Can I use my 2011 iMac 27 as a monitor for my Mac Studio?

AnitaW13 wrote:

Thank you Grant!

I'm still doing some research though, and it looks like it's a Thunderbolt cable that's needed, and my computer has an input for that. Also, I have an iMac 2011, not a MacBook Pro, i'm not use if that makes any difference.

To make a Thunderbolt connection, you'd need a $50 Thunderbolt 3-to-2 adapter, and a $30 Thunderbolt 1/2 cable. That's $80 of specialized Thunderbolt connection hardware.

Even if you had that hardware, you couldn't use the iMac as a display for a Mac Studio, because Apple placed restrictions on "the other Mac". If your Mac was introduced after 2019, or it is running anything after Catalina, you're out of luck. All Mac Studios – even the M1 Max/Ultra ones – fail on those counts.

Sorry, NO. Macs do not have display INPUTS.

Full-motion, Full-color Video is THE highest data rate of anything you ask a computer system or display to do for you. The cables that support it properly use multiple tuned dual-rail Driver and Receiver circuits and are limited to under a Meter in length.

Accepting external Full-motion, Full-color Video at those ferocious data rates and displaying it properly is a very difficult job for any electronics system. You would need a purpose-built device ready to accept and display those signals directly. The MacBook Pro is not built for that purpose.

The ideal device to support such a data stream would be a TV set or a stand-alone display. There are some good, affordable devices on the market now that were built for that purpose.

The Mac Studio does not support using the iMac aa a display.

carefully study > Use your iMac as a display with target display mode - Apple Suppor

Ok, I stand corrected.

Perhaps I should have said:

"Only a very few Macintosh computers could ever accept display inputs except under extremely constrained conditions, when put into a special mode called "Target Display Mode". Target Display Mode can no longer be used by any Macs issued after 2109 models."

den.thed cited the article on Target Display Mode above, which says the feature is no longer supported.

'No longer supported' means if you can beat on it and get it working, "Merry Christmas!" If not, no more help is available.

Grant Bennet-Alder wrote:

Sorry, NO. Macs do not have display INPUTS.

Apple advertised the 27" 2009 and 2010 Macs as being able to take DisplayPort input. It's there in the Technical Specifications.

iMac (27-inch, Late 2009) - Technical Specifications

"27-inch models also support input from external DisplayPort sources (adapters sold separately)."

Around the same time that the first 27" iMacs came out in late 2009, Dell was selling standalone 27" 2560x1440 pixel monitors for $1200 ($1000 on sale).

All of the iMacs which have Thunderbolt and which support TDM – like the 27" 2011 iMac – require Thunderbolt input. The Technical Specifications for the 27" Mid 2011 iMac say nothing about video input. There would have been few Macs, and virtually no PCs, able to provide the requisite Thunderbolt input signal.

iMac (27-inch, Mid 2011) - Technical Specifications

AnitaW13 wrote:

Also, I have an iMac 2011, not a MacBook Pro, i'm not use if that makes any difference.

Old iMacs are the only Macs that ever supported being TDM displays. No Mac laptops ever supported acting as TDM displays.

Macs with Firewire ports could accept DV video transfers from MiniDV and Digital8 camcorders in real time – but that was for capturing the video to disk rather than for using their monitors as substitutes for TVs.

<< DV video transfers from MiniDV and Digital8 camcorders in real time. >>

Those transfers are digitized video in packets, and is NOT guaranteed to be real time. if you get lucky, it plays nicely, but not guaranteed real-time. Once you get it sent over, it plays beautifully.