Attaching two screens?!

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Level 3

519 points

Attaching two screens?!

I own one Thunderbolt Display and one Cinema Display, both 27-inch and bought within a few months of each other. Right now the screens are not in the same location, but they soon will be. I'd like to build a setup that drives two screens. I was planning on getting a new Mac mini to drive the two screens, but according to Thunderbolt ports and displays: Frequently asked questions (FAQ) - Apple Support there is no need for me to do that; it status my MacBook Air can drive both screens at the same time.

Right now what I have is this:

[MBA] -----tb------[HDD]------dp--------[Cinema Display]

What I plan to do is this:

[MBA] -----tb------[HDD]------tb------[Thunderbolt Display]------dp--------[Cinema Display]

I was wondering if anybody has this setup working by any chance.

Any reasons to think this will NOT work?

MacBook Air, OS X Yosemite (10.10), 2GHz i7, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD

Posted on Sep 16, 2015 1:32 AM

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Answer 1

Rob de Jonge Author

Level 3

519 points

Sep 18, 2015 3:55 AM in response to Rob de Jonge

According to this Thunderbolt FAQ, "Mini DisplayPort Monitors or Monitors connecting with Mini DisplayPort adapters will not function when connected through a Thunderbolt Display. They must be connected directly to the Thunderbolt port on the computer or to a non-display device as indicated above."

The way that was phrased didn't give me much hope, but I decided that it left a theoretical possibility open that should be tested. So I lugged all gear into one location, and hooked it all up as per the theoretical possibility ... and it worked!!!

[Mac mini] ----- [Thunder Display] ----- [HDD] ----- [Cinema Display]

In this configuration, both screens work and it will even add the internal screen too if I open up the computer.

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