Question

Difficulty: MediumDisplay Cables and Connectors

An IT technician is configuring a dual-monitor workstation using a laptop equipped with a single USB Type-C port that supports DisplayPort Alternate Mode (DP Alt Mode), but lacks Thunderbolt certification. The technician intends to connect two 1080p external displays by daisy-chaining them using DisplayPort Multi-Stream Transport (MST). Which of the following requirements or features are necessary to successfully support this configuration? (Select TWO.)

  1. The primary monitor in the chain must feature a DisplayPort Output (DP-Out) port that supports Multi-Stream Transport.Answer
  2. The USB Type-C cable connecting the laptop to the primary display must explicitly support DisplayPort Alternate Mode video transmission.Answer
  3. C
    An active Thunderbolt 4 host controller must be present on both monitors to negotiate multi-stream video routing over USB Type-C.
  4. D
    A single-link DVI-D cable must connect the primary and secondary monitors to transmit the required analog timing signals.

Answer

The setup requires a USB Type-C connection supporting DisplayPort Alternate Mode from the laptop, and a primary monitor equipped with a DisplayPort Output (DP-Out) port that supports Multi-Stream Transport (MST).
DisplayPort Multi-Stream Transport (MST) enables daisy-chaining multiple monitors over a single video output. For this setup to function from a non-Thunderbolt USB-C laptop port, the host cable and port must support DisplayPort Alternate Mode to output the initial video data, and the first monitor must have an integrated DisplayPort Output (DP-Out) port supporting MST to pass the second display stream down the chain.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify host-to-display video requirements
Since the laptop uses a USB Type-C port without Thunderbolt, the connection must rely on DisplayPort Alternate Mode (DP Alt Mode) to carry video signals.
USB-C ports require DP Alt Mode support in both the port and the cable to output native DisplayPort video streams.
2
Identify daisy-chaining display hardware requirements
The primary display must receive the combined MST stream and route the secondary display stream out through a dedicated DisplayPort Output (DP-Out) port.
DisplayPort Multi-Stream Transport allows routing multiple distinct display signals down a single cable path, but requires DP-Out hardware on intermediary monitors.

Key Concept

DisplayPort Multi-Stream Transport (MST) and USB-C DisplayPort Alternate Mode
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