Purchase new imac & mac book pro, retinas, can I use laptop as extra monitor?

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Purchase new imac & mac book pro, retinas, can I use laptop as extra monitor?

Hi

I am advising my new employer on the purchase of some macs.

I have advised them to get an imac, and laptop pro, thinking i could link the 2 together as I have done in the past at various companies (I've been working freelance) and use the laptop as an extra screen to place my palettes for my software. However, I've just been told this isn't possible with the new 2016 Retina imacs.

Is this true?

Is there any work around - or are there plans to solve this in the future?

Any suggestions on a good alternative solution - perhaps a cheaper small flat screen monitor instead, that wouldn't be an apple product I suppose...

Can I link the laptop anyway to share files between the 2?

Thank you in advance

iMac with Retina 5K display

Posted on Feb 22, 2016 1:31 PM

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Answer 1

rkaufmann87

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Feb 22, 2016 2:08 PM in response to fuschiaphish

Please very carefully read Use your iMac as a display with Target Display Mode - Apple Support It is VERY VERY specific which machines work. If it says it will not work with a Retina iMac, then it means what it says and there is no current work around.

If you need to use an external display, you can do this with Apple or non-Apple external displays. Almost any external display will work, however it is up to you to determine the tech specs that are needed. What I mean is you can use almost any external display with an MB Air, MacBook Pro, iMac etc... however if you need specific resolutions check the Apple computer's output resolutions and match those to the resolutions the external displays you are considering and see if that resolution is fully supported.

As far as file sharing, yes Apple has supported that for years, it's in System Preferences - Sharing

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Answer 2

fuschiaphish Author

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Feb 22, 2016 2:14 PM in response to rkaufmann87

Thank you rkaufmann87

I don't suppose you happen to know if 'target display' refers to the set up being the other way around.

Perhaps this has never been possible...?

I was thinking about using the imac as the main computer, and the laptop just for it's screen...

the last instruction says "Press Command-F2 on the keyboard of the iMac that you want to use as a display."

Not mac book pro

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Answer 3

rkaufmann87

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148,642 points

Feb 22, 2016 2:19 PM in response to fuschiaphish

Please re-read the article, it is very specific every answer to every question in TDM is in the article. If you need additional clarification ask a question and we will try to answer you.

As far as "being the other way around.Perhaps this has never been possible...?": I have no idea what you what you are trying to ask. Please re-phrase your questions and I will try to answer it.

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Answer 4

fuschiaphish Author

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Feb 22, 2016 2:31 PM in response to rkaufmann87

Ok, the article you kindly linked to was titled "Use your IMAC as a display with Target Display Mode"

What I want to do is 'Use your Mac Book Pro as a display with Target display Mode"

I have just been reading this article - which I found very quickly (it's an appleinsider.com article):

http://bit.ly/1OqZYGV

but it seems to be saying that if I purchase a mac book pro with Retina display and the correct graphics chip (AMD Radeon R9 M370X), it should be possible to use the laptop as target display...

Does that make sense - would you agree?

Thank you in advance.

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