Dock for 2024 MacPro M4 for two monitors

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Level 1

4 points

Dock for 2024 MacPro M4 for two monitors

I purchased a Macbook Pro M4 in December 2024 operating on the most recent macOS Sequoia. I also bought two new monitors. I've since learned that the M3 and M4 silicon chips are not working with docks for two monitors. I've tried two J5Create docks and learned from the company that they are having issues with their docks. Does anyone have any suggestions for a dock that works with two monitors with the M4 Pro silicon and has additional ports for USB, CAT5, etc? Thank you.

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 15.2

Posted on Jan 25, 2025 10:23 AM

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Answer 1

steve626

Level 6

13,899 points

Jan 25, 2025 12:15 PM in response to oxyflex

I can give you one example, I use this dock at work (but only with one external monitor). It is the OWC 11-port Thunderbolt Dock, and it is fairly pricey. It is one example, you can find many others online at various vendors. Some may be less expensive, but OWC has high quality products. Note that it connects to your Mac via a Thunderbolt 4 port, and it provides three additional Thunderbolt 4 ports for external devices. So two of those could be used to connect those two external monitors. Pay attention to the ports available on your monitors. The external monitor I use is connected with an HDMI cable with a Thunderbolt adaptor to a Thunderbolt port on my dock, but for two external monitors my reading of the spec is that at least one needs to be connected through Thunderbolt and only one via HDMI. I don't know if the HDMI=> Thunderbolt 4 adaptor counts as Thunderbolt or HDMI.

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Answer 2

steve626

Level 6

13,899 points

Jan 25, 2025 10:53 AM in response to oxyflex

Mactracker lists specs for MacBook Pro M4:

"Up to two external displays with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz over Thunderbolt, or one external display with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz over Thunderbolt and one external display with up to 4K resolution at 144Hz over HDMI, One external display supported at 8K resolution at 60Hz or one external display at 4K resolution at 240Hz over HDMI"

For two external displays one needs to use the Thunderbolt interface.

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Answer 3

oxyflex Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 25, 2025 2:09 PM in response to steve626

Thanks. I plan on calling OWC on Monday morning to discuss my situation. I connect both of my new LG 27" monitors using HDMI cables. I have HDMI 1, HDMI 2, USB 1, and USB 2 on the back of the monitors. I only use the HDMI because each monitor has an HDMI cable. It's hard to believe Apple didn't fix the M3 and M4 issues before or since the release of the product.

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Answer 4

oxyflex Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 25, 2025 10:55 AM in response to steve626

Thank you for responding so quickly. Do you know of any Dock brands that work?

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