Can I use my 2 yr. old iMac as a second monitor?

Question

Can I use my 2 yr. old iMac as a second monitor?

I'm currently using an 24" iMac 8,1 for everything except for an ESRI ArcGIS Geographic Information System which runs on Windows XP.

Now ESRI has upgraded their software and I plan on getting a new souped up 27" iMac with parallels to run Windows 7 and ArcGIS so that I will not have to mess with a PC anymore. (my old one has crashed a lot running the GIS and I've had to restore factory settings a number of times to repair persistent glitchs.)

ArcGIS often requires running multiple windows at once: ArcMap, database tables, toolboxes and ArcCatalog. I was hoping that there's a way to connect the new iMac to the old iMac to form a single desktop on the 2 screens for all of those windows. Being able to run iTunes on my old iMac simultaneously would be a real plus!

Thanks!

Mark

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.7)

Posted on Apr 18, 2011 3:23 AM

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Answer 1

Apr 18, 2011 3:33 AM in response to mark from falls church

Hey,

HDMI wire between the 2 imacs and then you have a shortcut to use one of the imac as a secondary screen.

Btw you should use bootcamp instead of parrallel for a better use !

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Answer 2

Apr 18, 2011 3:57 AM in response to ntc.quentin

Hi!

Thanks for the suggestion. I looked at the old iMac and it doesn't seem to have a HDMI jack.

There are 3 usb, 2 firewire and 1 ethernet jack. There is also a jack with a symbol like a rectangle with a vertical bar on each side. Does boot camp really work that much better? I would really like to be able to run Mac programs along with ArcMap.

Mark

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