jahmed0478 wrote:
My biggest concern is with the fact that the macbook only has two USB-C ports and if I try this solution, both ports will be taken and I won't have anything for charging. Also Luna says it doesn't support a port hub. Anyone else have workaround this solution?
Devices:
Macbook Air, M1, 2020
iMac Retina 5k (late 2015)
According to Astropad, the Luna Display device must be plugged directly into a USB-C host port that supports DisplayPort Alt Mode. I suspect there is no way around that, short of buying a Thunderbolt hub or dock which offers USB-C (DisplayPort Alt Mode) on one of its downstream ports. Even then, that would be unsupported.
Possibly you could put a powered USB-C or Thunderbolt dock between the M1 MacBook Air and the iMac. The dock would feed power to the M1 MacBook Air via USB-C power delivery, and the data path would go from the MacBook Air, to the dock, to the iMac. That would eat one of the M1 MacBook Air's ports, leaving the other for the Luna Display device. Hopefully, if the dock had dedicated video ports (e.g., HDMI, DisplayPort), it would not try to "consume" the video signal that the Luna Display device might need.
You'd still have the problem that the video stream going over the USB connection would likely use a lot of the available bandwidth, so plugging in and trying to use other devices (using the dock's other ports) could cause things like lags and pixellation to become worse.
That 27" Late 2015 iMac does have a very nice 5K Retina screen, but I think you're going to find that there is no "free lunch" when it comes to using it as a display for another Mac, especially one with the limited port selection found on the M1 MacBook Air.
