Unable to upgrade to Mavericks+, are there any other hardware options ?

[lordsiris]

Hello,

I've been waiting on displaylink and apple to get these issues resolved before moving up to Mavericks and soon to Yosemite, but it doesn't look good. I was waiting for Mavericks to come out to give proper multiple monitor support in the OS only for my displaylink adapters to not function properly. I'm tired of waiting.

Are there any other hardware solutions people are using to support 3 monitors that aren't crazy expensive?

BTW, I may soon have 3 displaylink adapters for sale. Maybe I can trade them for skittles or something useful.

Kind regards,

lordsiris

[D43m0n]

Hmm, I'm getting less and less interested in DisplayLink. It took roughly a year before I could even use a DL-3XXX device with any Mac. Usage has never been as good as it can be with Windows, although there have been issues with that as well. We're now in version 2.2 of the Mac driver and still there are annoying bugs.

I also have a few colleagues with Linux (a very recent and very popular distro) that still can't use a DL-3xxx device, but nonetheless they're still being sold as compatible with Linux...

If you're on a Mac? If I had to do it over again, I'd choose a Thunderbolt dock instead, they're cheaper now and seam to be working more flawlessly without any special driver.

[alphadog]

Hmm, I'm getting less and less interested in DisplayLink. It took roughly a year before I could even use a DL-3XXX device with any Mac. Usage has never been as good as it can be with Windows, although there have been issues with that as well. We're now in version 2.2 of the Mac driver and still there are annoying bugs.

I also have a few colleagues with Linux (a very recent and very popular distro) that still can't use a DL-3xxx device, but nonetheless they're still being sold as compatible with Linux...

If you're on a Mac? If I had to do it over again, I'd choose a Thunderbolt dock instead, they're cheaper now and seam to be working more flawlessly without any special driver.

The problem with Thunderbolt is mutli-monitor support. Read reviews before you buy.... many only support certain combinations, and Thunderbolt monitors are way expensive.

I was hoping to switch to Thunderbolt, but if i do I can only use one of my HDMI/DVI monitors. For one monitor, I don't need a dock.

[lordsiris]

If you're on a Mac? If I had to do it over again, I'd choose a Thunderbolt dock instead, they're cheaper now and seam to be working more flawlessly without any special driver.

I've looked into the thunderbolt docks but it appears to only maybe support one additional non-thunderbolt display. I'm trying to use 3 hdmi/dvi displays (currently painfully using 2 DL devices) and the single video out from the macbook pro.

Is there nothing else besides the $250+ triplehead item?

Thanks!

[tonyj]

Problem with the Triplehead is that each monitor is limited to 1360x768 - see below:

http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/products/gxm/mac/choice/

For me, that low resolution is unacceptable. I'd much prefer the Displaylink solution *if* it worked under Mavericks.

[lordsiris]

Problem with the Triplehead is that each monitor is limited to 1360x768 - see below:

http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/products/gxm/mac/choice/

For me, that low resolution is unacceptable. I'd much prefer the Displaylink solution *if* it worked under Mavericks.

Thanks for that information, saved me the hassle of purchasing and returning as that resolution would be kinda useless for me as well.

Anyone else with any bright ideas?

[cantera]

This page on the Matrix site seems to show a workaround for getting 1280x1024 on the TripleHead2Go: http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/support/gxm/

Can anyone report on whether that setting works when using two external (non-thunderbolt) displays?

[cantera]

The other possibility I'm considering is going ahead with the Thunderbolt hub just to get me down to one DL device. It's an expensive way to solve the problem, but still worth it to me. Has anyone tried this config?

In case it matters, I'll be connecting the "second" external to the hub via a TB-to-DVI adapter.

[tonyj]

Hi - I'm intrigued - if you're only attaching one monitor to the TB hub, why not attach it directly to the Mac? Or have I missed something? I'd really love a solution!

[cantera]

if you're only attaching one monitor to the TB hub, why not attach it directly to the Mac? Or have I missed something?

In my setup, I have four total displays:

1 - the built-in display (MacBook Pro)
2 - one 1920 x 1200 display connected via Thunderbolt (through a DVI adapter)
3 - one DVI display connected via DisplayLink USB
4 - one USB DisplayLink monitor

Like you, the problem that's preventing me from upgrading OSX (currently running Lion) is that I'll likely lose one of the DisplayLink devices or run into issues trying to use both.

So my strategy is to "convert" #3 -- connecting it to a Thunderbolt hub, giving me two total Thunderbolt displays. Doing that would bring me down to one total DisplayLink device, which seems to work fine on all versions of OSX.

It's likely someone has already thought of this, so if anybody sees a flaw in my strategy, I'd appreciate the advice before making the investment. :)

[tonyj]

I hate to say this, but I might have found a flaw - and that's such a shame, because I want to do what you've done (which is to connect three external monitors to a Macbook).

Like you, I'm using a DVI adaptor to connect to my monitor to the Macbook (none of my monitors are native thunderbolt). The problem is that, technically, (and *please* correct me if I'm wrong), the adaptor is displayport to dvi, not thunderbolt to dvi (a thunderbolt port falls back to displayport if a displayport device is attached).

So, if we buy this device:
http://ca.startech.com/Cards-Adapters/Laptop-docking-stations/Thunderbolt-Laptop-Docking-Station~TBDOCKHDPBC

It's worth reading the small print at the end:

"When using a single display, the dock lets you connect one HDMI, DisplayPort or Thunderbolt monitor. The Thunderbolt™ interface on the dock is backward compatible with Mini DisplayPort and when connected to a DisplayPort monitor, only a single display can be added as HDMI will be disabled. For dual display configurations, you can connect one HDMI monitor and one Thunderbolt monitor simultaneously."

So, as I read this, you could use the hub to connect a *thunderbolt* monitor and a second monitor (perhaps via HDMI->DVI), plus continue using your third USB Displaylink monitor. But I certainly couldn't afford an additional Thunderbolt monitor.

Now, perhaps there are hubs without this restriction? But I would be very wary if you're planning to attach monitors to the hub via DVI adaptors to the Thunderbolt ports.

Pah!

[lordsiris]

Unfortunately I haven't been able to find another solution for 3 external monitors without using displaylink. I'm still stuck in 10.8 as the use of 3 monitors is currently more important than the latest OS, but its really frustrating to be behind two complete OS versions.