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jakob198 Author

Level 1

6 points

Use iMac as monitor for windows laptop

Hi all,

I want to use my iMac (21.5", 2017) as a monitor screen for my Windows laptop (Lenovo). I went to the Apple Store today and there they sold me a HDMI to thunderbolt cable to do so. When I plug the HDMI cable in my laptop and the thunderbolt end in my iMac, nothing happens. I also tried turning both devices off and pressing command + F2 and command + Fn + F2 while restarting. Nothing happens.

Can anyone explain what to do?

Thanks very much,

Jakob

iMac 21.5", macOS 10.14

Posted on Feb 22, 2020 11:17 AM

Top-ranking reply

Androish

Level 8

39,487 points

Posted on Feb 22, 2020 11:24 AM

There is no hardware support to do such a thing on your iMac

Up to the 2014 models you could use

Use your iMac as a display - Apple Support

Use your iMac as a display with target display mode - Apple Support

But on newer iMacs this is not supported in the hardware.

You should go back and request a refund on those cables if the staff at the apple store told you it would work.

However if you did not specify what you were going to use it for I guess they would not be at fault.

You might be able to do some software solutions, but that will not be anything close to a regular monitor in terms of image quality and input lag.

Hope this helped you

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Use iMac as monitor for windows laptop

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