Can I use an iMac 27” early 2013 model with a Mac Studio?

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Can I use an iMac 27” early 2013 model with a Mac Studio?

I have a 27” iMac early 2013 model. I just purchased a Mac Studio online thru Apple. It won’t be here for about 2 weeks as I upgraded the memory and the hard drive. I plan to buy a Studio Display as well but would like to wait until next month to do so. I know not long, but would love to be able to get my Mac Studio setup if I could use my old iMac 27” to do so? Is there anything I could use to make this work? My iMac is running IOS Catalina and cannot be upgraded further, which is why I needed a new computer. My iMac is an intel i7, and has 24GB of RAM, if that matters.

Mac Studio (2022)

Posted on Aug 16, 2024 6:30 PM

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Answer 1

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Servant of Cats

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Aug 16, 2024 7:41 PM in response to pegbat

I don't think it will be feasible to use your iMac as a display for your Mac Studio, if that's what you're asking about.

Your old iMac supports Target Display Mode – but Apple added restrictions that mean that your Mac Studio doesn't support using any iMac as a Target Display. There's no point in downgrading the iMac to High Sierra, or purchasing $80 in specialized Thunderbolt connection hardware if the most likely result is that "it still won't work."

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

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Answer 2

Aug 16, 2024 7:46 PM in response to Sky-net

Sky-net wrote:

Good evening,

I am afraid to tell you that I don't see Studio Play available at AppStore and I have a 2017.

I recommend you to use BootCamp and install Windows 10 or 11.

The OP said that they planned to buy a Studio Display. That's an Apple-brand 27" 5K monitor. You don't buy it from the App Store because it's not software. It's hardware.

The OP also said that they purchased a Mac Studio. That is a desktop computer with an Apple Silicon processor. It does not support Boot Camp, and even if it did, Windows 10 and 11 would be irrelevant to the original question.

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