Not sure if anyone else is doing this but as an owner of a MBP 16” and M1 iMac I was originally using the iMac as my main display and using universal control (UC) for my MBP.
However, since my MBP is more powerful than my iMac setup and I wanted to conserve some desk space by getting rid of peripherals I thought about the iMac as a 2nd display to have stuff streaming/playing while doing heavy work on the laptop.
Problems at first were around UC. Anytime you restart the computer UC doesn’t turn on until you login which requires the keyboard. So I disabled all the general privacy settings and enabled automatic login. This disables stored payments and touchID BUT lets you keep your keychain so I can still use passwords, etc just by typing it so that’s good. Anytime my iMac goes to sleep I simply wake it up with the power button if I want to use it and UC reconnects automatically.
Currently I have my iMac sitting off to the side with no peripherals and my MBP controlling everything. Not only do I have a second monitor that’s much cheaper than a Studio Display with 98% of the specs but a full blown computer for off-loading light weight tasks at almost half the price.
So if you’re thinking about how Apple’s old target display feature was nice this seems like it could work in a similar fashion! It’s only be a couple days but I haven’t run into any issues I couldn’t fix.
However, since my MBP is more powerful than my iMac setup and I wanted to conserve some desk space by getting rid of peripherals I thought about the iMac as a 2nd display to have stuff streaming/playing while doing heavy work on the laptop.
Problems at first were around UC. Anytime you restart the computer UC doesn’t turn on until you login which requires the keyboard. So I disabled all the general privacy settings and enabled automatic login. This disables stored payments and touchID BUT lets you keep your keychain so I can still use passwords, etc just by typing it so that’s good. Anytime my iMac goes to sleep I simply wake it up with the power button if I want to use it and UC reconnects automatically.
Currently I have my iMac sitting off to the side with no peripherals and my MBP controlling everything. Not only do I have a second monitor that’s much cheaper than a Studio Display with 98% of the specs but a full blown computer for off-loading light weight tasks at almost half the price.
So if you’re thinking about how Apple’s old target display feature was nice this seems like it could work in a similar fashion! It’s only be a couple days but I haven’t run into any issues I couldn’t fix.
