Dual external monitors, connections and dual USB-C charging?!

I am looking to setup two external monitors to a Macbook Pro 14” with M1 Max.


I know this is possible, and that I can feed each monitor from the Macbook’s Thunderbolt ports (and or HDMI port)


My concern is that the monitor (of which I plan to use two) has a USB-C input with charging capability for the laptop, which is ideal (when using one external monitor)


Can the second monitor be connected in the same way though, or should I use the monitors HDMI input because using the second monitors USB-C with charging capability same as the first one effectively try to “charge” the Macbook twice and short circuit something?


Am just trying to A) avoid burning a new MBP14 and also B) be able to make the most of the hubs integrated into each monitor and use their ports for other external devices (printer, mouse, etc…)



MacBook Pro

Posted on Mar 29, 2022 1:38 PM

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Posted on Mar 29, 2022 1:46 PM

You can not burn out anything. The Mac only accepts USB power from ONE device (typically the first it discovers) after it has negotiated the terms and conditions using USB-C Power Delivery protocol. No power source can 'force itself' on your computer.


The computer, not the power source, is in charge of the entire process.


HDMI is severely bandwidth limited, and is NOT equivalent in capability to DisplayPort family (and its encapsulation in ThunderBolt or USB-C). There is no need to switch.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Mar 29, 2022 1:46 PM in response to F3Martin

You can not burn out anything. The Mac only accepts USB power from ONE device (typically the first it discovers) after it has negotiated the terms and conditions using USB-C Power Delivery protocol. No power source can 'force itself' on your computer.


The computer, not the power source, is in charge of the entire process.


HDMI is severely bandwidth limited, and is NOT equivalent in capability to DisplayPort family (and its encapsulation in ThunderBolt or USB-C). There is no need to switch.

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Dual external monitors, connections and dual USB-C charging?!

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