Hi, I'm Gary, the Product
Director here at Plugable.
Today we're going to be talking about
the new M2 MacBook Pro platform
just launched by Apple and
discussing some options for M2
owners to add additional
external monitors. So let's jump
in.
Apple announced the new M2 IC
with great fanfare at the WWDC
event and early June.
A little more than a year and a
half since the launch of the
original M1, which dropped in late
2020.
This trip will be at the heart
of the upcoming 2022 MacBook
Air, as well as the 2022 13
inch MacBook Pro, which is what
I've got here with me today.
And it contains some notable
improvements on the performance
and efficiency fronts. Thanks,
in large part to the addition of
two additional graphics cores
and an improved chip process
node.
It's important to note that the
M2 represents the new entry
point into the Mac lineup. It
isn't meant to, and in fact does
not supplant the M1 Pro or M1
Max CPU's, which were introduced
in late 2021.
Another interesting thing to
note is something that hasn't
changed from, which is how many
native external monitors you can
connect both the M1 And M2 CPU
support, a single native,
external display via the
Thunderbolt enabled USB-C port
for now connecting more than one
native display requires choosing
an M1 Pro or M1 Max CPU.
So you've gotten them to system
and want to run more than one
external monitor. What options
are there? Well, one of the best
options is to use the solution
like DisplayLink USB graphics
technology, which uses an
installed driver and a custom
design chip to work around some
of the constraints of your
native laptop capabilities.
DisplayLink, it's been around
for nearly 20 years and is a
flexible, mature performance
solution that meets the needs of
the vast majority of typical web
and productivity workloads. A
couple exceptions where we don't
recommend it are for gaming and
playback of protected media
content. So let's take a look at
a couple of our products that
use DisplayLink and can help you
accomplish more than a single
external monitor on your new M2.
So first up we have our newly
redesigned 4k triple display
Docking Station affectionately
known internally as the mark to
the original version of this
dock was released in 2017. And
this updated version represents
years of customer feedback and
technology improvements.
For a deep dive on this product,
check out our dedicated video,
linked in the description below
as well as our website, but
let's take a quick look at some
of the key features. The dock
supports up to three monitors at
resolutions up to 4k at 60 Hertz
with any combination of HDMI and
DisplayPort, more on that in a
second,
It also has a vastly upgraded
charging capabilities with up to
a hundred Watts of USB-C power
delivery for charging your
laptop and a front USB-C port
that offers 20 Watts of PD
charging for your phone tablet
or other device that front USB-C
port also supports a 10 gigabits
per second data transfer speeds,
which is pretty cool. And the
first for one of our non
Thunderbolt docks,
And then of course, there's your
audio jacks, gigabit, ethernet
connection, and lots of USB 3.0
ports. This dock is designed to
use a combination of
technologies to support three
external monitors. And it's
designed with flexibility in
mind supporting any combination
of HDMI or DisplayPort display
as each with resolutions up to
4k 60.
The first output here is powered
by display port Alternate Mode,
sometimes known as USB-C
Alternate Mode. USB-C Alternate
Mode is like a pipeline directly
to your systems, internal
graphics chip. So it consumes
that single external output that
the M2 provides that port
supports a monitor at full
native GPU performance up to 4k
60 Hertz on most modern systems.
So as you can see, I've got our
UD_ULTC4K Mark II dock connected
to our M2 MacBook. We've got
three monitors going with the
combination of USB-C Alternate
Mode and DisplayLink USB
graphics technology. We've got
the DisplayLink driver installed
and operational and striking
this window between the
different displays here. To give
you a sense of how performant it
is. You know, I think most
people would be pretty hard
pressed to determine which of
these monitors is a native
connection, which is using a, a
virtual driver based connection.
Next, we'll be looking at
another of our popular docking
stations, the UD-6950H dual
display docking station, which
we've got set up here. It's a
solid option for people looking
to add a cost-effective dock
that enables two additional
external monitors on their
UD-6950H is a pure DisplayLink
design. So no third display here
or USB-C Alternate Mode or
charging for that matter.
You'll see. We've once again,
got the flexibility for your
choice of HDMI or DisplayPort
and monitors, and each is
capable of running it up to 4k
at 60 Hertz.
In addition to the ability to
add two external monitors, it
provide six USB 3.0, ports,
gigabit, ethernet, and audio
input and output jacks. We also
include both a USB-C and a USB
3.0 USB-A cable to connect to a
wide range of systems.
So, as you can see here, we've
got things connected to our
UD-6950H things perform well and
overall just really provides a
solid experience for your
multi-monitor workflows.
Thank you so much for watching
and as always, we love to see
and respond to your comments and
questions below.