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Comment by Andrew_nenakhov | Hacker News Reader

For anyone having issues with only one external display at once, DisplayLink adapters work very well, allowing you to connect much more displays if you need them.

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It comes with a bunch of downsides though. It is lossy, requires a third-party driver (and you become dependent on them to provide timely updates for new macOS releases), protected content from iTunes and other players is not visible on the laptop display when DisplayLink adapters are connected, a bunch of HiDPI resolutions are missing on Apple Silicon Macs, etc.

USB-C Alt-Mode and Thunderbolt always trump DisplayLink. So it's best to figure out first what displays you want to connect and then buy the Mac that supports that configuration. But if you already have a Mac that doesn't support the number of displays that you want to hook up, DisplayLink is a solution.

Luckily, these new MacBook Air models support two external 5K@60Hz displays with the lid closed.

Mine requires no driver, it's plug and play. I just get the Apple Security nag when I plug (anything) in.

DisplayLink can get an LCD to re-engage from sleep which Apple's built in ports often can't. Try switching off your Dell LCD attached directly to an M2 Mini.

Works fine for me across a bunch of LG and Dell displays hooked up with DisplayPort (DP-Alt over Type-C). I only had this issue with a StarTech Thunderbolt hub (used to work fine until it didn’t).

> It is lossy,

I was cautious about this issue before buying the device, but the fears turned out to be unfounded. Sure it won't be good enough for competitive gaming or something like that, but watching youtube is pretty good, and text rendering is indistinguishable from regular display. The only issue is that refresh rate seems to be about 30fps but for many tasks it is acceptable.

> USB-C Alt-Mode and Thunderbolt always trump DisplayLink.

Yes, but does it allow you to connect 3 displays to your notebook? I actually wanted just 2 external displays, but the DisplayLink device had 2 ports, and I have many HDMI displays laying around, so I connected 3 because I can.

Not to mention, you need to give the DisplayLink driver permission to record your screen. Which is probably fine from a security standpoint, but doesn't feel great.

I've used both and while Displaylink works, native support is definitely snappier. Not by much, but just enough to be able to notice.

Depends very much on what you're doing. DisplayLink adds noticeable lag, compression artifacts, and will prevent HDCP video from playing on all monitors including ones not using DisplayLink.

Maybe things are better in the Apple Silicon days, but I tried using an external "carry it with you" monitor that used DisplayLink on an old Intel MacBook and it was an endless stream of headaches. Frequently the computer just wouldn't see the monitor at all until I restarted both of them, custom settings like color and rotation would often reset, etc. The DisplayLink drivers seemed like total shit.

For me it works like a charm. I had to change the USB hub though, first one was buggy and would randomly stop working. But on a second one everything is fine.

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