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Old 08-15-2018, 03:43 PM   #487
lhasiuk
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2018
Posts: 6
Default DisplayLink on 2017 and later MacBook Pros

I previously used a DisplayLink adapter to add a second external monitor to my late 2011 MacBook Pro 17", until it stopped working when I unknowingly updated macOS to an incompatible version. I stayed on top of this thread looking for a fix, but unfortunately the first one available would not fill my needs because of the resolution restriction and the lack of rotation support. Continuing to read through the thread over time, I decided that the best approach was to upgrade to a newer MacBook Pro, and ended up with the 15" 2018 model. It works great and easily supports my 30" main monitor and the 20" monitor beside it with the appropriate adapters. Apparently I can add up to four external 4K monitors. It works so much better than the DisplayLink adapter ever did, which was so slow that I couldn't really run anything that had a rapidly changing image and many apps with seemingly static displays would sometimes cause the driver to peg the CPU and be unusable with it. It eventually became my "documentation only" screen and then, of course, stopped working at all.

Now I can run whatever I want on either screen and it works flawlessly. Yes, it was expensive to upgrade my computer, but the MacBook Pro 17 was seven years old and had gone through three logic boards because of the graphics chip solder issue, which Apple covered but simply replaced with similarly flawed boards.

What I can't figure out is why anyone purchasing one of these 2017 and newer MacBook Pros would want to continue using the DisplayLink adapter, as some of the comments in this thread seem to imply. Do you really need more than 4 external 4K screens? Just go with an inexpensive USB-C to HDMI adapter or a USB-C to DisplayPort adapter, depending on your connection needs. You'll be much happier when your displays run with native support and you no longer have to carefully consider whether applying the next update is worth the possibility of losing your extra displays.
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