How would one go about connecting three external monitors to a 21.5 inch iMac?

[ProfessorEnder]

Hello MRF,

I have a late 2014 iMac 21 inch, and use it for many things, including gaming, programming, web design, graphic desiign, music production and video editing/recording.

Due to the number of tasks that I do on it, I have come to require the use of external monitors.

I have two connected at the moment, but having three connected to my iMac would make my work even easier.

How would I go about connecting four monitors to my iMac?

Any help would be very much appreciated!

Thanks,
Prof

 

[ColdCase]

How are your external monitors connected now?

 

[ProfessorEnder]

How are your external monitors connected now?

I have one monitor connected via a VGA->MiniDisplayPort adapter to a thunderbolt port, and the oter via a HDMI->MiniDisplayPort adapter to a thunderbolt port.

Thank you for your reply.

 

[ColdCase]

I dunno if the iMac video card can support it, or how much money you want to spend.

You have two TB ports, each has two lanes so each can support two monitors. You need a TB Dock to break out the HDMI from one lane and then daisy chain a TB monitor to it. Do the same for the second TB port.

If you don't want to buy/use TB monitors, then there needs to be another TB device in the chain, another dock or drive enclosure.

iMac -> Dock -> Drive enclosure -> monitor. The second monitor would be directly connected to the Dock. Repeat for the other TB port.

I would check the iMac forum and elsewhere to verify how many monitors the iMac graphics card can support, I just don't know.

The other option some have done is to use a TB expansion box and a video card or two.... but there is some hacking involved to make it work I think.

Oh and there are also those USB3 to HDMI type adapters if they meet your needs.