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Daisy chain two display port monitors (Dell U2913WM) to new Mac mini Thunderbolt?

Everything I read said that I could hook up a display port monitor to a Thunderbolt port on the mac mini. I purchased two display port monitors (Dell U2913WM) that can be daisy chained, and hooked them up. All I get is mirroring. Does anyone know how to turn off mirroring with this setup? I did not get the "uncheck mirroring" option in preferences until I hooked up the second via the HDMI port instead of a daisy chain. The problem with that is, I cannot take advantage of the full resolution through the HDMI. It seems I have wasted my money on two monitors.


Looking for advice on:


1) How to daisy chain these two Dell monitors to the mac mini and turn off mirroring and use an extended desktop, or


2) How to take advantage of the full resolution through HDMI port?


Any help would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks!

Mac mini, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2), New Mac mini Intel graphics card

Posted on Jan 24, 2013 9:17 PM

Reply
75 replies

Oct 21, 2014 3:02 AM in response to picaron77

Hello guys


Greetings from Brazil


I have an early 2012 Macook air hooked to a Dell U2711 via Thunderbolt / Displayport. I want to add a second monitor, very likely Dell u2713hm.


I have read the whole thread and have not seen any comments in adding a thunderbolt dock thunderbolt like Belkin Thunderbolt Express (F4U055ww). Would that not work and even allow you to have USB 3 ports?


If the answer to above is a sound "NO", is there any MAC, besides the pricey Mac Pro, that would work for me? (I am fine with Mac Mini, Macbook pro too)


Cheers

Jan 8, 2015 2:46 AM in response to Steve Kellener

I have a similar setup. Mid 2014 MBP and two Dell U2414H monitors.


Both work if plugged in separatley, ie using both of the MBP's thunderbolt sockets.


I *can* get both monitors to *sort of* work using DisplayPort 1.2 MST - namely using only *one* Thunderbolt socket on the MBP.


The monitors ship with factory defaults set to DisplayPort 1.1a. You need to first change the monitor's settings to DisplayPort 1.2


The User Manual here, Page 25 ftp://ftp.dell.com/Manuals/all-products/esuprt_display_projector/esuprt_Display/ dell-u2414h_User%27s%20Guide_en-us.pdf


Having done that, I have this setup:


MBP -> one MiniDisplayPort/Thunderbolt to DisplayPort cable -> First Dell U2414H monitor -> daisy chained via another cable to -> Second Dell U2414H monitor


BUT ... the two monitors show identical / mirrorer desktops. To be clear, I have UNchecked the "mirror displays" in the Mac's System Preferences. And the MBP screen has a different desktop to the monitors. But the two monitors display the same, mirrored display as each other.


Put another way, I have three physical screens (MBP & 2 x Dell U2414H Monitors) and 2 distinct desktops (the MBP has one, the two Dell monitors have a mirrored 2nd desktop).


Which is close ... but still rather useless.


How do I get the two Dell monitors to each have their own desktop?

Jan 8, 2015 4:44 AM in response to mintywalker

>>How do I get the two Dell monitors to each have their own desktop?<<


You plug each into a separate Thunderbolt port. OS X doesn't support pass-through DisplayPort. When you get both displays showing the same image, it's not "almost" working - you're just splitting a single display signal (which is all Thunderbolt will give you in OS X) to two screens.


Happy almost 2nd anniversary to this thread, BTW.

Jan 8, 2015 5:29 AM in response to seanfranklin

@seanfranklin Thanks for the reply & explanation. Boo OS X 😟


Not that it helps, but for anyone else poking around -- the other thing I had to do with the Dell U2414H monitors (using the supplied cables) is use the monitor's menu to adjust the input (on the 2nd monitor) from DisplayPort to Mini-DisplayPort. It doesn't appear to be clever enough to auto-detect which you have plugged in.


Mac Thunderbolt -> DisplayPort input on Monitor#1 -> DisplayPort output on Monitor#1 -> MiniDisplayPort input on Monitor#2


It's all covered in the user manual ftp://ftp.dell.com/Manuals/all-products/esuprt_display_projector/esuprt_Display/ dell-u2414h_User%27s%20Guide_en-us.pdf

Apr 21, 2015 12:42 AM in response to lllaass

Thunderbolt ports and displays: Frequently asked questions (FAQ) - Apple Support

2. How do I connect my Mini DisplayPort monitor or monitor using a Mini DisplayPort adapter to my Thunderbolt-equipped Mac when I have other Thunderbolt devices connected?

When connecting a Mini DisplayPort display or a display using a Mini DisplayPort adapter to a Thunderbolt peripheral (except as described in question 24), make sure the display is connected at the end of the Thunderbolt chain. You can use only one Mini DisplayPort device in the Thunderbolt chain.


The problem is that port we use is not "real" Displayport, rather displayport adapter.

It looks thesame but it is not.


Regards.

JK.

Daisy chain two display port monitors (Dell U2913WM) to new Mac mini Thunderbolt?

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