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elimwu Author

Level 1

4 points

External monitors mirror each other for Macbook Pro 2023 M2 Chip

I have an Anker 575 docking station and a Macbook Pro 2023 M2 Max. I am trying to connect two external monitors (Dell monitors) to my laptop through the docking station so that each monitor shows a different display. This would mean I would have 3 different displays: one on laptop screen, one on external monitor 1, one on external monitor 2. One external monitor is plugged into the HDMI port of the docking station and the other monitor is plugged into the display port of the docking station (I have also tried using hdmi cable for both monitors, no difference). However, when I connect the docking station to my laptop via usb-c, the external monitors mirror each other and my macbook only recognizes one external monitor in 'Displays'.

Notably, I am able to get this 3 monitor situation to work when i only plug in one monitor into the docking station and the other monitor directly into my computer via hdmi. However, I would like to figure out if I can get this 2-external monitor setup to work streamlined only through the docking station instead of having to use up both the hdmi and usb-c ports on my laptop to do this. Is this a problem with my macbook pro or a problem with the docking station?

Posted on Jul 17, 2023 8:33 AM

Top-ranking reply

Grant Bennet-Alder

Level 10

133,729 points

Posted on Jul 17, 2023 9:03 AM

To run up to TWO displays from one port on a Mac, the port, the cable and the first connected device (Dock or Display) must be genuine ThunderBolt devices.

USB-C, which as fewer data conductors, is NOT considered adequate, and the Mac will not use it for multiple displays.

The dock you cited appears to be a USB-C dock. Not enough bandwidth for two displays on a Mac.

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External monitors mirror each other for Macbook Pro 2023 M2 Chip

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