DisplayLink drains battery quick

[BottomlessCawfee]

I started using a Plugable Universal Laptop Docking Station, 4K Dual Monitor. I connected two monitors to my 13" MacBook Pro M1. First issue is that YoutubeTV and some other video websites would not play video. More importantly, I noticed that the battery drained rapidly. I probably can get between 4-5 hours of usage. Not really an issue since I have a charger lol but I'm concerned this will destroy my battery lifespan. Any thoughts?

[DanielSznicer]

Originally Posted by BottomlessCawfee

I started using a Plugable Universal Laptop Docking Station, 4K Dual Monitor. I connected two monitors to my 13" MacBook Pro M1. First issue is that YoutubeTV and some other video websites would not play video. More importantly, I noticed that the battery drained rapidly. I probably can get between 4-5 hours of usage. Not really an issue since I have a charger lol but I'm concerned this will destroy my battery lifespan. Any thoughts?

Hello,

Can you please share more details I will need logfiles to check the feedback from the driver. For instructions on how to gather the logfiles please navigate to the following article How to report macOS issues to DisplayLink


And aslo for speedy support please send an email with the logfiles and detailed problem description to: technical-enquiries@synaptics.com

[jroc8423]

Has this issue been resolved? The battery life depletes pretty fast since using the displaylink device.

[dbienkowski]

Hi,
Faster battery drain when connecting and using external monitors (whether DisplayLink or not) is something to be expected due to the fact that the GPU generates pixels not only for the MacBook's built-in screen, but also for the external monitor. How fast the battery drops also depends on the type of content being displayed. If it's constantly changing content, such as a movie playing, then the battery will drain faster. A second aspect is also the resolution of the video and how it was created. If it is a high-quality image transcoded on over the air, then the CPU and GPU are stretched enough to cause the battery level to drop faster. In the long term, however, this does not noticeably affect battery degradation.