Can you use a Mini DisplayPort display with a Thunderbolt external hard drive and a MacBook Pro?

Question

Can you use a Mini DisplayPort display with a Thunderbolt external hard drive and a MacBook Pro?

I'm helping a friend make some upgrades to his (13" late 2011) MacBook Pro and he wants both an external hard drive and an external display.

What I'm wondering is, if we get him a Thunderbolt hard drive and attach that to the notebook's (only) Thunderbolt port, can we then attach any Mini DisplayPort display to that hard drive and have the MacBook use it as its primary display? Or would the monitor need to be "Thunderbolt" to work in this configuration?

There is no need to daisy-chain further than this, and since obviously DisplayPort monitors are far cheaper than Thunderbolt ones I'd like to know if this would work reliably.

Posted on Jul 21, 2015 7:54 AM

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Answer 1

Jul 22, 2015 4:06 AM in response to zentraedidotnet

If the monitor can connect to the laptop via thunderbolt then you will me able to daisy chain from the monitor because thunderbolt can handle that. But if your monitor does not fit the daisy chain option (e.g. does not have a USB or Thunderbolt port on it) then you have only one option.

1. Buy a thunderbolt hub with a mini display adapter: By doing this you not only solve your problems but have more ports to expand with.

This is considering all the knowledge I have about the mac and my own personal opinion if this does not fit to your liking try asking some experts at the apple store.

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