If you install a 2 tb crucial sata ssd you will speed up stuff by 4x. But it needs a bit of skill...
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iMac as a monitor
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First you will have to open the iMac, second you will not get more than SATA speed.
After 2013 Apple used NVMe blades, at least 4x faster than SATA.
they are not all nvme, and they are not 4x faster, and most of them are rather small
After 2013 they are NVMe and they are massive faster, believe me !
Yes, 121 GB is small. But mostly enough for the OS and the apps. The user folder should be placed on the SATA drive, so the storage requirement on the NVMe will not grow much.
It might. The software I use is Illustrator, InDesign and some Photoshop. I'm not sure how far back you'd have to go to find versions of those that will run smoothly on an 11 year-old iMac.
Take with a grain of salt this advice you're getting from @rin67630 about de-fusing your Fusion Drive and relying on the SSD. He's presenting this as some kind of magic bullet, but it absolutely is not.
For one thing, the SSD may well have a lot of wear on it. My old 2014 iMac's Fusion Drive went belly-up because the SSD was worn out. Do you have access to the iMac? I would strongly recommend running DriveDx on it to check the wear level of that SSD because it's 11 years old at this point and may have seen a ton of use. If you don't have access to the iMac, you're rolling the dice and may end up with a machine that needs repair to be usable.
For another thing, that's a very old machine and is likely to be pretty slow, even running off an SSD, and even with 32 GB of RAM. This guy who responded to you is really grinding this axe pretty hard for his "solution" but it's far from ideal.
You haven't said how much you are expecting to pay for this old iMac, or what kind of work exactly you're expecting to do with it. For graphic design I don't recommend a Mac this old.
That might be true. Worst case you have to replace the blade with a full-size NVMe.
Regular NVMe adapters e.g. for Macbooks do the job.
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In Germany, an iMac 2015 17" Intel i5 24GB RAM runs at eBay auctions around 350 to 400€ with a fusion drive.
That is approximately half the price of a new 5K monitor and also less than a equivalent used one.
You get the rest of the computer gear practically for free...
This is not a 5K monitor. The 2013 iMacs are 1440p. The 5K iMacs didn't come out until 2014.
I just have been speaking about mine.
A 2013 iMac sells around 200€ with mouse and keyboard, which is also close to the cost of a used 27" WQHD monitor.
The difference is a bit less pronounced, but also there you get practically the computer gear for free.
I have a 2011 iMac 27”.
In the past I upgraded the HDD to SSD and 12gig RAM.
I installed OCLP 2 moths ago and it’s working great with Sonoma.
I also use iMac as an external monitor using Luna Display. I have a thunderbolt cable between iMac annd MacBook Pro and it works great!
I wouldn’t play fast games but otherwise works perfectly.
In the past I upgraded the HDD to SSD and 12gig RAM.
I installed OCLP 2 moths ago and it’s working great with Sonoma.
I also use iMac as an external monitor using Luna Display. I have a thunderbolt cable between iMac annd MacBook Pro and it works great!
I wouldn’t play fast games but otherwise works perfectly.
Hi, can I use my 2011 iMac 27" somehow as a second display for my 24" M3 iMac?
I have a Thunderbolt (1 or 2) to 3 adapter and also some cables for Thunderbolt 3 and 4 what would fit in there.
Sadly it's in a Box and very heavy. That's why I don't just try it.
If I understood correctly the old iMacs (from 2009 until mid 2014) only support target display mode until macOS 10.13 (High Sierra) and can be used as a second display for newer iMacs (from Late 2014 until 2019) what themselves are not supported as a second display because of the 5K resolution even if they don't have any?
That's really confusing.
So this is just a software thing? There were several non-retina iMacs that supported newer macOS versions and the last 21.5" iMac without a Retina display had been released in 2017 and those all lost the support to be used as a second display just because they were released after High Sierra or updated to a newer version?
And the iMacs that were able to use an older one as a second display lost the support or never had any (like the last 2020 intel iMac) just because they were updated to macOS 11 or came with it, like the 2020 one, what had been similar to the 2019 one, that still supported a second display if not updated? 🤔
Is this Lunar Display something like Airplay but older Macs didn't support Airplay from Mac to Mac? Should that work good from an M3 to a 2011 display?
You are correct. Target display was removed from MacOS as a feature after 10.13.
Luna display is a hardware/software solution
Luna Display — by Astropad
The only hardware solution that turns any Mac or iPad into a wireless second display.
astropad.com
It isn't the OS that would hold you back from using a Mid 2011 iMac as a display with Target Display Mode on an AS Mac, it is the AS Mac that is a limitation.
You cannot use Target Display Mode on any otherwise compatible TB iMacs with Apple Silicon Macs, it is disable with Apple Silicon Macs.
The exception is Late 2009 to Mid 2010 27" iMacs, they use Mini Display Port for Target Display Mode rather than TB (they don't have TB). You can use those iMacs with any Mac or any device (doesn't have to be a Mac nor an Apple device) that is capable of video out via display port. This includes Apple Silicon Macs.
If you insist on re-purposing your sit-in-box iMac 2011 27" to a display, I would suggest you spend 30~35$ for the conversion kit and some labour. Compare to buying a 2nd 27' 2k display (around 100~150$), it's still a viable option.
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When the 5k iMacs were first introduced in 2014, there was no widely available external connection that could support 5k over a single cable - it needed two 4-lane DisplayPort 1.2 streams. Other 5k displays from HP et. al. used two DisplayPort cables and needed a compatible graphics card with two outputs. Thunderbolt 1/2 could carry the required bandwidth but each Thunderbolt controller chip could only drive a single DisplayPort stream.
So, basically, TDM would have been complicated & uneconomic to implement from 2014-2017 - but, presumably, Apple could have re-introduced it in 2017 when the iMac went to Thunderbolt 3.
...anyway, having a pointless Intel space-heater running in your main display isn't really a great idea, and for occasional use there are things like airplay and Luna display (although I wuldn't want to use those for a primary, full-time display) which can run over a fast Thunderbolt connection.
The real message here is, folks, that's why the large-screen "Pro" iMac was never such a great idea. Or, at least, was only a great idea in 2014 when there was no other way of getting a 5k display.
M Luna display works great.
I used openlegacycore on my 2011 iMac so it’s now running Sonoma and Luna display from my MacBook Pro 2021
My setup is Dell 27” + iMac 2011 27” + MacBook Pro 16”
So I have 3 screens.
My main work is on Dell 27”. My video conference and meeting on MacBook pro
And my email/slack/notes is on iMac 27” with Luna
I used openlegacycore on my 2011 iMac so it’s now running Sonoma and Luna display from my MacBook Pro 2021
My setup is Dell 27” + iMac 2011 27” + MacBook Pro 16”
So I have 3 screens.
My main work is on Dell 27”. My video conference and meeting on MacBook pro
And my email/slack/notes is on iMac 27” with Luna
Thanks for the tip, but I think I'd rather take some cheap second display with the same resolution.
That old iMac might produce much higher costs for energy, what is really expensive here.
But I don't know what that conversation kit does. Is everything except the display disabled then or is it still a full running iMac?
I also thought about buying a second 24" iMac. Then I always have a substitute if something happens to mine and they also look similar. Different color doesn't matter, but I like it if it has the same for factor.
But then I can't decide if I should get the exact same version, wait for a newer and better one with M4/M5 or just get a cheaper maybe even M1 in addition what can be used for the tasks that don't need much RAM/Storage and CPU/GPU power. Making decisions is always complicated for me.
@alexsa
I also have a MBP 16" what makes it even more complicated. Since I got the iMac I almost never use it because the screen got too small.
So I could also just get a bigger screen for that one and place it next to the iMac. Might be a better solution than buying a third Mac.
It's just a controller board to take video signal from HDMI or DP input, and project them to the LCD.
Basically you will have to gut out the iMac computer parts to replace it with the LCD conversion kit.
Details of it are explained in the following thread, if you are interested in.
I bought this one
27 '' iMac A1312 A1316 A1407 2K LCD Controller Drive Board Monitor Display kit For LM270WQ1 A2 C2 E3 B1 B3 Screen Test Mainboard - AliExpress 6
Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com
It is good enough for 2560x1440 and cheaper. It just annoys me, that I cannot get DDC/CI to work. It has a setting for it and for a very brief moment I had it was working (iMac Pro), I think, because I am starting to doubt. No, it worked. DDCCTL (command tool for Intel Macs) didn't fail at sending, for that short moment.
Anyhow, I also bought the power-supply and it doesn't use much power compared to have the iMac run in Target Display Mode (late 2009 model).
I bought this one
27 '' iMac A1312 A1316 A1407 2K LCD Controller Drive Board Monitor Display kit For LM270WQ1 A2 C2 E3 B1 B3 Screen Test Mainboard - AliExpress 6
Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.comwww.aliexpress.com
It is good enough for 2560x1440 and cheaper. It just annoys me, that I cannot get DDC/CI to work. It has a setting for it and for a very brief moment I had it was working (iMac Pro), I think, because I am starting to doubt. No, it worked. DDCCTL (command tool for Intel Macs) didn't fail at sending, for that short moment.
Anyhow, I also bought the power-supply and it doesn't use much power compared to have the iMac run in Target Display Mode (late 2009 model).
This looks like I have to open up the iMac and I fear to do this. I am a "little" clumsy with things like that.
I wanted to test Duet Display what has a trial version and doesn't need any hardware, but it seems not to be ready for macOS 15 on my newer Macs. I can't even get into settings.
At least I turned on my old iMac from 2011 again now and but it side by side to my new one. Sadly it only has an HDD and was the last one with USB 2.0. Booting from Thuderbolt with a Dock or some HUB/Adapter with USB 3.0 somehow doesn't work and opening it by myself is too complicated. I have an adapter fpr TB that only includes eSATA and USB 3.0 to power a SATA drive, what I can only use if the Mac is already booted up.
It has 16GB of RAM and runs pretty well despite the slow internal drive. I connected some newer external SSDs to the USB 2.0 ports but they somehow weren't recognized, only the small sticks and thumb drives. I'll try that again, could also have been just the APFS encryption. But I think I didn't even see them in Disk Utility.
I also tried installing Catalina and Mojave with patched software from this dosdude website but it only produced a crossed out drive after installation. But I didn't read any guide. Maybe I should.
On that site I also saw there are possibilities to disable the dedicated graphics permanently, what also could revive my loved 17" MBP.
I really loved the Display of that 2011 iMac right next to my M3 iMac. It somehow looked even better, just not that sharp because of the non-retina resolution.
The sad thing is, that iMac is getting so hot and might consume more energy in half a day than my other much faster iMac in a whole year. Maybe I could even had bought a new one for the energy costs it only produced yesterday. 🙃
The Thunderbolt to Thunderbolt connection just worked to get access on the internal drive nothing to see of another display as expected.
I found an HDMI to Mini DisplayPort cable in my chaos here and will try what happens if I connect the old iMac to my MBP, or use a dock that has a double Thunderbolt 4 connection and a lot of things for connecting many displays.
Yes. I have had mine open way too many times, because of hardware issues 😩
macOS 15 is in beta, You cannot expect beta software to be supported, before it is released.
That is why using it as monitor is too expensive power-wise.
It used to support Target display mode, but that is only support on High Sierra and earlier and mac released in 2019 or earlier
Use your iMac as a display with target display mode - Apple Support
Target display mode is a feature available with certain older Mac models.
That will not work.