I have a MacBook Pro M2 and am able to run an external monitor using a USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter. I know I could run a second external monitor with another adapter plugged into the other port on the MacBook.
Can I, instead, run a second external monitor by daisy chaining the adapters?
MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 13.2
No, and no.
Apple-Silicon 2020 M1 13-in MacBook Pro and Air and 2022 Apple-Silicon M2 13-in MacBook Pro and Air are extremely-capable entry-level computers. They can support the internal display AND an External display up to the previously unheard of size of the Apple 6K display at billions of colors. But only ONE in addition to the internal display.
This may not match the way older computers forced you to work, since older computers were not able to support a really large external display. But it is NOT a defect. The spec was available long before you could purchase the computer.
The Apple standard for its built-in hardware-accelerated displays, makes them suitable for full-motion video 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. This requires a hardware rasterizer/display-generator for each fully-accelerated display.
If you need more hardware-accelerated displays than the built-in and one external display, and an un-accelerated iPad if desired, you probably need a more capable computer.
No, and no.
Apple-Silicon 2020 M1 13-in MacBook Pro and Air and 2022 Apple-Silicon M2 13-in MacBook Pro and Air are extremely-capable entry-level computers. They can support the internal display AND an External display up to the previously unheard of size of the Apple 6K display at billions of colors. But only ONE in addition to the internal display.
This may not match the way older computers forced you to work, since older computers were not able to support a really large external display. But it is NOT a defect. The spec was available long before you could purchase the computer.
The Apple standard for its built-in hardware-accelerated displays, makes them suitable for full-motion video 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. This requires a hardware rasterizer/display-generator for each fully-accelerated display.
If you need more hardware-accelerated displays than the built-in and one external display, and an un-accelerated iPad if desired, you probably need a more capable computer.
The GENERAL answer to whether the Apple USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter can be daisy-chained is also no.
To run multiple display on one port out of a Mac, the port must be a Thunderbolt port, and the first device in the chain must be a genuine Thunderbolt device (display or dock). The second device can be anything supported by the first device.
USB-C does not have enough bandwidth to satisfy the general case, so Apple has declined to support multiple devices on USB-C cables.
To add to Grant's excellent answer, the USB-C port on the Digital AV adapter is only for power delivery. It is not an extension of the Thunderbolt bus, so no daisy chaining is possible through it.
USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter, can they be daisy chained?
