MacBook – Connect both Cinema Display and Thunderbolt Display to a 15″ Macbook Pro

The Apple mini-DisplayPort to VGA or HDMI adapter terminates the Thunderbolt chain where it is connected, so until Apple released new MacBook Pro with two Thunderbolt ports (similar to the iMac that has two ports) then you will only get one video signal from the device through the Thunderbolt port.

You may find an inexpensive USB to VGA solution to get around this limitation. Initially they were slower, but the newer ones are getting much faster and the software much better. You can then put the most important content on the Thunderbolt port and have the secondary display served over USB.

Should a Thunderbolt adapter come about that drives two displays, I'll update the answer, but nothing has been released (or even rumored) even though it's clearly something the protocol could support.

I like this knowledge base article for the clear deprecation of which Macs support two Thunderbolt displays and which ones only support one.

• Apple Thunderbolt Display (27-inch): Connection options for Thunderbolt Macs

I've looked into this in the past, and from what I know, you have a few options:

1. I'd never really recommend it, you can get a usb adaptor that essentially adds another display port to your computer. Make sure the one you pick is Mac compatible - there are some that exist.

2. DualHead2Go is an interesting product that emulates a single double-wide monitor to your computer. There are some catches:

   • There is a maximum resolution the device supports
   • It works best if the monitors are the same dimensions and resolution
   • It's currently ~$230
   • The computer doesn't see the monitors separately, which means that when you configure/use it, it will act accordingly. If you put the menubar on the external 'monitor,' it will stretch across both; maximized windows will be two monitors wide etc.

3. I can't find anything to back it up at the moment, but at one point I do believe I saw an ExpressPort/34 video card or a breakout box for a PCI card. The only thing I can find now is XGP, but I'm near certain I saw a Mac-specific solution at one point.

Each has its benefits and drawbacks. If you're not on a tight budget and your monitors will work for it, I'd recommend the DualHead2Go.