iMac as long-term external display option

Question

iMac as long-term external display option

Hello all,

At this point, this is all just a long-range plan. But I would like to get some opinions, particularly from those of you who use Target Display Mode often.

I have a 2011 iMac running Snow Leopard. I want to keep my Snow Leopard installation, but I also want to dabble with El Capitan for future compatibility.

I’ve thought about a couple of options. One is to buy an external Thunderbolt hard drive and install El Capitan on it. I see that as a reasonable, less expensive solution.

Another idea would be to get a Mac Mini and use the iMac as the display. It would be more expensive, but I think it would offer me the advantage of a new system.

Would the Mini offer enough to justify getting it as opposed to just adding an external drive? Would the iMac fare well used in Target Display Mode for extended periods of time?

Are there any pitfalls with either plan I need to be aware of?

Thanks for all your ideas and your help.

Andy

Posted on Oct 8, 2015 11:02 AM

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Answer 1

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Oct 8, 2015 11:07 AM in response to Andy G. Moore

I think buying a Mini and devoting the iMac to it only as a display is a waste of a perfectly good iMac.

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Answer 2

Oct 13, 2015 8:59 PM in response to Kappy

Hey Kappy,

Thanks for your opinion. Setting up another OS installation on an external hard drive was kind of the first option in my head, but I was curious if adding a Mini offered any substantial benefits.

Booting the same machine from different hard drives would certainly be a simpler option than trying to work with two distinct machines (and remembering to turn Target Display Mode on and off).

Judging from the lack of responses, I wonder if it’s safe to guess that not many others go the iMac plus Mini route.

Thanks again for sharing your thoughts.

Andy

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Answer 3

Oct 14, 2015 3:07 AM in response to Andy G. Moore

The Mini route doesn't make much sense. Actually, depending on the particular

iMac model you have, getting a Mini could actually be a step down.

Keeping the iMac to use for target display mode to me would only make sense

if getting a new MacbookPro our using as a second display for a new iMac.

If you want to get a performance bump out of the iMac, max out the RAM

and since it is Thunderbolt equipped, get an SSD to put on it.

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Answer 4

Nov 9, 2015 7:33 AM in response to woodmeister50

Hey Woodmeister,

Sorry it took so long to reply to this.

You and Kappy are in agreement, so I think I'm going to look at using an external drive if and when I decide to create another OS installation.

That way I can have the new and still have my Snow Leopard installation.

From reading I've done, I think using a Thunderbolt external drive as a boot disk is a viable option. An SSD is certainly an option, but right now it's more money than I want to spend.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I appreciate it.

Andy

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Answer 5

Rudegar

Level 10

170,724 points

Nov 9, 2015 8:05 AM in response to Andy G. Moore

the 2011 iMac has a real amd video card

the mac mini has intel onboard video card

so the 2011 would perform better for 3d stuff then even the latests mac mini I believe

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