A 2010 iMac 27″ saves the day!
With the world battling coronavirus, I have been working from home since last few weeks. I have a powerful 14″ work laptop (windows) but when you have to use any machine for an extended period of time, screen size does matter.
My natural instinct was to search online for a monitor. I almost ended up buying one and was trying to reason how I will fit it on my 47″by 23″ desk right beside my 27″ screen of my 2010 iMac. It immediately became apparent that it won’t be easy.
Once again, I searched online if there was a way to use my iMac as a display. I had done this exercise earlier, and never found a way to connect my windows laptop to the beautiful iMac screen because I was looking to get the video signal from an HDMI output of the laptop. However, this time I had a new option: USB-C.
A deep search led me to this apple page which explains the mystery of Target Display Mode, and this one which explained the ports.
Basically my 2010 summer iMac has a mini Display port (compared to later ones which has Thunderbolt).
HDMI TO MINI DISPLAY PORT (OR DISPLAY PORT)
This is not an easy conversion where a simple cable with one end as HDMI plug and another end as mini Display will do the job. I tried this and it did not work. With some more research it became clear that in order to convert HDMI signal to mini Display port signal, you will need a video format convertor which is not easily available.
USB-C TO MINI DISPLAY
Luckily my work laptop has two USB-C ports. And a quick search revealed that this signal can be sent to mini Display. So all that remained was to test it. I bought this Unidirectional USB C to Mini DisplayPort Cable (USB C to Mini DP Cable) and the moment I made the connection, my iMac screen went black and then returned with a mirrored display of my windows laptop.
I am overjoyed! This solves my problem of using a big display, similar to my work setup where I have two 21″ monitors. Interestingly, since the iMac’s display is 27″ and has very high resolution of 2560 x 1440, it can easily accommodate 2 application windows side by side.
I could make my life slightly more easy by getting a keyboard but the biggest problem of display has now been resolved. Whether you are an IT professional or not, ergonomics matter when you are sitting for a long time in front of a computer.
The iMac has found a new life as a wonderful display for Windows laptop. No other computer/laptop has lasted this long for me and this continues to give me value. Few years ago I had upped the RAM from 4 GB to 12 GB. Last year I was wondering whether to buy a new iMac but then replaced the HDD with SSD. With these 2 minor upgrades, this machine has given solid 10 years of service! If you have a 27″ iMac, I’d recommend keeping it around just for the display.
I MUST MENTION
- the iMac needs to be ON to be able to switch to Target Display Mode.
- make sure the cable is able to send signal TO the mini Display port