I am trying to use a mid-2011 iMac as monitor to a Lenovo Yoga X1 4th gen.
I am connecting the 2 devices via Thunderbolt with a TB2-TB2 cable and a TB2-TB3 connector
Lenovo sees the iMac as an attached device in the Thunderbolt Control Center.
Likewise, the Laptop is seen as connected to the TB bus at Systen Information.
Pressing cm2-F2 or fn-cmd-F2 has zero effect.
Thanks
iMac 27″, macOS 10.13
Only the Late 2009 and 2010 27" iMac's with Mini DisplayPorts, can do that with PCs, Game Cubes and new Mac's.
Your Mid 2011 iMac with TB 2 ports, only supports a limited number of TB equipped Mac's.
Only the Late 2009 and 2010 27" iMac's with Mini DisplayPorts, can do that with PCs, Game Cubes and new Mac's.
Your Mid 2011 iMac with TB 2 ports, only supports a limited number of TB equipped Mac's.
I got the idea from this article A Quick and Easy Way on How to Use iMac As Monitor for PC (fonedog.com) and had the hopes to be able to extend the utility of my old iMac.
Well, the internet has certainly demonstrated that, lacking editors, anything can get posted. 😉
I believe the author of that article failed to do needed research before letting fly with the keystrokes. Only the 2009 and 2010 27-inch models with their mini-display ports showed any hope of working as an external monitor for for a non-Apple device. And even that was not a a sure thing. In addition, it was an incidental user discovery; Apple never endorsed, supported, or documented that use.
And TDM is now dead technology. Apple started the deprecation of TDM in late 20154 and threw the last shovel of dirt in its face in early 2020. Even the support article is now archived and will not be update to reflect new hardware or software released in mid-2020 and newer.
It will not work! In order to use it with your PC you needed a late 2009 or 2010 27" iMac. 2011's and later never supported TDM with PCs. If your Lenovo needs an external display, please buy one.
Hi maxdotg,
From the information I have found, only Mac computers are supported when using Thunderbolt-based Target Display Mode. Windows and Linux based machines do not have the code built into their operating systems to support Thunderbolt-based Target Display Mode.
Hope it helps!
-Geotrax
You cannot use a PC with TDM.
Allan is spot-on!
Sorry I should have included the Apple Support article that vaguely indicates both the supported host and slave models. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204592
Thanks everyone for your responses, quite helpful.
I got the idea from this article A Quick and Easy Way on How to Use iMac As Monitor for PC (fonedog.com) and had the hopes to be able to extend the utility of my old iMac.
Appreciate your time and knowledge!
One last question....would this work if I connect instead the mid-2011 iMac with the newest MacBook Pro or a Mini through Thunderbolt?
Den.Thed mentioned that "Your Mid 2011 iMac with TB 2 ports, only supports a limited number of TB equipped Mac's
would this work if I connect instead the mid-2011 iMac with the newest MacBook Pro or a Mini through Thunderbolt?
2020 Macs do not support TDM to a 2011 iMac. That was the final shovel of dirt in early 2020 that I mentioned.
Again, the quirky 2009 and 2010 iMac 27s have been reported to work with new Macs but the 2011 is a dead issue for this purpose.
Thanks Allan for adding clarity.
iMac Will Not Enter Target Display Mode - Trying to use mid-2011 iMac as monitor to Lenovo
