Use iMac as a monitor on a new Mac mini

Not as a monitor for an Apple Silicon Mini. Or as a monitor for any Mini running macOS or Big Sur or later. Since that iMac came out, Apple added some restrictions to Target Display Mode that make TDM virtually dead.

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

Why are you getting on his case for saying that he might buy "the new iMac so I can have a similar machine with the smaller screen and updated software"?

He's clearly referring to buying a 24" M1 iMac as an alternative to buying a new Mac Mini and attempting to use the 27" 2010 iMac as a TDM monitor for it.

Another possibility would be to buy a new Mac Mini and pair it with a 27" 2.5K or 27" – 32" 4K monitor. (The 27" 5K Studio monitor is great from a resolution standpoint, but not so much from a price one.)

Maybe the new iMac so i can have a similar machine with the smaller screen and updated software.

No!

What you seek, Target Display Mode (TDM), cannot be done with that equipment. The 2010 iMac is TDM-supported; the current Mini is not.

Please carefully read the article that Servant of Cats linked.

• NO Macs made after 2019 can use a TDM-capable iMac as a monitor in TDM.
• There are very restrictive macOS limitations for TDM.
• iMacs made after Mid 2014 cannot be a monitor for another Mac.

Apple started the deprecation of TDM in Late 2014 and buried it for good in Early 2020.

ku4hx - you replied to his comment

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Maybe the new iMac so i can have a similar machine with the smaller screen and updated software.

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with

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No!

What you seek, Target Display Mode (TDM), cannot be done with that equipment. The 2010 iMac is TDM-supported; the current Mini is not.

Please carefully read the article that Servant of Cats linked.

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as though he had repeated the request to use the 2010 iMac as a TDM display for a new Mini. He had not. He had mentioned an alternative that would involve buying a current 24” M1 iMac and living with the smaller screen (relative to his 27” 2010 iMac) for the sake of being able to run more recent software.

Hi there, I am an iPad Pro pro but have used macs since 2007.

Alright, I’m redundant here but, the Luna device, not just the Luna software and app works with macs and uses them as monitors for most any Mac ipad etc. They have 2011 listed as the oldest that it will work on but in not sure why it cuts off IMac with El Capitan, but the device is just amazing.

It says the primary device must be 2011 Mac or newer. It’s worth looking at because it allows just about any device to use another as a monitor. So Mac to Mac, Mac to iPad which I use and the Retina display is used 100%.

I would talk to them directly.

Now, I am just starting to use my 2019 iMac as both a monitor for an m1 Mac mini while using m2 iPad Pro as a second monitor with sidecar.

I am a digital artist and when it’s connected via Thunderbolt 3 or 4 or just on wifi it’s perfect.

Anyway, they make an hdmi version, usb c and DisplayPort. Back then wasn’t FireWire the big deal? I don’t recall if it transferred video or just data? My 2009 MacBook used a display port so I imagine you’re covered. It would be a shame to not be able to use it as a monitor tif HD? If you upgraded it in anyway, perhaps that helps? You never know and there had to be a cutoff year for them to advise right? It’s about 100.-120 and Amazon will allow you to try it out or return if you need to. I did read about some people making their old iMacs into monitors with technical skills but you’d have to search for that. Oh btw the company is astropad and there is also probably lots of current and older mirroring apps along with dongles like chrome cast that mirror if it has hdmi? Perhaps would work with an adapter for display port? Cheap on Amazon of course!

RE: "Back then wasn’t FireWire the big deal? I don’t recall if it transferred video or just data?"

FireWire wasn't used for connecting external monitors.

It was used for importing digital video from, and exporting digital video to, MiniDV and Digital8 camcorders. It was suitable for real-time transfer to or from videotapes in a way that USB 1.* and 2.0 were not. Those camcorders slowly gave way to ones that had portable hard drives built in, and eventually to devices with flash memory built in … but it took many years for flash-based video recording to become cheap and practical.

I think it had a following in the audio/music community, as well as among users who wanted the fastest speeds from their external disk drives. I believe there were standards for Firewire 1600 and 3200 – but products using them were never widely released, so FireWire started getting its coffin nailed shut once USB 3.0 came along.

You could use FireWire to set up a TCP/IP connection between two Macs, much as you can use Thunderbolt to do so. But neither was a common configuration for home users.

I was one of those who used I! I still have a FireWire hub that worried with my plastic white MacBook which warped and melted due to the hot swelling battery, but the last time they sent it to i barely used because the logic board went out again. It was a mess of a machine and was 400.00 to fix, now it’s 30.00 for the part! It would be in excellent condition but what could be done with it now, 2k because of logic and other enhancements. I’m sure it would be of interest to some.

I don’t understand the fuss over using new macs or old as high resolution monitors because Luna is an ideal solution for any new or old back and forth connection.

Thank you for reminding me about firewall- I bought a converter a few years back just to see if it worked. It did, but why? No use for it really. Now I am up to the minute in TB 3& 4 and USB 4 but it’s expensive and complex.

What part exactly is "Why are you getting on his case..."?