{"id":10899,"date":"2011-07-01T09:43:46","date_gmt":"2011-07-01T14:43:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/?p=10899"},"modified":"2019-12-04T12:47:12","modified_gmt":"2019-12-04T18:47:12","slug":"target-display-mode-and-thunderbolt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/10899-target-display-mode-and-thunderbolt\/","title":{"rendered":"Target Display Mode And Thunderbolt"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"\"Target Display Mode on Late 2009 and 2010 iMacs was a pretty neat trick; you connected the iMac to another Mac via the Mini Display Port connector, and the iMac\u2019s display became a second monitor for the first Mac while the system ran \u201cheadless\u201d underneath it. When you unplugged the cable, the iMac\u2019s display reverted back to the iMac itself.<\/p>\n

The Thunderbolt port in the 2011 iMacs adds a couple of twists to this setup<\/strong>. First, when using Thunderbolt-equipped iMac as a display, you need to hit Command-F2 to switch the display<\/strong> between the iMac and the other Mac. This, however, is a relatively minor inconvenience or even a benefit, depending on how you generally use your iMac.<\/p>\n

iMac Compatability List<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Most non-retina iMacs from 2009 and later can work in target display mode. This includes:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • iMac (27-inch, Late 2009)<\/li>\n
  • iMac (27-inch, Mid 2010)<\/li>\n
  • iMac (21.5-inch, Mid 2011)<\/li>\n
  • iMac (27-inch, Mid 2011)<\/li>\n
  • iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2011)<\/li>\n
  • iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2012)<\/li>\n
  • iMac (27-inch, Late 2012)<\/li>\n
  • iMac (21.5-inch, Early 2013)<\/li>\n
  • iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2013)<\/li>\n
  • iMac (27-inch, Late 2013)<\/li>\n
  • iMac (21.5-inch, Mid 2014)<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n

    Another wrinkle comes in the form of what computer can connect to which iMac with which cable. To determine this, we ran eight simple tests using the following:<\/p>\n

      \n
    • a 2011 iMac (Thunderbolt)<\/li>\n
    • a 2010 iMac (DisplayPort)<\/li>\n
    • a 2011 MacBook Pro (Thunderbolt)<\/li>\n
    • a 2010 MacBook Pro (DisplayPort)<\/li>\n
    • a Mini DisplayPort cable<\/li>\n
    • a Thunderbolt Cable.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      We attached MacBook Pros to the iMacs in each combination with each cable. If the iMac was able to be used as a display for the MacBook Pro, it passed.<\/p>\n

      Here are the results we got:<\/h3>\n

      Utilizing a Mini DisplayPort cable allows a Mini DisplayPort equipped iMac to be used as a display on either a Thunderbolt or Mini DisplayPort equipped Mac.
      But when it comes to utilizing a Thunderbolt cable, only another Thunderbolt-equipped Mac can use Target Display Mode with a Thunderbolt capable iMac.
      No other combinations were viable.<\/p>\n

      From our testing, we see a few things.<\/h3>\n
        \n
      • The only way to use a Thunderbolt-equipped iMac as a display is to hook it up to a Thunderbolt Mac via a Thunderbolt cable.<\/li>\n
      • The only iMacs that will work as a display for a DisplayPort Mac is one that also has a DisplayPort.<\/li>\n
      • DisplayPort iMacs require a DisplayPort cable, though they can <\/em>work with either DisplayPort or Thunderbolt Macs.<\/li>\n
      • Only get a Thunderbolt cable if you\u2019re going to connect two ThunderBolt-equipped computers together, it won\u2019t work for anything else.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        One final \u201cglitch\u201d that\u2019s popped up seems to be relegated to a particular set of circumstances. On our 15\u201d 2011 MacBook Pro when using a 2010 iMac as a display, we found that the video connection became unstable, as in this video.<\/p>\n