Tech wizards & A/V brehs, quick question

[Dont@Me]

I'm looking to hook up dual monitors to my macbook. It only has one minidisplayport/thunderbolt. Therefore, based on this information, I believe I would need:

1. one Mini displayport to mini displayport hub

2. two DVI to mini displayport cables (one for each monitor)

correct? I have a dvi to DISPLAYPORT (not mini displayport) cable and it is obviously bigger and does not fit, so i bought the wrong cable. If this is the case, why when i search, i cannot find ANY MINI displayport to MINI displayport MST (multi-stream transport) hubs? They're all either Mini displayport to displayport, or displayport to displayport.

edit- i think i figured it out. I was searching "mini displayport" when i should've been searching usb-c hubs

 

[Geek Nasty]

What Mac do you have?

 

[Dont@Me]

What Mac do you have?

macbook pro late 2011 15"

I got a usb-c to dual displayport MST hub and two displayport to DVI cables to hook up to my monitors. I think that's how it should work.

nice name this thread just called you huh

 

[Gold]

Youre thinking about this wrong. You need a thunderbolt dock. It will suit your situation snd be futute proof

 

[Arithmetic]

Do your monitors have HDMI ports?

 

[Gold]

Make sure you get a thunderbolt dock and not just any usb c form factor.

You could seriously limiting your throughput

 

[Geek Nasty]

macbook pro late 2011 15"

I got a usb-c to dual displayport MST hub and two displayport to DVI cables to hook up to my monitors. I think that's how it should work.

nice name this thread just called you huh

USB-c is a new standard MacBook 2011 won’t have it I think the 2017s are the first. It also depends on the monitor ports. Do they have hdmi DisplayPort or just dvi?

 

[Dont@Me]

USB-c is a new standard MacBook 2011 won’t have it I think the 2017s are the first. It also depends on the monitor ports. Do they have hdmi DisplayPort or just dvi?

Nah the monitor ports are dvi which fit with the cables I got . My MacBook 2011 does have one thunderbolt port though which is usb-c, plus two usb 2.0 ports. The later versions only have thunderbolt ports without the usb 2.0 though. Thanks for tryna help

 

[Geek Nasty]

Nah the monitor ports are dvi which fit with the cables I got . My MacBook 2011 does have one thunderbolt port though which is usb-c, plus two usb 2.0 ports. The later versions only have thunderbolt ports without the usb 2.0 though. Thanks for tryna help

Careful. Your laptop I’m sure has thunderbolt old style ports. I have a 2015 at work and it has old style. I have 2017 MacBook at home with new ports. They’re the same as usb-c.

Edit: I just looked up specs on a 2011. You might be out of luck. I don’t know if the firewire port has enough throughput for a monitor. If it does you’d need another dongle. Saw you said you already have dvi dongles

 

[Gold]

yall are dumb

buy a dock

 

[Geek Nasty]

yall are dumb

buy a dock

Is there a DisplayPort dock or switch that’ll work for his Mac/? Can he use a thunderbolt adapter to a usb-c switch? His laptop is older so I don’t know if he’ll have the throughput for 2 monitors.

 

[Gold]

Is there a DisplayPort dock or switch that’ll work for his Mac/? Can he use a thunderbolt adapter to a usb-c switch? His laptop is older so I don’t know if he’ll have the throughput for 2 monitors.

Plenty, he just has to make sure its Thunderbolt 2. Not 1, not 3, but 2.
Heres an option that would work for him

The whole thunderbolt vs mini dp vs usb c can be confusing as one is a form factor and one is a speed specification.

And yes, he will have the throughput for 2 1080p monitors with that, if not more.

His Mac's mini dp has thunderbolt 2 specs so it has a much higher throughput that a regular mini dp you see on a Surface dock or something like that

 

[Dont@Me]

Make sure you get a thunderbolt dock and not just any usb c form factor.

You could seriously limiting your throughput

I know it will be a higher Gbps with thunderbolt, but when I search I can only find usb-c to display port. I can’t find thunderbolt to DisplayPort that has MST capabilities which is a must for dual monitors.

 

[Dont@Me]

Plenty, he just has to make sure its Thunderbolt 2. Not 1, not 3, but 2.
Heres an option that would work for him

The whole thunderbolt vs mini dp vs usb c can be confusing as one is a form factor and one is a speed specification.

And yes, he will have the throughput for 2 1080p monitors with that, if not more.

His Mac's mini dp has thunderbolt 2 specs so it has a much higher throughput that a regular mini dp you see on a Surface dock or something like that

Yea it’s confusing but I spent hours researching it to understand it.

Ask, I have thunderbolt 1 port. Not 2. Even if that’s the case, isn’t thunderbolt 2 backwards compatible with thunderbolt 1?
Also, isn’t minidp synonymous with thunderbolt 1?

 

[Gold]

Yea it’s confusing but I spent hours researching it to understand it.

Ask, I have thunderbolt 1 port. Not 2. Even if that’s the case, isn’t thunderbolt 2 backwards compatible with thunderbolt 1?
Also, isn’t minidp synonymous with thunderbolt 1?

Oh i was sure you had tb2..... hmmm. Lemme check.

Minidp is like usb-c, its a form factor.
Thunderbolt is a specification. They are not the same thing.

Its like pci-e 4x or 3x can both utilize a pci-e slot. Or Sata 3 is still on a sata cable