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do those screens need to be 'thunderbolt' as well? or can they just take a usb-c connection (but ... not be thunderbolt?) I have a 2019 MBP 15". Every 'dock'

do those screens need to be 'thunderbolt' as well? or can they just take a usb-c connection (but ... not be thunderbolt?) I have a 2019 MBP 15". Every 'dock' I've looked at seemed to indicate that "you will see mirrored screens on multiple displays" - which is not what I'd want. Perhaps all of this is because I'm 'only' using a 2 year old MBP, and this is somehow all Apple's fault? Would love to know what specific $100 thunderbolt 3 dock you have. It seems to be a confusing mess of half-information whenever I go to shop for stuff.

ak217 5y ago
No, the displays don't need a Thunderbolt controller (and I do get 3 separate displays - mirroring would be pretty useless, I agree). I use this dock: https://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-Thinkpad-Thunderbolt-Dock-40AC0135US/dp/B071NWZDJB https://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-Thinkpad-Thunderbolt-Dock-40AC... After updating the dock to the latest firmware, I can run two 4k60 displays, although it requires a specific configuration: one display on one of the DisplayPort lanes, and one on an active USB-C to DisplayPort cable hooked up to the dock's unpowered Thunderbolt port. I've done this setup multiple times with this dock model, and it has worked with every Thunderbolt 3 MBP I've used.
danhor 5y ago
> and this is somehow all Apple's fault? Unfortunately yes. Apple (or MacOS specifically) doesn't support DisplayPort MST, which allows using multiple displays over a single DisplayPort connector. Since non-thunderbolt usb-c video is just DisplayPort, that means many usb-c docks with multiple display outputs don't work. Now why MacOS supports multiple video outputs over Thunderbolt and doesn't support MST is beyond me, but everything else does.