Pluggable dock ok?
 

As I continue to gather parts for my impending switch to MAC STUDIO MAX, I’m wondering if any of you has experience with the Pluggable UD6950 PDZ Thunderbolt dock? What I’m liking primarily about it is the 3 Displayport connections, which is how all of my monitors are connected now. Thanks in advance for your help!
https://www.newegg.com/plugable-tech...1DN-000M-000B0

Re: Pluggable dock ok?
 

This Dock is USB not Thunderbolt and it uses DisplayLink technology to run displays. Which means it chews up CPU power for displays, not GPU. The Mac Studio has plenty of ports capable of driving multiple display directly. You just need to buy the appropriate cables or adapters. Or, get a proper Thunderbolt hub. IMHO

Re: Pluggable dock ok?
 

Aha, they tout it as “thunderbolt COMPATIBLE,” and I didn’t realize that monitors on USB-C were cpu hogs. OWC says this is an actual Thunderbolt dock: better?
https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/owc-thunderbolt-dock

Re: Pluggable dock ok?
 

OWC makes excellent docks. I use their TB3 Dock on my M1 machine but this is a TB3 Dock, not TB4 on Mac if that matters to you. It will only run 1 display on M1/M2 Macs. They do not specify about Mac Studio

Actual display support varies by computer specifications. Supported Intel-based Apple Mac models and Thunderbolt 4 PCs support two displays over a Thunderbolt port. Apple silicon M1 and M2 Mac models support a single display over a Thunderbolt port.

Again,
The Mac Studio can support up to five displays: one display through HDMI, and then four additional displays using Thunderbolt 4.

Re: Pluggable dock ok?
 

Looking at the back of the Mac Studio Max, I’d run out of thunderbolt ports…I need to connect my Apollo, Sonnet Expansion chassis, and 3 monitors, so I’m one port short. But. Could feasibly run the 3rd off the hdmi port. (It’s terribly OCD of me, but I’m trying to avoid snaking permanent cables around to the front of the MAC.)

Re: Pluggable dock ok?
 

You can daisy chain off the expansion chassis. Bt even still. You have 4 TB4 ports in back and yes, why wouldn’t you use the HDMI port?

Re: Pluggable dock ok?
 

Forgive me for all the questions, and thanks for the answers! Trying to research BEFORE I spend money! Can the hdmi port with a splitter run my two control room monitors, and use one of the remaining thunderbolt ports for the remote monitor in the booth? (My mac experience so far is VERY limited….on my current pc, I just stuck in a 4-output monitor card.)

Re: Pluggable dock ok?
 

Ok, this configuration changes things.

No, you can get an HDMI splitter but the same screen will display on both monitors. They will not be independent of each other.

It might be a good idea to list all of your peripherals here so there’s not a lot of back and forth.

How far is your booth monitor?
What’s in the expansion chassis if you’re using an Apollo?

With Studio Max the two ports in front are USB-C. Not TB.

Re: Pluggable dock ok?
 

Expansion chassis houses a UA Octo card and 2 pci-e to m.2 cards with Samsung evo 970’s.
Control room has dual monitors (currently display port to dvi), booth has one monitor, also display port to dvi with about a 20-foot cable, which is actually a mirror of the right side monitor in the control room. Artists love being able to see where the punch-in is going to happen, and it’s good for adr too. Does the MAC decide which port facilitates the primary monitor, or do I get to choose? Using the hdmi as the secondary monitor, with a splitter to feed the booth monitor, would work splendidly.

Re: Pluggable dock ok?
 

With Mac you arrange the monitors as you need them in the OS and drag the application windows to each monitor respectively and assign the OS Dock to the primary display. It will remember the configuration. There is an option to have the Dock show up on all the displays. I turn this off.
It is not by port. You need to go into the Display Settings and arrange accordingly. Look up some YouTube videos on this.

Obviously you will need some adapters for your display port cable or monitors.

So you’re not actually connecting three displays to the Mac, only two. The third is connected to the HDMI splitter.

To make things more confusing. You can attach the third display independently and select in the OS to have that display mirror one of the other two displays.

https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-...hl7c7ebe08/mac