Mac Mini M1 – Need 3 total monitors – which dock to purchase?

christhedeputy · 07-29-2021, 07:16 PM

If you thought it would work, my guess is you might have confused DisplayPort and DisplayLink as the same thing - they aren't.

Your M1 Mac mini can support 2 displays (as you've already seen), a third will require you to get a displaylink adapter or a displaylink dock. My recommendation is to keep your CalDigit dock and just get a simple display link adapter - not only will you save money, the CalDigit dock has much higher bandwidth available for everything you plug into it because it is thunderbolt. Any DisplayLink dock you get will be USB3 only, and each displaylink display on it will be eating into its overall lower bandwidth. I would recommend this adapter:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...SIN=B00A2E1MQA

On the other hand, a Displaylink dock could be a 'cleaner' setup. But if you decide not to use the caldigit dock, remember you will need either a DisplayLink dock that supports dual displays, or you will need to get something to run the second, natively-supported display, like a usb-c to dvi adapter.

All of these different configurations will have an impact on how many free ports you have and the bandwidth available to them, so take that into consideration.

I would also recommend you keep your lowest resolution/least useful monitor on the DisplayLink adapter. Running a display over displaylink is not as reliable or fast as a natively-supported display.

07-29-2021, 07:16 PM	#2
christhedeputy Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2021 Posts: 1	don't confuse DisplayPort with DisplayLink If you thought it would work, my guess is you might have confused DisplayPort and DisplayLink as the same thing - they aren't. Your M1 Mac mini can support 2 displays (as you've already seen), a third will require you to get a displaylink adapter or a displaylink dock. My recommendation is to keep your CalDigit dock and just get a simple display link adapter - not only will you save money, the CalDigit dock has much higher bandwidth available for everything you plug into it because it is thunderbolt. Any DisplayLink dock you get will be USB3 only, and each displaylink display on it will be eating into its overall lower bandwidth. I would recommend this adapter: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...SIN=B00A2E1MQA On the other hand, a Displaylink dock could be a 'cleaner' setup. But if you decide not to use the caldigit dock, remember you will need either a DisplayLink dock that supports dual displays, or you will need to get something to run the second, natively-supported display, like a usb-c to dvi adapter. All of these different configurations will have an impact on how many free ports you have and the bandwidth available to them, so take that into consideration. I would also recommend you keep your lowest resolution/least useful monitor on the DisplayLink adapter. Running a display over displaylink is not as reliable or fast as a natively-supported display.