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Mini Display Port Splitter??

T

Trimmer2

macrumors member
Original poster
May 19, 2008
76
0
I know I've asked the question before but, I can't get a straight answer from Apple.

Is there a way to attach TWO 24" LED Cinema Displays to my new GlassBook Pro? I assume I would need some sort of Mini Display Port splitter?

Currently, I'm running my MBP with an open clam shell with my 23" Cinema Display but, I really want more screen space and I really want the new display...

Any ideas?
 
I'd also like an answer to this. I have my iMac wired to play movies on my TV with the svideo adapter but have to switch it out for the VGA adapter to use my 2nd display so I can do my audio editing. I'd love the ability to just use a simple switch box rather than reach back and change the connection.

I've looked long and hard for something like this but it doesn't seem to exist.

Can anyone help?
 
I haven't heard of anything and with the lack of a simple (to me) DVI to MDP converter, I think a splitter may be a while away.
 
Matrox has a DualHead2Go DP (DisplayPort) Edition adapter, so that you could connect to two displayport-monitors to one displayport-connector. Althought you would need also one minidiplayport-to-displayport-adapter and two displayport-to-minidisplayport-adapters. In matrox's website there seems to be a minidiplayport-to-displayport-adapter, but I don't know if it works other way around. Maybe you should ask from Matrox directly.

http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/products/gxm/dh2go/
 
You can connect multiple displays to a single displayport. It's packet switched and self-configuring. You can either split (hub) the displays, or daisy chain them if they have out ports. The upper bound is determined by the aggregate bandwidth of all displays attached.
 
emt377 said:
You can connect multiple displays to a single displayport. It's packet switched and self-configuring. You can either split (hub) the displays, or daisy chain them if they have out ports. The upper bound is determined by the aggregate bandwidth of all displays attached.
Click to expand...
Huh?
 
Japi said:
Matrox has a DualHead2Go DP (DisplayPort) Edition adapter, so that you could connect to two displayport-monitors to one displayport-connector. Althought you would need also one minidiplayport-to-displayport-adapter and two displayport-to-minidisplayport-adapters. In matrox's website there seems to be a minidiplayport-to-displayport-adapter, but I don't know if it works other way around. Maybe you should ask from Matrox directly.

http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/products/gxm/dh2go/
Click to expand...
Any photos of the adapters needed?
 
Carlos E said:
Huh?
Click to expand...

You know how you can daisy chain multiple devices to a Firewire port? DP has this little-known trick of being able to do that with monitors too, there's just a limit to how much total resolution you can shove down one cable.
 
Are there any monitors currently that support this daisy chaining? If I can have dual displays connected to my MacBook Pro I would be sooooooo happy.
 
J the Ninja said:
You know how you can daisy chain multiple devices to a Firewire port? DP has this little-known trick of being able to do that with monitors too, there's just a limit to how much total resolution you can shove down one cable.
Click to expand...
Thank you for clearing that up. :)
 
atomsk47 said:
Are there any monitors currently that support this daisy chaining? If I can have dual displays connected to my MacBook Pro I would be sooooooo happy.
Click to expand...
I think this works for dual 24" Apple Displays.

Matrox DualHead2Go DP Edition

2 x 1920 x 1200
1 DisplayPort input
2 DisplayPort outputs
USB and DisplayPort for power
Included in the retail box: One 2-foot DisplayPort to DisplayPort cable. Getting started CD
One USB cable.

http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/products/gxm/dh2go/
 
Does the Matrox DualHead2Go DP Edition treat each display as an individual monitor? Or does it just stretch the display across two? I know that the original TripleHead2Go did this. Also does anyone know of a review for the DP Edition? I googled for a little bit with no success.
 
atomsk47 said:
Does the Matrox DualHead2Go DP Edition treat each display as an individual monitor? Or does it just stretch the display across two? I know that the original TripleHead2Go did this. Also does anyone know of a review for the DP Edition? I googled for a little bit with no success.
Click to expand...
Stretches the screen image across two physical monitors. Your machine thinks it's driving one giant monitor.
 
Apple LED screen

can i connect 3 apple led screens as an etension for my desktop (eg. running 3 different programs on the different screens at once) on my lastest generation MBP? i would mostly use it for website and graphical design.
 
But don't you need multiple conversion cables??

Macbook Pro MiniDisplayPort to DVI to DualHead2go DP
then
Two DVI to MiniDisplayPort cables from DualHead2go to the 24" Apple Monitors?

....or am I missing something?



Carlos E said:
I think this works for dual 24" Apple Displays.

Matrox DualHead2Go DP Edition

2 x 1920 x 1200
1 DisplayPort input
2 DisplayPort outputs
USB and DisplayPort for power
Included in the retail box: One 2-foot DisplayPort to DisplayPort cable. Getting started CD
One USB cable.

http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/products/gxm/dh2go/
Click to expand...
 
Macbook Pro 17" - driving 3 monitors (1 laptop + 2 external)

I have a 17" macbook pro (core 2 duo version). I'll be driving a 30" Dell 3008wfp (2560x1600) and a 24" Dell U2410 (1900x1200).

The macbook pro's mini displayport can drive the 30" dell using a mini displayport to displayport adapter since the 3008wfp has a displayport built in.

I'll be driving the 24" Dell U2410 with an external USB video "card" using DVI. It's a device that runs solely out of your USB port (no power cables etc) :

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=ITV-101&cat=CCD

It plugs into your USB and it provides a DVI out. Hence, I'm plugging my 24" directly into the DVI. It works! Best part is, it's relatively cheap. Around $60 shipped. Even better is that you can get up to 6 of them apparently, though I'm not sure how many you can plug into one usb hub. You may need to do it port by port for the bandwidth. Shrug. I only have 1 so I can't test it out.

As long as you're doing 2048x1152 or 1900x1200, this $60 device will work fine. If you want to go 2560x1600 or 2560x1440, you can only drive that via the displayport.

At least with this device, you can also reuse it - doesn't have to be just on a mac.
 
Trimmer2 said:
I know I've asked the question before but, I can't get a straight answer from Apple.

Is there a way to attach TWO 24" LED Cinema Displays to my new GlassBook Pro? I assume I would need some sort of Mini Display Port splitter?

Currently, I'm running my MBP with an open clam shell with my 23" Cinema Display but, I really want more screen space and I really want the new display...

Any ideas?
Click to expand...

Don't know about your situation, but KanexLive.com offers plenty of cable options, some of which have worked for me.
 
cbruin said:
I have a 17" macbook pro (core 2 duo version). I'll be driving a 30" Dell 3008wfp (2560x1600) and a 24" Dell U2410 (1900x1200).

The macbook pro's mini displayport can drive the 30" dell using a mini displayport to displayport adapter since the 3008wfp has a displayport built in.

I'll be driving the 24" Dell U2410 with an external USB video "card" using DVI. It's a device that runs solely out of your USB port (no power cables etc) :

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=ITV-101&cat=CCD

It plugs into your USB and it provides a DVI out. Hence, I'm plugging my 24" directly into the DVI. It works! Best part is, it's relatively cheap. Around $60 shipped. Even better is that you can get up to 6 of them apparently, though I'm not sure how many you can plug into one usb hub. You may need to do it port by port for the bandwidth. Shrug. I only have 1 so I can't test it out.

As long as you're doing 2048x1152 or 1900x1200, this $60 device will work fine. If you want to go 2560x1600 or 2560x1440, you can only drive that via the displayport.

At least with this device, you can also reuse it - doesn't have to be just on a mac.
Click to expand...
You said "I'll be driving." Do you have this already setup. Can you post a pict? I'd like to see your setup.

I have a 2009 MacBook Pro 17" and an Apple LED Cinema Display. I'd like to do Dual Apple 24" displays. Is there any adapter than can do dual mini display port?
 
I'm really surprised no one has reported this issue.

This is one of the most frustrating things I've had to deal with. I have a brand new 17" MBP fully loaded. 2.6 i7, 8GB RAM, 500GB drive at 7200 RPM and it can't handle two displays and iTunes at the same time.

Let me elaborate. I have a Matrox DualHead2Go and two Dell U2410's. The DH2G is the only way to hook up to displays that I'm aware of. Even Gefen doesn't make DP stuff. Using the DH2G is kind of a pain because it treats both displays as one big one, but I was willing to get used to that until I realized incredibly erratic behavior from my cursor.

After a few hours I was able to narrow it down to iTunes and anything else that runs on Quicktime, including Quicktime itself. Without them running, everything is fine. Smooth as butter. With either one running, the cursor erratically make s jump while being used every 3-4 seconds. Sometimes it jumps and inch, sometimes across the whole screen. I find it unbelievable that a 3000+ computer and easily 5000+ setup can't handle running iTunes.

I spoke with Apple and Matrox and they blame each other. Apple also says the machine isn't intended to handle 2 external displays, only one. How can that be true when the DisplayPort standard supports up to 4??

So, meanwhile, if I want to listen to music I have to sacrifice the second monitor. Incredibly frustrating. I'm waiting on a callback from Apple to see if maybe they can forward it to the iTunes/Quicktime engineering team for a fix, but that's still a few months out, I bet. Maddening.

Do any of you have this problem? I know I'm not the only one:
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=11296960#11296960

Here's my thread from the discussions forum with more details:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=11870498&#11870498

If you're having the problem, post here please. Would love to show it to the Apple guy. Thanks!

M!
 
Now that the new 27" Apple display is out I wonder if the MacBook Pro can run dual 24" and 27" display. If so, what kind of adapters are needed.
 
Screenshot

Here's the pic of my 17" MBP on the right, the 30" being driven via the mini displayport, and then the 24" on the left via the external usb video thing I mentioned earlier.

The 17" can run up to 1920x1200 but I don't set it that way.
The 30" is at 2560x1600
The 24" is at 1200x1900 (or 1920, i don't remember)
 

Attachments

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USB video card

just to mention again, the usb video card I linked to is around $40 each, and you just plug it into your USB. I think you can plug in up to 6 (see DisplayLink's website), so you can technically(?) drive up to 6 monitors at 1900x1200 (or 2048x1152 depending on your monitor).

It uses DisplayLink as the tech behind it - a pretty well established company already. Samsung has monitors that are driven by their chips. Again, it probably uses your cpu a tad, so I wouldn't recommend it for gaming, but it's good for apps and desktop use. Perhaps if you want something graphics intensive, Matrox might be better but I honestly do not know what the matrox does - if it has its own chips in there etc. It was too expensive for me to consider. So, you'll have to weigh the pros and cons of the USB adapter vs. Matrox yourself. But for me, $40 + shipping suits my needs perfectly!

So can your MBP run two 24" and the 27"? I would believe that 2 usb "cards" would drive the 24"s, and the mini displayport would drive the 27". Of course I have not tried that, but I would be surprised if it didn't given I am typing this message on my 24" being driven by the usb card right now.

End of 2010, displaylink is supposed to come out with USB adapters that can drive 2560x1600 resolution monitors. The thing limiting it is the bandwidth in USB2.0 is too low. The new USB adapters will use USB3.0. Dual 30"'s anyone? :) (one via mini displayport, one via USB 3.0 adapter!)

http://eon.businesswire.com/portal/...d=news_view&newsId=20100107006086&newsLang=en

Quote from above article (I also see the same quote in DisplayLink's "news" section under Jan 7):

"SuperSpeed USB [USB 3.0] is up to 10x faster than Hi-Speed USB (USB 2.0), bringing bandwidths of up to 5 Gbps as compared to 480 Mbps and adding dual-simplex, simultaneous bi-directional data flow. The speed boost will deliver even faster graphics performance and higher resolutions (2560 x 1600), meaning high quality Full HD video and 3D gaming over USB will be possible. DisplayLink-enabled SuperSpeed USB products are expected to be available in the fourth quarter of 2010. "
 
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