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I tried downloading the DisplayLink driver and now I can get a third monitor to at least display content, but it will only do so as a mirror for the first external monitor so it's not actually helpful. Is there really no way to actually use two external monitors? Am I really limited only to one? If so, I'm going to return this piece of junk.
MacBook Pro 13″, OS X 10.11
DisplayLink technology creates a "fake" display buffer in RAM, sends the data out over a slower interface to a stunt box with DisplayLink custom chips that put that data back onto a "legacy" interface. It is not a true "accelerated" display, and it can suffer from lagging. Just adding the DisplayLink Driver is not adequate to get a picture -- you need a DisplayLink "stunt-box" or a Dock that includes DisplayLink chips.
It may be acceptable for a second display showing slow-to-change data such as computer program listings, stock quotes, or spreadsheets, but NOT for full motion Video, not for Video editing, and absolutely not for gaming. Mouse-tracking on that display can lag, and can make you feel queasy.
In a pinch, it may even play Internet videos (as one user put it) “without too many dropped frames".
This is in stark contrast to the Apple standard for its built-in hardware-accelerated displays, which are suitable for production/display of cinema-quality video with NO dropped frames, and NO dropouts or partial-blank scan lines due to memory under-runs or other issues.
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It is really nice to know that you can use a DisplayLink display if you MUST have an additional display for some of the types of data I mentioned. But that is NOT the same as the computer supporting a second, built-in, Hardware-accelerated display.
These displays depend on DisplayLink software, and are at the whim of Apple when they make MacOS changes. There have been cases where MacOS changes completely Borked DisplayLink software, and it took some time for them to recover.
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I think the Big Surprise for a lot of Hub/Dock buyers is that they thought they were getting a "real" display, but actually got a DisplayLink "fake" Display. If you got what you expected in every case, I would not use such pejorative terms to describe DisplayLink.
DisplayLink technology creates a "fake" display buffer in RAM, sends the data out over a slower interface to a stunt box with DisplayLink custom chips that put that data back onto a "legacy" interface. It is not a true "accelerated" display, and it can suffer from lagging. Just adding the DisplayLink Driver is not adequate to get a picture -- you need a DisplayLink "stunt-box" or a Dock that includes DisplayLink chips.
It may be acceptable for a second display showing slow-to-change data such as computer program listings, stock quotes, or spreadsheets, but NOT for full motion Video, not for Video editing, and absolutely not for gaming. Mouse-tracking on that display can lag, and can make you feel queasy.
In a pinch, it may even play Internet videos (as one user put it) “without too many dropped frames".
This is in stark contrast to the Apple standard for its built-in hardware-accelerated displays, which are suitable for production/display of cinema-quality video with NO dropped frames, and NO dropouts or partial-blank scan lines due to memory under-runs or other issues.
--------
It is really nice to know that you can use a DisplayLink display if you MUST have an additional display for some of the types of data I mentioned. But that is NOT the same as the computer supporting a second, built-in, Hardware-accelerated display.
These displays depend on DisplayLink software, and are at the whim of Apple when they make MacOS changes. There have been cases where MacOS changes completely Borked DisplayLink software, and it took some time for them to recover.
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I think the Big Surprise for a lot of Hub/Dock buyers is that they thought they were getting a "real" display, but actually got a DisplayLink "fake" Display. If you got what you expected in every case, I would not use such pejorative terms to describe DisplayLink.
Grant, thank you for the reply and apologies for any vagueness in my pejoratives -- they were directed solely at the Apple team that decided to remove support for more than one external monitor. No shade on DisplayLink at all!
I honestly should have read the specs in full before purchasing but (1) I explicitly asked about it at the mac store and was told I could use multiple external monitors with this new mac so I thought I was safe, and (2) who in their right mind would think that any laptop in 2021 would not support multiple external monitors (clearly not even the mac store employee)?
Just airing my grievances -- perhaps too publicly :)
MacBook Computers powered by the Apple-Silicon M1 support ONE external display, which can be as large as the Apple 6K display. This may be different from the way you used your computer previously.
Am I really not able to connect more than one additional monitor? That's insane.
