iMac 27" like monitor for Pc

Wakingtiger: the techs are correct, the 27" is bidirectional. The macbook mini displayport however is output only.
Geraldbruin:This is the best computing news I've heard in a long time. I read that the 27" imac could also be used as an external monitor, therefore I thought great! I can connect my business laptop(windows vista with office 2007, 14" 1280x800 display) to my new 27" imac(I will now definitely buy one) and enjoy a super resolution, 2560x1440 for (planning) applications which with a large display make your work more efficient and enjoyable

Using the 27" as a monitor works only with certain video cards and connections, or either purchasing the correct connector which could cost as much as $200 to $300 and also possibly an upscaler. Research what will and will not work so you won't be disappointed .

I have an iMac 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2 GB RAM, OS X 10.6.2 and an old Dell PC which I would love to somehow connect together. I wonder if I would be able to use my iMac like a monitor for older PCs. The reason I am asking this is that I am not sure if my Dell has a port for the cable suggested here.

Ron-

There are more details here--

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2205633&start=30&tstart=90

--but the basic problem is that you need a DisplayPort signal to drive the iMac monitor. You can convert a digital DVI output (or HDMI which is the same thing with audio and a different physical connector) to DP format with an expensive converter, but there is no way to convert an analog VGA signal to DP format. The cheaper but more complicated solution for a PC with DVI output, and the only solution for one with VGA output, is to replace your video card with a DisplayPort or Mini-DisplayPort card. Mini-DisplayPort has the same signal but a smaller physical connector.

This was not actually Apple being arbitrary: DisplayPort is more efficient and less expensive than DVI/HDMI because it dispenses with a lot of the conversion hardware needed for that format. Therefore Apple couldn't provide DVI/HDMI compatibility without increasing the iMac cost substantially.

-JAFDC

Hello all PC-Imac crossovers.
Works like a charm, monitor function in the IMAC for the PC works very good, installed a FX-quadro card to get the display-port and am rid of my old monitor now.

Will this work on the 24" iMac also? I am trying to play StarCraftII and the graphics card on the iMac is 'unsupported' I have a PC and can easily get a graphics card with DP or MiniDP right?

Just curious if there are things that will make this not possible due to my iMac's current software or hardware that I am just not aware of??

Thanks for the help!

I have a Dell Latitude D630 I use for work and bought a mini display to vga converter and I just keep getting a blue screen flashing back to my iMac screen. I have a 27" iMac. Are you guys saying there is no way to make this work? I notice that there is a dvi in the back of the dell. What that be the better way to connect? Is there a KVM switch anyone uses. I just want to be able to just work off the iMac display whether I am on it or need to use the dell laptop.
Thanks

Hi tctrues,

I also have a Dell E6400 and I tried to connect it to my iMac 27" as you did with a m-dp to dp cable I bought at monoprice.com.

But, when I connect it, the PC did not boot. So I removed the cable, and try rebooting the PC, and it is not responding.

Any idea what have gone wrong with this?

Is there no possible way to get the 5850 working with the iMac?

Does anyone know if a G5 mac can work with the 27 inch imac with just the VGA to mini-port adaptor? I can pick one up at best buy...I'm under the impression that it will....

Ideally, we'd like to have the same keyboard for both...(but not necessary right away).....like we do now for our G3 and G5 but it's time to retire the G3 and we're left with the iMac and the G5. (we're a design / prepress place). We've done this with a 2 port usb keyboard mouse monitor sharing switch. we have 2 of these at our disposal.

I guess to use the switch we'd have to abandon the new wireless mouse and keyboard and use the old wired ones....if it will work on the iMac...should work I'd think.

Kenichi-

Thanks for all your useful advice.

Do you know if a 27" iMac in Target Display mode can export the iMac's keyboard or mouse signals through its USB ports so the iMac keyboard or mouse can be used to control the external PC that is displayed on the iMac?

Maybe more important (assuming that the answer at this point is no), do you have an educated guess as to whether this is a hardware issue or a software/firmware issue? I would very much like to use a 27" iMac as the monitor for my office PC, but I have delayed purchasing the 27" iMac both ℹ because of the challenge of identifying and installing a compatible Mini-Display-Port video card and (ii) because I don't want to have to use two sets of mice and keyboards, at least not indefinitely. I could live with two mice and keyboards for now, but it would be very frustrating to be unable to upgrade my iMac when Apple does address this issue. Thus my question as to whether this a software/firmware issue, i.e. one that could be addressed through a software/firmware upgrade once Apple gets around to it. If that were the case then I would deal with the video card issue and buy the iMac, but otherwise I am on hold for now.

Thanks again for all your posts.

-JAFDC

Related topic:

http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=11178182#11178182

Hello soundcave... Thank you so much for the posting. I have been reading many other posts to find out if there was anyway to get my dell laptop connected to my 27" iMac...to be precide, I started out last winter. I didn't find a solution anywhere else... I really don't know have how to express my gratitude to you... Thank you so much. It really worked for me. My dell laptop is my work pc with Win7 on h/w core i7/8gb ram/1gb video card (NVIDIA Quadro FX 1800 M)... Wow!! I love the display!!! It is awesome.

Doesn't work on my laptop - I have a similar configuration (Dell E6400 with Nvidia Quadro NVS, iMac 27'', mini-dp to dp cable). The iMac just shows a blank screen when I use the Control-F2 toggle.

What is the setup on the laptop? I'm running Vista. I tried to play with the display setup to create a second screen, and also tried the Function-F8 to project the screen (which I don't think is necessary). Any idea what to check next?

ok, forget it - I found the problem. I have a docking station, and it disabled the dp output on the body of the laptop. When I connected the cable to the dp port in the docking station everything worked fine, almost. The resolution is superb. The only problem is that Windows gets confused with the location of icons everytime I switch between Mac and Windows, but that's totally Vista's fault.

Mac rules! But my lame employer is still Windows based.