DISPLAY ISSUE

I would love it if MacFormat could provide some advice on a decent docking station or multi-display setup for the new MacBook Pros. I have bought a couple of USB-C hubs that have dual HDMI sockets on them, but have discovered that neither of them will allow the MacBook to extend to showing different views on the two connected HDMI displays. I know this was a limitation of earlier macs, but the M1 Max is supposed to be able to support up to four external displays.

At the moment, I am having to use one HDMI port (on the Mac), and one HDMI port on the (dual HDMI) adaptor. I want a single connector to plug in to my MacBook Pro when I am home so that I have a single cable to my dock? Most of the ones I find say Macs can’t do it due to ‘system limitations’. Do I need to connect each external display to a separate USB-C port on my MacBook Pro?

BY DICKEN WINYARD

ROB SAYS…

The MacBook Pro M1 Max does indeed support four external displays: three at up to 6K using its Thunderbolt/USB 4 ports, and one at 4K via HDMI. Apple says to connect multiple displays to your MacBook Pro, you do indeed need to connect each display to it separately, but there are ways around it.

The most obvious one is to use a dedicated hub or dock, such the OWC Thunderbolt Hub (£212.99, MF362), which supports simultaneous connections to two external displays (such as you have) at 4K resolution via Thunderbolt/USB 4 and then run a single Thunderbolt/USB 4 cable from your MacBook Pro to the dock (OWC even includes one in the box).