an upgrade, i guess 🙄

 

[BoneDaddy]

You don't need to upgrade just for that. I use a Matrox Dualhead2go ME. On the web sight they cost around 2-300. I got mine like new, off of ebay for 60. It works extremely well.

It's not going to give you two different desktops. It basically makes both screens think it's one desktop. So the menu bar is extended across both screens. The powerdesk utility app allows you to easily make apps take up the full window on each screen. You can even game using both screens as one, so it looks awesome. Of course Macs aren't known for gaming, but the ones that work well will work fine.

With this, I was running the two screens (1 full desktop) with a USB connected screen, and my laptop monitor if needed. Works well. On my 2014 retina, it adds another screen. I really don't need 5, but I can.

Your other option is a USB external card. They work well but videos will lag. The Dualhead is GREAT though.