To use the new 27-inch iMac as an external monitor requires a very specific cable to work: a Mini DisplayPort to Mini DisplayPort cable, to be exact.
It does not work with a HDMI cable or a DVI cable, even when they are strung between a pair of Apple-branded Mini DisplayPort adapters.
There seems to be a lot of confusion about the issue on the web and even at Apple’s retail stores.
To use the new iMac as a monitor, it must enter “target display mode,” which appears to happen automatically when the correct DisplayPort cable is plugged in.
There appears to be only one cable on the market capable of connecting compatible devices to the new iMac: Belkin’s Mini DisplayPort to Mini DisplayPort cable, which is available from Apple’s retail stores for $29.99.
The store didn’t have any in stock, so the staff happily sold me a pair of Mini DisplayPort to DVI Adapters ($29 a pop) — and told me to string them together with a standard DVI cable.
I had to go to another store to find a DVI cable to connect them (another $20). At this store, I found a pair of DisplayPort to HDMI dongles, so I picked them up (another $15 each) and a $12 HDMI cable to connect them.
Neither of these MacGyver solutions worked.
I’ll try to pick up one of the Belkin cables tomorrow and will post the results here.
Leander Kahney is the editor and publisher of Cult of Mac.
Leander is a longtime technology reporter and the author of six acclaimed books about Apple, including two New York Times bestsellers: Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple’s Greatest Products and Inside Steve’s Brain, a biography of Steve Jobs.
He’s also written a top-selling biography of Apple CEO Tim Cook and authored Cult of Mac and Cult of iPod, which both won prestigious design awards. Most recently, he was co-author of Cult of Mac, 2nd Edition.
Leander has been reporting about Apple and technology for nearly 30 years.
Before founding Cult of Mac as an independent publication, Leander was news editor at Wired.com, where he was responsible for the day-to-day running of the Wired.com website. He headed up a team of six section editors, a dozen reporters and a large pool of freelancers. Together the team produced a daily digest of stories about the impact of science and technology, and won several awards, including several Webby Awards, 2X Knight-Batten Awards for Innovation in Journalism and the 2010 MIN (Magazine Industry Newsletter) award for best blog, among others.
Before being promoted to news editor, Leander was Wired.com’s senior reporter, primarily covering Apple. During that time, Leander published a ton of scoops, including the first in-depth report about the development of the iPod. Leander attended almost every keynote speech and special product launch presented by Steve Jobs, including the historic launches of the iPhone and iPad. He also reported from almost every Macworld Expo in the late ’90s and early ‘2000s, including, sadly, the last shows in Boston, San Francisco and Tokyo. His reporting for Wired.com formed the basis of the first Cult of Mac book, and subsequently this website.
Before joining Wired, Leander was a senior reporter at the legendary MacWeek, the storied and long-running weekly that documented Apple and its community in the 1980s and ’90s.
Leander has written for Wired magazine (including the Issue 16.04 cover story about Steve Jobs’ leadership at Apple, entitled Evil/Genius), Scientific American, The Guardian, The Observer, The San Francisco Chronicle and many other publications.
Leander is an expert on:
Apple and Apple history
Steve Jobs, Jony Ive, Tim Cook and Apple leadership
Apple community
iPhone and iOS
iPad and iPadOS
Mac and macOS
Apple Watch and watchOS
Apple TV and tvOS
AirPods
Leander has a postgrad diploma in artificial intelligence from the University of Aberdeen, and a BSc (Hons) in experimental psychology from the University of Sussex.
He has a diploma in journalism from the UK’s National Council for the Training of Journalists.
Leander lives in San Francisco, California, and is married with four children. He’s an avid biker and has ridden in many long-distance bike events, including California’s legendary Death Ride.
You can find out more about Leander on LinkedIn and Facebook. You can follow him on X at @lkahney or Instagram.
73 responses to “Using iMac As Monitor Requires Very Specific Cable”
I’m trying to hook up my asus laptop to my imac using an hdmi cable and a generic mini display to hdmi; with 0 luck…. FML
I am trying to use my MacBook laptop computer as a screen for my desktop PC. Can I do this with the special MAC adapter cord that goes from the PC to the laptop? I don’t want to wreck anything. Thanks
@Lingraham: That won’t work. This only works with the 27″ iMac.
In my experience it doesn’t work even if you have the right cables. I have the Belkin cable and have tried several different MacBook Pros with every configuration of display settings I could think of. Is there any confirmation this works at all?
The adapters pictured above are unidirectional, i.e. from mDP to HDMI/VGA/DVI only. iMac 27 will work only a mDP output singal. So unless the video card of your device outputs mDP you will need a converter/scaler to use your iMac 27 as a monitor. This is a rather expensive set up as a these units sell around $200 plus the mDP to mDP cable.
I found the simplest solution was to just remote desktop to the PC. I have plugged an Ethernet cable direct from iMac to Laptop no need even for a switch. Ok, I don’t get to use both the laptop and the imac screen but I do get to use this amazing screen for my laptop.
Any result updated?
looks like a good idea, but is it work, what software ure using, yesterday i build a new pc, then try to connect to iMac as Display… but can’t working…
(iMac late 2009, c2d extreme 3.06, hd3650, 6Gb RAM, 1TB) (PC – phenom am3 X6, 8Gb, 1TB, fx 3450)
You have to put the iMac in Target mode (reboot and push the “T” key) and you have to use a displayport connection.
Does this also work with the 21.5” Model?
Does this also work with the 21.5” Model?
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht… – apparently Apple says it does.
I am looking cable or product for monitoring iPhone4 on my iMac.Somebody knows the solution…?
This is a similar problem to one of the posted Apple support forums relative to using a TV as a monitor. The forum I found started in 2009, and 22 pages later, in August, 2011, there seems to be no valid answer! Apple clearly is not a service-oriented company, and it’s products do not perform as advertised, at least in this regard.
It’s interesting to note that my old, should-have-been-retired-long-ago G4 laptop works perfectly using my TV as a monitor with a cheap DVI to HDMI cable. My 2010 iMac cannot be made to work in the same manner. It’s mini displayport to DVI to HDMI cable’s signal can’t be recognized my the TV.
I have used my TV as a display for my MacbookPro. I was taught this in an Apple store. I used the miniport to HDMI cable to connect the devices. Then in the preferences on the Macbook, I went to displays. It shows an arrangement tab. When I opened that tab, it shows two screens side by side. I was taught to select the thin white rectangle (the menu bar) and drag it onto the larger screen (the TV). The cursor can move between the two screens, but you have to figure out which side it comes in on. If I take this system to hotels, etc., I will sometime have to reset the sound output in preferences as well.
You can also check “mirror” and you will see the same output on both devices.
Yeah, thanks anyway, but many, many of us get nothing showing in the display preferences. If you’ve not nothing showing, your computer is not recognizing the TV (and vice versa). It’s a bit hard to believe, but it must be so, that iMacs simply can’t use TVs as a display monitor. I’ll repeat myself: My old G4 Laptop works with the TV as a monitor, buy my new iMac doesn’t.
I think the main issue here is that it simply won’t work with the older style macbook;s (2008 or earlier) that only have DVI out. Display port has connectivity to signal the iMac to become a monitor… those signals arn’t passed through DVI out. It’s a guess, but i’ll bet money on it.
Thank YOU so much!!!!!
IMO MiniDP-to-HDMI and MiniDP-to-DVI adapters allow host only on MiniDP end.
If that’s the case, then putting couple of them on both ends of another cable would be useless.
Have you tried any of these solutions:
http://avatron.com/apps/air-di… or
http://www.screenrecycler.com/…
Hi Leander, did the Belkin finally work? You never posted the result.
Using a iMac with the right cable that only has MiniDP ends and the output of the PC video has a miniDP it takes over the iMac and you now have a very expensive monitor for your pc.
Bought the cable, it works without trouble. Thanks saved me a $1000 buying a new display!
Hi i need help , yeah , i have Mac pro desktop 2008 and iMac 2001 , and I’m trying to plug the mac pro in to my iMac as a display mode , and my Mac pro has just 2 connections DVI only, there is a possibility to do that ? i want to plug my Mac pro as the Main computer and iMac pro 2011 as display mode . there is a cable for that , going to DVI and converter do mini display mode ? thank you for help .