Connecting two external Samsung monitors to MacBook Pro with TouchBar

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.

If you are only doing program listings, spreadsheets, stock quotes and other slow to change data, there are some other solutions, but they require you to make some strong compromises.

You MUST install the DisplayLink-based Driver that is provided with the adapter.

The driver creates a 'fake' display Buffer in main RAM, and sends a copy of the display data out to the adapter very frequently. It's fast, but nowhere near 60 Hz updates, so full motion video and similar has problems on a DisplayLink display.

MacBook Pro (13-inch, M1, 2020) - Technical Specifications

Display Support

Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display at millions of colors and:

• • One external display with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz

Looks like you have hit the limitations of the device specification.

if in the US, and what you seek is a Dual HDMI adapter with DisplayLink, consider buying from this Apple-centric vendor:

https://eshop.macsales.com/search/?q=DisplayLink

To use an additional unaccelerated 'fake' display, you need a stunt-box that supports DisplayLink, in combination with a driver based on DisplayLink software.

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.

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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".

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. DisplayLink does not meet that standard.

If you are only doing program listing and stock quotes and other slow to change data, there are some other solutions, but they require you to make some strong compromises.

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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 disabled 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.

sang983 wrote:

I want to connect MacBook Pro to external monitor.

Use an external display with your MacBook Pro - Apple Support

Please use the solutions posted above.

If not helpful, start a NEW discussion and be sure to include your MacBook Pro model-year, processor, screen size, and MacOS version.

Sorry, the link is edited {removed} by the Moderator.