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I wish I could use it as an external display. I would buy one as my personal machine and then use the display during the day with my MBP for work. Would be nice

I wish I could use it as an external display. I would buy one as my personal machine and then use the display during the day with my MBP for work. Would be nice in this new world of remote work.

pak9rabid 6y ago
Is Target Display Mode no longer supported on these?
- mikestew 6y ago
  It is no longer supported. See my reply to sibling comment.
  - rbanffy 6y ago
    I believe no Retina iMac ever supported it. Having mentioned that, it'd be awesome if we could plug it into a MacBook Pro via USB-C and use it as a power supply, an eGPU, and an external monitor. And maybe also mount the disks. That would be great.
    - anentropic 6y ago
      Agreed, I would actually consider buying an iMac in that case
Someone 6y ago
Never used it, so I don’t know how well it works, but https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204592 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204592: “With target display mode, you can use your iMac as an external display for another Mac.”
- mikestew 6y ago
  From that same article: "This article has been archived and is no longer updated by Apple." Because Target Display Mode is no longer supported: "Make sure that your iMac is using macOS High Sierra 10.13.6 or earlier. You can't use target display mode with later versions of macOS, or with Boot Camp and Windows."
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
zalthor 6y ago
You can always boot from your mbp? Treat it like an external bootable storage system. Yes you won’t be able to use the display on the laptop, but you will be able to run your applications on the iMac. (Assuming that matters more? For me it does. I can’t stand how slow docker is on my mbp, pretty much puts my cpu to 100% and has the fans running at full speed)
- eklavya 6y ago
  I wanted this so much. Turns out that doesn't work with encrypted drives which is mandatory. Target disk mode only allows booting in non encrypted drives or perhaps non t2 MacBooks.
armagon 6y ago
Some iMacs support a feature called "Target Display Mode". Looks like Apple no longer supports it, but it is worth taking a peek to see if you can use it. https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/389348/what-are-the-requirements-to-use-imac-screen-as-a-second-monitor https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/389348/what-are-th... There's also some screen extender software, but you absolutely want a wired connection or it'll be painful.
rsynnott 6y ago
Always found it irritating that they never brought back target display mode. It was forgivable on the first retina iMac, as there was then no widespread connectivity for 5K screens (iirc that Mac internally used overclocked DP1.2 or something), but once Thunderbolt 3 was available there was really no excuse. Though maybe I should be thanking them; I'd almost certainly have bought one if target display mode was available, so they've saved me money!
- EricE 6y ago
  Blame it on Intel. Apple had to go to a custom display controller to get the 5K to work. With Apple Silicon I suspect we will see the return of target display mode. I can't wait!

I wish I could use it as an external display. I would buy one as my personal machine and then use the display during the day with my MBP for work. Would be nice in this new world of remote work.

pak9rabid 6y ago

Is Target Display Mode no longer supported on these?

mikestew 6y ago
It is no longer supported. See my reply to sibling comment.
- rbanffy 6y ago
  I believe no Retina iMac ever supported it. Having mentioned that, it'd be awesome if we could plug it into a MacBook Pro via USB-C and use it as a power supply, an eGPU, and an external monitor. And maybe also mount the disks. That would be great.
  - anentropic 6y ago
    Agreed, I would actually consider buying an iMac in that case

Someone 6y ago

Never used it, so I don’t know how well it works, but https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204592 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204592: “With target display mode, you can use your iMac as an external display for another Mac.”

mikestew 6y ago
From that same article: "This article has been archived and is no longer updated by Apple." Because Target Display Mode is no longer supported: "Make sure that your iMac is using macOS High Sierra 10.13.6 or earlier. You can't use target display mode with later versions of macOS, or with Boot Camp and Windows."
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

zalthor 6y ago

You can always boot from your mbp? Treat it like an external bootable storage system. Yes you won’t be able to use the display on the laptop, but you will be able to run your applications on the iMac. (Assuming that matters more? For me it does. I can’t stand how slow docker is on my mbp, pretty much puts my cpu to 100% and has the fans running at full speed)

eklavya 6y ago
I wanted this so much. Turns out that doesn't work with encrypted drives which is mandatory. Target disk mode only allows booting in non encrypted drives or perhaps non t2 MacBooks.

armagon 6y ago

Some iMacs support a feature called "Target Display Mode". Looks like Apple no longer supports it, but it is worth taking a peek to see if you can use it. https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/389348/what-are-the-requirements-to-use-imac-screen-as-a-second-monitor https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/389348/what-are-th... There's also some screen extender software, but you absolutely want a wired connection or it'll be painful.

rsynnott 6y ago

Always found it irritating that they never brought back target display mode. It was forgivable on the first retina iMac, as there was then no widespread connectivity for 5K screens (iirc that Mac internally used overclocked DP1.2 or something), but once Thunderbolt 3 was available there was really no excuse. Though maybe I should be thanking them; I'd almost certainly have bought one if target display mode was available, so they've saved me money!

EricE 6y ago
Blame it on Intel. Apple had to go to a custom display controller to get the 5K to work. With Apple Silicon I suspect we will see the return of target display mode. I can't wait!