Using a pre-thunderport 27" iMac as second screen for 5K iMac
I am looking to upgrade my i7 2.93 27"iMac (now running 10.10.1) which i bought not long before the thunderport's were added - so it has a mini display port only - as a second display to a 5k iMac but am getting very conflicting advice from the apple support pages and the apple store and sales staff. I have been trying to figure out if this can works and my thoughts to date are as follows:
- the support site says late 09/mid 2010 27" iMacs, pre-thunderports, will support target display mode - Tick
- a mini display port to mini display port lead must be used to connect the machines, and not a thunderport cable (as it just wont work with that) - OK
- below this table the support page says "5k iMac does not support target display mode" however, given elsewhere it says that the 5k iMac will support up to 2two external 4k monitors (or 1 if it runs at 60hz) presumably it means that it will not be the display side of another computer using the target display mode (ie the 5K screen can not be used as a passive display monitor for another computer), but will work as the primary computer using another as just a display - hopefully correct
- 10.6.8 or better on the display mac - Tick
- The cable must be connected directly to the 5k iMac thunderport (or through a non display device - fine with that, as there are two thunderports on the 5K iMac
- the Command and F2 key toggles between display mode on and off - fine
- I have seen nothing about the output resolution on the support site - but hopefully the 2560 * 1440 resolution will be automatically supported when in target display mode, given it will run two 4k monitors (albeit through thunderport connections) - any thoughts on this
From the above it does seem that my old iMac should work as a monitor, but have I missed anything? it is important for me to have the two screens - and basically probably won't go for/think very carefully about upgrading if this can't be done, as I still have use for my current iMac as a computer (eg using it as a media server when not a slave) and no room (or money) for a third screen.
Your thoughts gratefully received. Brds Nigel