umm, i can already plug two monitors into my mbp's TB port.... no need for a second port.
Also, those limitations have nothing to do with the number of ports. More so with the GPU and apples limitations. Regardless there are adapters you can buy to hook multiple monitors up to even mDP macs.
Even if apple put 20 TB ports on a mac, that doesn't mean you can plug in 20 displays. Still are going to need a GPU to drive all of that screen real estate.
And you can still use those 2 accessories he linked to, they just have to be at the end of the chain. So on the odd chance you need a $1000 capture card and an ExpressCard adapter you are going to need a TB hub as well.
I am aware that the current 15" & 17" MBPs support 2 Thunderbolt monitors but the current 13" MBP doesn't by using
one port.
However, as you have touched on before, I acknowledge that a current 13" MBP can support two external monitors using USB display adaptors, Matrox DualHead2Go/TripleHead2Go adaptors etc.
Personally, I am not too keen on purchasing 2 Apple Thunderbolt Displays @ £899 each. There are not many third party Thunderbolt displays on the market at the minute to daisy chain together using one Thunderbolt port.
I recognise that this is a personal choice but I would be happier if I could attach 2 Dell monitors - One
U2412M @ £310.80 and one
U2410 @ £466.80.
I could probably get those monitors cheaper elsewhere but even so, those two monitors are cheaper than one single Apple Thunderbolt display. Due to the lack of third party thunderbolt monitors, I would prefer to have 2 thunderbolt ports to use third party monitors rather than using 2 Apple Thunderbolt Displays or to use an external adapter.
Regarding GPU limitations, the upcoming Ivy Bridge Integrated GPU is purported to support resolutions up to
4096 x 4096 pixels. That's 16,777,216 pixels.
Assuming that the retina display in the 15" MBP has a resolution of 2880 x 1800 with a total of 5,040,000 pixels or even 3360 x 2100 pixels (7,056,000 pixels) and the two dell monitors mentioned above have resolutions of 1920 x 1200 (4,608,000 pixels in total) it still totals a maximum of 11,664,000 pixels.
Given that Intel isn't renowned for its integrated graphics, the current dedicated graphic cards could support having two thunderbolt ports provided the quantity of dedicated memory, its bandwidth, PCI express speeds etc. As I mentioned in my previous post, if Apple were to ditch the optical drive, I would expect that a dedicated GPU would be present even in the 13" MBP to cover the latter issues mentioned in the previous sentence. I also wouldn't expect to be working on software that is GPU intensive in this setup.
The solution you provided
does work and is well documented but as my original post was wishful thinking I can still dream
.
"
And you can still use those 2 accessories he linked to, they just have to be at the end of the chain. So on the odd chance you need a $1000 capture card and an ExpressCard adapter you are going to need a TB hub as well."
This is very true but correct me if I wrong but I believe that an external display can only be connected at the end of the chain. If he was to use one of those products he would not be able to connect to an external monitor unless he used a third party adapter. I am not sure about this point so feel free to educate me on this matter.
I appreciate that this matter is technical and would only affect a minority of users. Thanks for your time.
