Triple 4K Monitors with Apple Silicon?

[willbeing]

I have a M2 Max MacBook Pro 16". I am wondering if anyone has successfully run three (3) 4K monitors on a M1/M2 Max chip? If so, did you do it with or without a hub/dock? What monitors? Thanks!

 

[chrfr]

I have a M2 Max MacBook Pro 16". I am wondering if anyone has successfully run three (3) 4K monitors on a M1/M2 Max chip? If so, did you do it with or without a hub/dock? What monitors? Thanks!

The M2 Max can easily drive 3 4k displays but you won't be able to run them all on the same Thunderbolt dock. You can put 2 of the displays on a Dock and then use the HDMI port or one of the other Thunderbolt ports on the Mac to run the 3rd.

 

[pshufd]

I have a base Studio MAX and run 3x4k (1 U2720Q and 2 U2718Q) and 1x2k (U2515H) off of it with no problems. They all run straight off the back ports of the Studio. If you're running a lot of monitors, it's much easier with a Studio as you aren't plugging and unplugging every day.

 

[Melbourne Park]

That's interesting. I still have a Mac Pro 5,1, souped up. But my Eizo GC 243 monitor's LED just let go. It's not repairable. Its I think 11 years old, which some tell me is good going. Its highly colour accurate. But I am thinking of getting an Eizo CS - which do not have colour calibration built into the screen, but they are designed for colour calibration. They are much cheaper than the GC Eizo monitors. But - Eizo did a test, and they said that running two separate monitors off an M1 or M2 processor, would not allow a second monitor to display. They also said that effected non Eizo brand monitors too.

Quote:

• Updated March 14, 2023

EIZO conducted a compatibility test with Mac mini (M2 Pro,2023).

1. Display Limitations​

Mac computers with an Apple M1/M2 series Chip have the following display limitations.

Mac	Mac computers with Apple M1/M2 series chip
Affected Monitors	All monitors, including other company's monitors

(1) Number of Monitors Supported

The number of external monitors that can be connected depends on the Mac computers and chips.
Please confirm the specifications of each Mac computers.

Ex. MacBook Pro (M1)
The Mac only supports one external monitor via Thunderbolt 3 port. Connecting a second monitor to a different Thunderbolt 3 port will only display on one monitor.
End Quote

Link: https://www.eizoglobal.com/support/compatibility/pc/mac/apple-m1/index.html



I am wondering if using a Thunderbolt hub gets around this problem. Or is it unique to a Macbook Pro M1?

 

[alfogator]

I ran three 4k external monitors with the macbook pro m1 max 16" connected via DP to thunderbolt ports without problems, two connected to a TS3+ dock and one connected directly.

 

[salamanderjuice]

That's interesting. I still have a Mac Pro 5,1, souped up. But my Eizo GC 243 monitor's LED just let go. It's not repairable. Its I think 11 years old, which some tell me is good going. Its highly colour accurate. But I am thinking of getting an Eizo CS - which do not have colour calibration built into the screen, but they are designed for colour calibration. They are much cheaper than the GC Eizo monitors. But - Eizo did a test, and they said that running two separate monitors off an M1 or M2 processor, would not allow a second monitor to display. They also said that effected non Eizo brand monitors too.

Quote:

• Updated March 14, 2023

EIZO conducted a compatibility test with Mac mini (M2 Pro,2023).

1. Display Limitations​

Mac computers with an Apple M1/M2 series Chip have the following display limitations.

Mac	Mac computers with Apple M1/M2 series chip
Affected Monitors	All monitors, including other company's monitors

(1) Number of Monitors Supported

The number of external monitors that can be connected depends on the Mac computers and chips.
Please confirm the specifications of each Mac computers.

Ex. MacBook Pro (M1)
The Mac only supports one external monitor via Thunderbolt 3 port. Connecting a second monitor to a different Thunderbolt 3 port will only display on one monitor.
End Quote

Link: https://www.eizoglobal.com/support/compatibility/pc/mac/apple-m1/index.html



I am wondering if using a Thunderbolt hub gets around this problem. Or is it unique to a Macbook Pro M1?

That's a M1/M2 non-Pro, non-Max, non-Ultra limitation. Base M series chips can only handle 2 screens total and for laptops the internal screen counts (i.e you can only have 1 external monitor on a M1 MBA). A thunderbolt hub will not get around this. You need something like a DisplayLink hub that sends the video over USB protocol and that has drawbacks and eats some CPU cycles.

Non-base M series chips like M1 Pro or Max can have more displays but they vary depending on chip so read the specs Apple posts.

 

[telejeff]

The M2 Max can easily drive 3 4k displays but you won't be able to run them all on the same Thunderbolt dock. You can put 2 of the displays on a Dock and then use the HDMI port or one of the other Thunderbolt ports on the Mac to run the 3rd.

Is it possible to use two thunderbolt docks (e.g., CalDigit TS4) to drive 3-4 displays?

I have not seen a docking solution on the market that supports more than 2 displays.

 

[Chancha]

Is it possible to use two thunderbolt docks (e.g., CalDigit TS4) to drive 3-4 displays?

I have not seen a docking solution on the market that supports more than 2 displays.

That's because as per Thunderbolt specs, each cable carries (only) 2 DisplayPort streams. So yes, except Macs with noted limitation in how many displays they can output, you can use multiple TB docks to drive them (the limit becomes two per TB downstream).

There exists docks that do more than 2, but they involve "hacks" usually using USB and software streaming, such as DisplayLink.