iMac as an external monitor for M1 Max Mac Studio?

[SonicDaHerzog]

Hey all!

 

Recently decided to finally upgrade my 2017 iMac to a Mac Studio. Now that I have about 8-10 weeks of waiting time, I was wondering if I can repurpose my iMac as an external monitor for the Mac Studio, since I already have it and don't have other practical places to put it to make it useful, would love to hear your thoughts on it, thank you!

 

Edit: My plan is to have three monitors running with it, I have an existing 2k monitor, so I was hoping to avoid buying 2 more so I can just buy 1 and use the iMac as the third instead, maybe its not possible but worth a try!

[Alex Atkin UK]

31 minutes ago, SonicDaHerzog said:

Hey all!

 

Recently decided to finally upgrade my 2017 iMac to a Mac Studio. Now that I have about 8-10 weeks of waiting time, I was wondering if I can repurpose my iMac as an external monitor for the Mac Studio, since I already have it and don't have other practical places to put it to make it useful, would love to hear your thoughts on it, thank you!

 

Edit: My plan is to have three monitors running with it, I have an existing 2k monitor, so I was hoping to avoid buying 2 more so I can just buy 1 and use the iMac as the third instead, maybe its not possible but worth a try!

Not officially, annoyingly older iMacs supported that but nothing after 2014 did.

https://9to5mac.com/2021/04/21/m1-imac-target-display-mode/

 

However do bear in mind, its going to use a LOT more electricity than a plain monitor, even if you get it working.

[Marshew]

The only way I know for this (based on my own limited knowledge) is using Luma Display. I use it occasionally to turn my M1 iMac into a secondary monitor for my PC. The image is not super great and the latency is pretty bad but it works well for twitch/youtube/netflix while doing other things on the main monitor.

[SonicDaHerzog]

23 hours ago, Marshew said:

The only way I know for this (based on my own limited knowledge) is using Luma Display. I use it occasionally to turn my M1 iMac into a secondary monitor for my PC. The image is not super great and the latency is pretty bad but it works well for twitch/youtube/netflix while doing other things on the main monitor.

Yeah looks like Luna pops up quite a lot during my research, I wonder if your experience will be better if its Mac to Mac instead to Mac to PC. One Youtube video I watched suggested connecting the two machines together using ethernet for Luna for better results, so I guess i could give that a try and return it if its not ideal.

[SonicDaHerzog]

23 hours ago, Alex Atkin UK said:

Not officially, annoyingly older iMacs supported that but nothing after 2014 did.

https://9to5mac.com/2021/04/21/m1-imac-target-display-mode/

 

However do bear in mind, its going to use a LOT more electricity than a plain monitor, even if you get it working.

That's true, and the last thing I want is for my "monitor" to ramp up the fan lol looks like Luna might be a workaround so I will give that a try.