Dual monitor USB-C brainstorm

[Shaqo_Wyn]

Hi everyone,

 

TLDR: what's an elegant, cost-effective solution for me to connect two 24" 1080p screens, a USB-C to Ethernet dongle, USB-C laptop charger, USB-A wireless mouse receiver and (occasionally) an external Samsung SSD to my Lenovo C940 at the same time.

 

I was wondering if ya'll could help me come up with an elegant solution for my current setup.

I'm already knee deep in the dongle life with this thing and running out of USB ports. My goal is to extend my screen real estate in the most elegant/efficient way possible.

 

Current setup: 

Lenovo C940 Yoga laptop (2x USB-C, 1x USB-A 3.0).

Dell U2414H (1080p, 60hz) connected through HDMI

Dongles: 1x USB-C to Ethernet adapter, 1x USB/HDMI hub (monitor connects to this)

USB-A port occupied by Logitech G Pro wireless receiver

 

I wanted an ultra wide monitor but I haven't found any that don't have a flaw or limitation that I'm comfortable with. 

I then stumbled upon the Dell U2419HC and thought perfect, why not two screen of the same screens?

1080p IPS is still viable for my needs and it's way cheaper, plus I know that the U24XXH/HC series is solid.

 

 

 

[Kisai]

25 minutes ago, Shaqo_Wyn said:

Hi everyone,

 

TLDR: what's an elegant, cost-effective solution for me to connect two 24" 1080p screens, a USB-C to Ethernet dongle, USB-C laptop charger, USB-A wireless mouse receiver and (occasionally) an external Samsung SSD to my Lenovo C940 at the same time.

 

I was wondering if ya'll could help me come up with an elegant solution for my current setup.

I'm already knee deep in the dongle life with this thing and running out of USB ports. My goal is to extend my screen real estate in the most elegant/efficient way possible.

 

Current setup: 

Lenovo C940 Yoga laptop (2x USB-C, 1x USB-A 3.0).

Dell U2414H (1080p, 60hz) connected through HDMI

Dongles: 1x USB-C to Ethernet adapter, 1x USB/HDMI hub (monitor connects to this)

USB-A port occupied by Logitech G Pro wireless receiver

 

I wanted an ultra wide monitor but I haven't found any that don't have a flaw or limitation that I'm comfortable with. 

I then stumbled upon the Dell U2419HC and thought perfect, why not two screen of the same screens?

1080p IPS is still viable for my needs and it's way cheaper, plus I know that the U24XXH/HC series is solid.

 

 

 

There's three paths, but one of them requires you to explicitly buy a monitor with a Displayport MST output.

 

1. Easiest solution, Buy a USB-C dock like a Dell WD19 which has two displayport monitors, ethernet, audio and will charge your laptop and provide 3 USB-C and one more USB-A port afterwords. However, it will only charge 130W or below Dell laptops, other laptops might cap at 100w.

2. Slightly less easy solution, buy two USB-C monitors, daisy chain one of them via displayport, and connect your ethernet USB-A adapter to it, each monitor should have 4 USB-A ports on them, two on the side, two on the back. That U2419HC only supports 65 watts of USB-C PD, so it will only charge a laptop that has an existing 65w power brick or less. You can also daisy chain those together, but getting that to work every time you connect via one USB-C cable might prove difficult

3. Most direction option without using Displayport MST is to connect both monitors to the laptop via USB-C, it will only charge off one of them, and then just use the 8 ports you should have on the monitors for your USB equipment. Using the Displayport MST requires using the USB-C port or a mini-displayport on the laptop, so you're better off with either the first option, or using the USB-C monitor's PD.

 

The "technically" right option is a displayport (not displaylink) dock. These will only support two HD monitors, never 4K. If you want two 4K monitors instead at a later point you would need to use a Thunderbolt dock, which means the laptop needs to support it. 

 

You can also just use the U2414H via Displayport (not USB-C), but you could still connect that one via displayport to the U2419C's displayport out MST and that will work. You may need to explicitly turn it on in the monitor's menu however.

 

I do want to point one thing out though, you can buy "displayport usb-c" cables if you just want to connect the monitor via usb-c, but that absolutely will not give you a connection to the USB.

 

So if you don't like the dock option, I'd probably go with buying the U24149HC, use that as the first device in the chain, and plug your U2414H into that via DP. Then you can either chain the USB to it as well, or plug the USB from the U2414H directly into the laptop. All your other stuff can be plugged into either monitor.

 

The specs on your laptop indicate it supports Thunderbolt, so if you want to use the Thunderbolt feature, get a Thunderbolt dock and plug the monitors into that. The monitors will not pass the thunderbolt signal via usb-c.

[Shaqo_Wyn]

8 hours ago, Kisai said:

*space saver*

Hi Kisai, thank you for your extensive reply. I admit I had to read it twice to make sure I understood everything. 

The dock option does sound nice, so if I understand correctly, I simply plug the USB-C cable of the dock in my laptop and I'm good to go right? Get some DP cables for the two monitors and presto.

 

Are their any other docks besides the Dell WD19 that you would also recommend? I'll think I'll also check to see what Lenovo and HP have to offer. 

 

My laptop indeed has two TB3 4x lane ports and it came with a 65W power brick so 100-130W is more than enough. I'm wondering though if the excess power will affect the longevity of my laptop's battery?

 

I also like your idea of chaining the two monitors together via DP. Is that guaranteed to work?

So I simply connect a DP from the 2419HC to the 2414H and then the USB-C from the 2419HC to my laptop and do the same for USB?

 

Last Q: which of these setups would best accommodate a ultra wide (e.g. LG34GK950F) + a E-GPU in the future?

[Kisai]

12 minutes ago, Shaqo_Wyn said:

Hi Kisai, thank you for your extensive reply. I admit I had to read it twice to make sure I understood everything. 

The dock option does sound nice, so if I understand correctly, I simply plug the USB-C cable of the dock in my laptop and I'm good to go right? Get some DP cables for the two monitors and presto.

Yep, that's how I use WD15 and WD19 at the office.

 

12 minutes ago, Shaqo_Wyn said:

Are their any other docks besides the Dell WD19 that you would also recommend? I'll think I'll also check to see what Lenovo and HP have to offer. 

 

I'd suggest avoiding "DisplayLink" type docks as they tend to have visible artifacting. Some people don't notice, but to me I certainly do. If anything a Thunderbolt dock(supports 2 4K monitors) is more capable than a standard USB-C dock (supports 2 HD monitors max even though they have 3 outputs.) Very important to install the drivers for docks however as the laptop might behave strangely, eg the WD19 mentioned needs the audio driver installed even if you don't use it or the dock will not reconnect the usb devices.

 

12 minutes ago, Shaqo_Wyn said:

My laptop indeed has two TB3 4x lane ports and it came with a 65W power brick so 100-130W is more than enough. I'm wondering though if the excess power will affect the longevity of my laptop's battery?

Excess power is not a thing. The wattage is just a maximum capable. Use too small of a power supply and the laptop either doesn't charge, or charges only when in standby.

 

12 minutes ago, Shaqo_Wyn said:

I also like your idea of chaining the two monitors together via DP. Is that guaranteed to work?

So I simply connect a DP from the 2419HC to the 2414H and then the USB-C from the 2419HC to my laptop and do the same for USB?

 

That's guaranteed to work, it just might need to be turned on in a menu on the display since it has to renegotiate with the PC. So you could always buy the monitor and try this first and then move to the dock if it's not suitable.

 

12 minutes ago, Shaqo_Wyn said:

Last Q: which of these setups would best accommodate a ultra wide (e.g. LG34GK950F) + a E-GPU in the future?

An eGPU probably isn't viable on a laptop for a number of reasons due to the CPU's being pretty weak, and the eGPU costing as much as a desktop without the benefits of one.  If anything you could get an GPU that has USB-C outputs on it already and just move your setup over as all the eGPU chassis is a PCIe bridge over thunderbolt. Otherwise any GPU that fits in the eGPU chassis would work and the monitor you connect doesn't matter. The TB dock supports 5120 x 2880 @ 60Hz so it could drive that at 60hz, but I don't think the docks will drive 144hz.

[Shaqo_Wyn]

4 hours ago, Kisai said:

***

Awesome! Thank you so much for your clear answers. I think I'll try chaining the two monitors with DP first indeed.

I would get the Dell WD19TB but the cheapest price I can find in my area is 230 bucks and that's exactly how much the U2419HC costs right now for me. Feels kinda odd spending that money on a dock then. I'll probably build a PC when I'm ready to purchase a 144hz ultra wide. Cheers!