Add Four Big Screens with One Little Device

You’re just trying to add screens to your computer. It shouldn’t be complicated. Sure, adding one screen—no problem. Adding two screens? Still not that hard, but now you have to consider how many external monitors your computer will support. A MacBook with an M1 or M2 chip, for instance, natively only supports one. And adding four external monitors? Even if your system natively supports that many (a big if), your options are a high-end docking station with more connections than you need or a collection of dongles and adapters coming out of every open port on your machine.

The USB-C or USB 3.0 to Quad HDMI Adapter (USBC-768H4) changes that. Now you can add four extended HDMI screens through a single USB-C or USB 3.0 port—all with a sharp 1920x1080@60Hz resolution, even on M1 and M2 Macs.

Big Results

Smaller than you might expect for a quad display adapter, the USBC-768H4 still manages all of the heavy lifting involved with splitting your video signal across four monitors. But it’s how the adapter handles the task of parceling the pixels across your screens that’s interesting.

A lot of adapters rely on native video support via USB-C Alternate Mode and/or Thunderbolt to play a part in extending your screen. The USBC-768H4 uses a Silicon Motion chipset and a software driver to accomplish the task. From a user perspective, there isn’t much of a difference for typical web or productivity workloads. Unless, of course, you happen to be on an M1 or M2 Mac. Those particular computers don’t support more than 1 Alt Mode display so the standard approach wouldn’t work.

It is worth noting, a driver download is required. On Windows machines, the update is automatic though we do recommend installing the driver manually. On a Mac, this is accomplished through the InstantView App. And remember, though they offer similar functionality, the DisplayLink driver won’t work with this adapter.

I’ll take it to go

Now, let’s talk about what this adapter doesn’t have. It doesn’t have an external power source—so you aren’t lugging around a power brick that’s somehow bigger than the adapter. Even if you aren’t taking it to go, that’s still one less plug to worry about. It also doesn’t have an unwieldy cord to manage. What it does have is a flat, six-inch cable that tucks into the bottom of the unit when not in use.

When you’re ready to expand your screen count, flip out the connector and plug it into an open USB-C or USB 3.0 port. Now you just have to connect your four HDMI monitors. That’s it. The adapter will get any required power from the host. And when you’re ready to go, disconnect and toss the adapter in your bag.

Compatibility

The Plugable USB-C or USB 3.0 to Quad HDMI Adapter adds 4x HDMI ports with 1920x1080@60Hz resolution for extending or mirroring your displays to computers running Windows 10 and newer, and macOS 11+. That includes Macs with M1 or M2 chips that would otherwise only support one external monitor.