I was using a secondhand Dell D6000, hoping to connect one 4k monitor natively (dp alt mode) and the rest via DisplayLink. That didnt work, now I’m using cheap docks I bought for ~€50 secondhand from a company called i-Tec (have one at home and one at work).

The way I have it set up: the i-tec dock is connected to a regular USB-C hub (from Ugreen). The USB-C hub is also connected to a 4k monitor. This way I connect 1 cable to my Mac and get everything: power delivery, Ethernet, peripherals, 4k monitor running natively and 2 2K monitors running on displaylink. It is… perfect. I havent touched my desktop computer for about a year.

Basically it is better to use the Displaylink monitors for static content - running 4K video on a 4K monitor on Displaylink would probably take about 40% CPU on my M1 chip. So everything dynamic goes onto my native 4k monitor, whereas the Displaylink monitors have easier content - browsers, vscode, notes etc.

But like, I regularly also play video on my 2K displaylink monitors and honestly I never ran into issues, or noticed a difference. Just dont do this on 4k monitors I guess.

Sorry for the delay, still havent figured out a way to get notified about replies on HN.