Using a 2011/2012 iMac as an external display for MacBook Pro 2020?

Sorry that will not work because none of the newer Mac’s including the 2020 MacBook Pro, support using an iMac as a display.

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

Kiwishell wrote:

Oh dam! Thank you anyway, at least I haven’t wasted money on cords 😊

You are not alone.

We've seen hundreds of posts from people wasting money on expensive video cabling. They saw an internet "article" about Target Display Mode whose "author" failed to take two minutes to check the very limited TDM hardware and software requirements laid out in that Apple article. Those hacks have less journalistic integrity than a garden slug. If you can't research technology, don't write!!!

Most of the posts here about trouble making TDM work were prefaced with, "I saw on the internet that..."

Before COVID and the work-from-home movement, we saw maybe 1-2 inquires about TDM a month, and Apple had given up on TDM well before COVID.

In March 2020, when alleged journalists started belching forth work-from-home articles to cash in on a new reality, we were seeing a dozen or more questions about this obsolete technology a DAY, and still see today far more than before all those unresearched articles sullied the floor of the internet.

You’re welcome. Yea’ put the funds towards a decent external display for the MacBook Pro.

check out > Use an external display with your MacBook Pro - Apple Support