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Docking stations, external displays for a Macbook Pro

almost 4 years ago from

I'm looking for a good way of setting up my Macbook Pro to at least one display, which might become two displays in the future.

From what I've seen so far there are a few lower priced dongle looking things which might work in a pinch but they don't seem overly reliable. On the other end there are the fullblown docking stations which seem way over the top and crazy expensive. I'm currently on a "Macbook Pro (13 inch, 2017, Two Thunderbold 3 ports)".

How is your setup and what are you using? Anything you can recommend?

10 comments

  • Arthur Simon, almost 4 years ago

    I think if you are planning on doing a dual 4K display, you might need an eGPU to drive those. The 13" MBP doesn't have a dGPU that can handle those.

    2 points
  • Ollie BarkerOllie Barker, almost 4 years ago

    The full-blown docking stations are, as you say, over the top and crazy. Personally I'd get a decent USB-C dongle so you can connect a display and other peripherals with one plug. I have one of the LG 5k Displays which I find is by far enough space. Though I recently hooked up an older 2560x1440 display in portrait for things like Spotify which is nice but by no means necessary.

    0 points
  • Art VandelayArt Vandelay, almost 4 years ago

    +1 for the eGPU. But would also highly recommend the CalDigit TS3+. The best docking station I'ave had and essentially create 1 cord going into MBP.

    0 points
  • Roy BarberRoy Barber, almost 4 years ago

    I run 3x 4k Screens from my 15" You can easily run two 4ks from the 13" by getting a dongle on amazon that has 3x usb, 1x charging port, 1x network port and 1x hdmi port. Connect that to one of your USBC ports and the other screen to the other one, plug in your charger into the dongle and the hdmi into the dongle then away you go.

    Your non touch 2017 model simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display at millions of colors and: 1x display with 5120-by-2880 (5k) 2x displays with 4096-by-2304 (4k) https://support.apple.com/kb/SP754?locale=en_GB

    0 points
    • Bevan StephensBevan Stephens, almost 4 years ago

      3x 4k screens?! you maniac! :-)

      0 points
    • Dennis AnderssonDennis Andersson, almost 4 years ago

      As of right now I'm using a PC with two 1080 displays which suits me just fine. I've personally not yet felt the need of 4k displays but might change in the future. Let's stick with the MBP and two external 1080 displays, is there anything you would recommend for that particular setup? Would one of those dongle variants work?

      0 points
  • Diego LafuenteDiego Lafuente, almost 4 years ago

    Indeed. You need eGPU to support 2 4k and the retina of your mbp. Otherwise you will burn your computer and it will have tons of lag.

    0 points