[SOLVED] 2016 15” MBP Unable to Drive Dual 4k Monitors via Docking Station

[YelluhJelluh]

Hi all,

I’m a bit surprised, to say the least. Aren’t MBPs advertised as being able to drive up to three 4k monitors or two 5k?

The setup:
I have the base 15” model from 2016, which seems like it should have plenty of gpu to at least not have input lag on these monitors...
The monitors are two LG 27UL600 monitors. The docking station is a Targus 4k DisplayLink that I got for free from work. And I’m using display port cables to connect the station to the monitor, and then the usb-c to connect the docking station to the MBP.

But when I have this setup... the input lag alone makes it completely unusable. With nothing at all open besides the display settings window...

I’ve tried the HDMI cables as well, although that wouldn’t make sense as a solution, but I just wanted to see if the DPs were faulty.

How can this possibly be the case that a MBP is so weak? Is there anything I can do to improve it without dropping the resolution to trash?
Does the advertised triple 4k require them to be directly connected via usb-c and not a docking station?

I will only be doing work on these monitors, so it’s not like it needs to handle gaming or video editing or anything intense...

Thanks a ton in advance

 

[velocityg4]

Sounds more like a dock problem or dock GPU driver problem. As far as I can tell the Targus Displaylink is a USB dock. One which uses the DL-6950 chipset. Meaning it has it's own (extremely weak) GPU. It isn't utilizing the MacBook Pro's built in GPU.

For that you need to get a proper Thunderbolt 3 Dock or USB-C dock which passes through the DisplayPort connection. Not one which relies on it's own GPU for graphics.

 

[YelluhJelluh]

Sounds more like a dock problem or dock GPU driver problem. As far as I can tell the Targus Displaylink is a USB dock. One which uses the DL-6950 chipset. Meaning it has it's own (extremely weak) GPU. It isn't utilizing the MacBook Pro's built in GPU.

For that you need to get a proper Thunderbolt 3 Dock or USB-C dock which passes through the DisplayPort connection. Not one which relies on it's own GPU for graphics.

Ah... that makes sense, and is what I was afraid to be the case.
I'll look into better dock options and see if that resolves the issue. Thanks for the idea!

EDIT: If anyone's interested, this is the docking station. It advertises that it can handle 4k, but the reviews, and my experience, say otherwise.