Lenovo T470s to Early 2009 iMac9,1 as a second screen

[Benlore]

Hi guys,

Some of us are working from home these days. I have a work 2017 Lenovo T470s laptop with HDMI and Thunderbolt 3 ports. I want to see if it's possible to connect this to my 27 inch iMac early 2009. I want to use the iMac as my main monitor. The iMac9,1 has these specs.


Displays and Graphics

• Apple Mini DisplayPort to DVI Adapter
• Apple Mini DisplayPort to VGA Adapter
• Apple Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter

I am not clear if the DisplayPort in the back of my iMac is an output port or an input port or both. Can I push my screen from my T470s via my HDMI port with an "HDMI to DisplayPort" cable between the two computers so that I can use my big 27 in display instead of my laptop screen?

My T470s has Windows 10 on it. I suspect that this early iMac isn't designed to accept the inbound DisplayPort protocol?? Not sure?

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[DeltaMac]

I'm confused!
You said you have an early 2009 iMac, which would make that either a 20 or 24-inch screen.
You also said it is an iMac9,1 -- which is (still) an early 2009, either 20 or 24-inch.
But you also said 27-inch, which would be either an iMac10,1 or iMac11,1 LATE 2009 iMac.

Which do you have? The Early 2009 does NOT support Target display mode.
Late 2009 (27-inch only) is the first Mac to support that mode.
The only possible port to use is the Thunderbolt 3.
Try a USB-C to mini displayport cable. This cable might work. You have to be careful what you choose, some are NOT compatible with the iMac for target display mode. This one that I listed specifically states it does target display to a 2009 27-inch iMac. (That is assuming that you DO have the late 2009, 27-inch iMac)

 

[Benlore]

It’s the larger one. 24 inch, I didn’t realise they were smaller than the current large iMacs. It’s also the early 2009 model so it looks like it doesn’t support the target display mode.

 

[Hat Tric]

No hardware based solution necessary: just use Microsoft Remote Desktop. There is a decent app from Microsoft in the mac app store. As for allowing your Windows machine to act as a Remote Desktop server I'm sure there are enough how tos out there, should be a quite straightforward solution.

 

[Benlore]

Hey Hat Tric. Will try that and let you know.

 

[Benlore]

Not so sure Microsoft Remote Desktop will work for this model. My old mac is macOS 10.6.8 and Microsoft Remote Desktop states it's compatible with OS 10.12 or later... :-(

 

[r6mile]

Not so sure Microsoft Remote Desktop will work for this model. My old mac is macOS 10.6.8 and Microsoft Remote Desktop states it's compatible with OS 10.12 or later... :-(

You can go up to 10.11 officially on that Mac i think. Can you find an older version of Microsoft Remote Desktop? If not, you could install 10.13 High Sierra using the dosdude1 patcher (I wouldn't advise going more recent than that).