Daisy Chain two Dell monitors using USB-C to Displayport - MacBook Pro 2017

Question

Is it possible to Daisy Chain two Dell u2715h monitors connected to a MacBook Pro 2017?

So the setup would be USB-C to DP cable from the MacBook to first monitor and then the first monitor connected to the second monitor - known as Daisy Chaining.

Solution 1

I tested the exact setup on a MacBook Pro 2017 with Sierra and, after an update, also High Sierra.

It did not work. The two monitors will mirror each other and not extend the display.

I don't know why it does not work - Apple says, that the following MacBook Pro's support MST (Multi-Stream-Transport). Taken from this official apple documentation

• MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013) and later
• MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2015) and later

I have read other places that other users have the same problem. I am guessing it is a software/driver problem as it works with a windows pc and other users have reported that it works on a mac running windows.

Solution 2

Actually, the 2017 Macbook Pros when used in conjunction with the OWC Thunderbolt 3 dock worked for me. I connected two BenQ monitors with that dock and got the two monitors plus the MBPs screen to come up as separate entities. No work required. Used a Display Port to Thunderbolt (USB-c) cable and a Display Port to mini-Display Port cable. The thunderbolt connector and mini-DP connector were both plugged into the Thunderbolt 3 dock and the dock was plugged into one port on the MBP.

Comments

[john]

Thanks for your response, but I tried that. I tested the setup and followed the exact configuration you mention - as given by Dell. It even works from a windows computer, but changing only the cable from windows machine to MBP, it does not work. I really cannot believe why people are not more upset about this.

[davidgo]

Someone anonymously added "This solution is only applicable to connecting multiple displays via separate discrete ports, but not in relation to daisy chaining monitors via display port and the multi-stream transport capabilities of the MacBook Pro." to the post. This should have been a comment and I've voted to reject edit.

[Scott - Слава Україні]

FYI, we have had reports of the same behavior for Dell U2414H monitors and Dell U2515Hs — when daisy-chained, Windows treats them as an extended monitor, but macOS just mirrors one display.

[Yogh]

After reading that official Apple documentation about four times I think the support for MST it's referring to is 5K monitors that require MST in order to support the single monitor off a single cable. There's no mention on the page about daisy chaining.

[kza]

I confirm that configuration does not work with MBP 15'2018

[Farside]

this setup doesn't work on MacOS, since they don't support a full-fledged daisy chaining (MST) over DisplayPort. I confirmed on my MBP15"2018 after a week of bying different cables, dongles, and HyperDrive adapter.