2011 27in iMac as External Display for 2013 Macbook Pro

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jlego Author

Level 1

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2011 27in iMac as External Display for 2013 Macbook Pro

I have a 2011 27in iMac. It has 2 thunderbolt ports with the lightning-bolt symbols.

I have a new Macbook Pro (2012/2013?) just purchased last December. It also has 2 thunderbolt ports.

I have male-to-male thunderbolt cable.

I also have a full wired apple keyboard.

I have connected the Macbook Pro to the iMac with the thunderbolt cable in order to use the iMac as an external display.(The Macbook Pro is my work machine)

No matter what, the iMac will not go into Target Display Mode. Everything I've read says that these 2 machines should be compatible for this purpose, but it just doesn't seem to work. Not cmd+F2, not cmd+fn+F2.

Specs on both machines:

2011 27in iMac:

OS X 10.6.8

3.4 GHz Intel Core i7

16GB RAM

2013 Macbook Pro Retina:

OS X 10.8.3

2.6 GHz Intel Core i7

8GB RAM

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Jun 30, 2013 6:01 PM

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Answer 1

BDAqua

Level 10

238,979 points

Jun 30, 2013 7:23 PM in response to jlego

Right, it shoulld work if Mid 2011 & up, might it be a bad TB cable?

Here's how it's supposed to work...

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3924

The mid 2011s & up need Thunderbolt...

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3775

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Answer 2

jlego Author

Level 1

0 points

Jun 30, 2013 8:00 PM in response to BDAqua

Well I got it sort of working. Restarting the iMac with the cable attached allowed cmd+F2 to work, however, when in target display mode, the iMac's screen flickers black every 5-20 seconds or so. It's impossible to work on.

I just purchased the Thunderbolt cable today, so it better not be bad.

So, I had to disconnect my wired keyboard from the iMac and connect it to the Macbook Pro manually after entering target display mode. Are you supposed to be able to use the iMac connected peripherals when using Target Display Mode?

With this in mind, I think perhaps it could be the short screen saver time setting on the iMac?

Trying to test, but now Target Display Mode seems to have stopped working entirely for the moment.

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Answer 3

BDAqua

Level 10

238,979 points

Jun 30, 2013 8:25 PM in response to jlego

With this in mind, I think perhaps it could be the short screen saver time setting on the iMac?

Sadlly, that has caused a lot of problems... I'm sure it'll be addressed on OSX 19.3.5 though. 😟

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