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What are the display output capabilities for the TBT4-UDZ?

Last Update: August 29th, 2024
Article ID: 1705024

The TBT4-UDZ docking station offers two primary modes to output video to attached displays via the dual HDMI 2.0 and dual DisplayPort 1.2 outputs: Thunderbolt 3/Thunderbolt 4/USB4 mode and USB-C DisplayPort Alternate mode.

Systems with Thunderbolt 3, Thunderbolt 4, and USB4 support and USB-C only systems without Thunderbolt support will have differing capabilities. In addition, some Thunderbolt 3 systems may only support a single display and some USB-C only systems may lack USB-C DisplayPort Alternate Mode video output entirely (no displays will work). Windows versus Mac compatibility varies as well. Due to varying support please see below for more technical details:

Multiple display capabilities for Thunderbolt 4/USB4 systems:

  • Thunderbolt 4/USB4 Windows systems with DisplayPort 1.4 HBR3 DSC (High Bit Rate 3 with Display Stream Compression) can offer up to four extended displays at 4K (3840x2160) at 60Hz via 2x HDMI 2.0 and 2x DisplayPort 1.2 video outputs utilizing DisplayPort MST (Multi-Stream Transport) technology built into the dock. (USB4 system support may vary depending on system manufacturer specifications)

  • Apple M1/M2/M3 Pro and M1/M2/M3 Max based Macs do not support DisplayPort MST (Multi-Stream Transport) technology and thus can support up to 2x 4K (3840x2160) 60Hz extended displays via 2x HDMI 2.0 and 2x DisplayPort 1.2 video outputs which can be connected in any combination of HDMI + HDMI, DP + DP, or a mix of HDMI + DP to the "Group 1" and "Group 2" output groups. Two displays cannot be connected to the same group.

  • Apple M1/M2 based Macs (base model, non-Pro/Max) are limited to a single 4K (3840x2160) 60Hz extended display which can be connected to any single HDMI 2.0 or DisplayPort 1.2 video output on the dock. (M1/M2 users should consider a DisplayLink USB graphics based docking station like our UD-ULTC4K instead which can enable up to three 4K 60Hz displays - the TBT4-UDZ does not use DisplayLink USB graphics technology)
  • MacBook Air and MacBook Pro M3(base) can support up to two displays with the lid closed(clamshell) over Thunderbolt.
    • macOS Sonoma 14.3 or later for MacBook Air M3 is required
    • macOS Sonoma 14.6 or later for MacBook Pro M3 is required 

Multiple display capabilities for Thunderbolt 3 systems:

  • Thunderbolt 3 Windows systems with dual DisplayPort streams can offer up to 2x 4K (3840x2160) 60Hz extended displays via 2x HDMI 2.0 and 2x DisplayPort 1.2 video outputs which can be connected in any combination of HDMI + HDMI, DP + DP, or a mix of HDMI + DP to the "Group 1" and "Group 2" output groups. Two displays cannot be connected to the same group*. (*A configuration with three displays may technically be able to be connected, however, by doing so there will be severe bandwidth limitations and will lead to suboptimal resolution and refresh rate options for all three displays. As such this configuration is not recommended or supported.)
  • Thunderbolt 3 Windows systems with a single DP stream are limited to a single 4K (3840x2160) 60Hz extended display which can be connected to any single HDMI 2.0 or DisplayPort 1.2 video output on the dock.

  • Thunderbolt 3 Apple Macs with Intel processors can support up to 2x 4K (3840x2160) 60Hz extended displays via 2x HDMI 2.0 and 2x DisplayPort 1.2 video outputs* which can be connected in any combination of HDMI + HDMI, DP + DP, or a mix of HDMI + DP to the "Group 1" and "Group 2" output groups. Two displays cannot be connected to the same group.
    (*Please note: Older Intel based Macs (non Apple M series processors) are advised to use HDMI for the best compatibility with 4K 60Hz displays if possible. The use of DisplayPort is supported for Intel Macs, however the display(s) may be limited to 4K 30Hz maximum. For Intel based Macs our TBT3-UDZ Thunderbolt 3 dock may be a better choice for DisplayPort displays requiring 4K 60Hz)

Multiple display capabilities for USB-C only Windows systems:

(Non-Thunderbolt/USB4, using USB-C DisplayPort Alternate Mode (DP Alt Mode) operating in USB-C Multifunction DisplayPort Mode (MFDP))

  • USB-C DP Alt Mode MFDP Windows systems with DisplayPort 1.4 HBR3 with DSC (High Bit Rate 3 with Display Stream Compression) can offer up to two displays at 4K (3840x2160) at 60Hz via 2x HDMI 2.0 or 2x DisplayPort 1.2 video outputs which can be connected in any combination of HDMI + HDMI, DP + DP, or a mix of HDMI + DP to the "Group 1" and "Group 2" output groups. Two displays cannot be connected to the same group.

  • USB-C DP Alt Mode MFDP Windows systems with DisplayPort 1.4 HBR3 (High Bit Rate 3) can offer one display up to 4K (3840x2160) at 60Hz or two displays 1440p (2560x1440) at 60Hz via 2x HDMI 2.0 or 2x DisplayPort 1.2 video outputs which can be connected in any combination of HDMI + HDMI, DP + DP, or a mix of HDMI + DP to the "Group 1" and "Group 2" output groups. Two displays cannot be connected to the same group.

  • USB-C DP Alt Mode MFDP Windows systems with DisplayPort 1.2 HBR2 (High Bit Rate 2) can offer a single display up to 4K (3840x2160) at 30Hz or two displays 1080p (1920x1080) at 60Hz via 2x HDMI 2.0 or 2x DisplayPort 1.2 video outputs which can be connected in any combination of HDMI + HDMI, DP + DP, or a mix of HDMI + DP to the "Group 1" and "Group 2" output groups. Two displays cannot be connected to the same group.

Multiple display capabilities for USB-C only Mac systems:

(Non-Thunderbolt/USB4 using USB-C DisplayPort Alternate Mode)

  • USB-C Apple 12" MacBook Retina Macs (single USB-C port, non-Air/Pro) are limited to a single 4K (3840x2160) 30Hz extended display which can be connected to any single HDMI 2.0 or DisplayPort 1.2 video output on the dock.

Important Notes:

  • Most Thunderbolt 4 Windows laptop systems will require the internal display to be "disconnected" in the Windows Display Settings to enable four external extended displays. (support is dependent upon the system graphics chipset(s) configuration)

  • Windows 10 and Windows 11 systems will try to mirror/clone attached displays by default upon first connect, it will be required to separate any mirrored/cloned displays and change them to be extended in the Windows Display Settings. (for a quad display setup on a Thunderbolt 4 host this step may need to be repeated until all displays are extended)

  • Some Thunderbolt 3 Windows systems will not support dual displays (only one DisplayPort stream). Please check with your system manufacturer to verify dual displays via Thunderbolt 3 are supported. (a common example would be the popular Intel NUC hosts which usually only support a single display through Thunderbolt 3)

  • For Thunderbolt 4 equipped Windows desktop systems with Intel 11th gen processors ("Rocket Lake-S"). Due to limitations of the integrated Intel UHD 730 and 750 graphics these systems will be limited to a maximum of three displays if the Thunderbolt 4 controller is utilizing the Intel integrated graphics as the DisplayPort video signal source. Additionally, 11th gen processors with an "F" or "KF" designation (like the 11900KF) lack integrated video entirely and will not support any displays over Thunderbolt 4 (again, if the Thunderbolt 4 controller relies on the integrated graphics).

    If the Intel 11th Gen Thunderbolt 4 desktop has auxiliary DisplayPort video inputs (either on the motherboard, or via a Thunderbolt 4 add-in card) the user can connect the Thunderbolt 4 controller to a dedicated PCI Express graphics card (such AMD Radeon, Nvidia GeForce, or Intel Arc) DisplayPort video outputs and those systems are capable of supporting four displays (as the integrated UHD graphics is not utilized in this configuration). Typically systems with this ability to "loopback" the video signal from a PCIe graphics card into the Thunderbolt controller are rare except for very high end workstation or gaming class desktops.

  • We do not officially support high refresh rate displays above 60Hz. (higher refresh rates under 4K resolution may be selected but performance and stability above 60Hz is not guaranteed)

  • We do not support HDR (High Dynamic Range) or adaptive sync/variable refresh rate (such as AMD FreeSync or Nvidia G-Sync technologies)

  • If converting the DisplayPort outputs to a different connector type an active DisplayPort adapter is required. Passive DisplayPort adapters are not supported. (the 2x DisplayPorts do not offer DP++ capabilities required for passive adapters)
    • Users with legacy DVI displays should use passive HDMI to DVI adapters in most cases* rather than active DP to DVI adapters. (*Dual Link DVI displays will require an active DP to DVI Dual Link adapter)
    • Users with legacy VGA displays should use active DisplayPort to VGA adapters (or active HDMI to VGA adapters)
    • Thunderbolt 3, Thunderbolt 4, USB4, and USB-C DisplayPort Alternate Mode based USB-C displays are not supported
    • Legacy Apple ADC displays are not supported

  • 5K, 6K, and 8K displays are not supported as they require a higher resolution output than what this dock can offer

  • The use of multiple DisplayPort displays daisy-chained via DP MST (DisplayPort Multi-Stream Transport) is not supported

  • Older 4K displays that require DP MST to operate at 4K 60Hz are not supported. (these displays use two 1920x2160 vertical panels in the display via DP MST to achieve 3840x2160)

  • Legacy Apple Thunderbolt (1 or 2) systems being converted to Thunderbolt 3 using Apple's bi-directional Thunderbolt adapter are not officially supported and this combination is at this time untested and not recommended.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact us at support@plugable.com and we'll be happy to assist!