Mac Mini

[Gingertom]

can i attach a new mac mini to a 2012 iMac 27' monitor

 

[Sosab123]

No

 

[AphoticD]

Confirming the answer is no. I have the same 2012 iMac 27" which I use for TDM to run a 2019 MBP15,4. When I connect my M5 MacBook Pro to the iMac, the cmd+F2 shortcut is non-responsive. I believe it's a hardware limitation of the Apple Silicon Macs as they don't send a display signal over Thunderbolt.

P.S. Best to move this thread to another forum as it's not PowerPC-related.

 

[Gingertom]

can i attach a new mac mini to a 2012 iMac 27' monitor

Many thanks for the replies. It was what I suspected.

 

[Basic75]

No

Why not? The 2012 27" iMac is pre-retina and supports target display mode.

 

[Basic75]

I believe it's a hardware limitation of the Apple Silicon Macs as they don't send a display signal over Thunderbolt.

That doesn't sound right, where did you read that?

 

[Sosab123]

Why not? The 2012 27" iMac is pre-retina and supports target display mode.

Use iMac as a display with target display mode - Apple Support

Some older Mac models can use older iMac models as an external display.

support.apple.com

Will not work at all on a late Mac.

 

[Basic75]

Use iMac as a display with target display mode - Apple Support

Some older Mac models can use older iMac models as an external display.

support.apple.com

How weird. I must have missed that detail. Thanks.

 

[AphoticD]

That doesn't sound right, where did you read that?

I tested it with real hardware and the M5 didn't initiate the handshake for TDM to activate (i.e. pressing cmd+F2 did nothing). I tried rebooting both machines and no difference, so I looked it up with Google and the AI stated the incompatibility with Apple Silicon hardware not sending the [TDM compatible] display signal over Thunderbolt.

What is interesting to note though is that although the tech notes on the Apple support page linked to state the Mac connecting to the TDM iMac must be 2019 or older and run Catalina 10.15.8 or EARLIER, I have never had a problem using TDM with my Intel MBPs running later versions of macOS to my iMac 27" models – I used to have the 2013 iMac 27" as well as the 2012 model I still use. I've had both the 2018 and 2019 MBPs connect without any issues over the years across various versions of macOS (well beyond Catalina)

The MacBookPro15,4 currently connected to my iMac13,2 over TDM is running the final version of Sequoia natively AND the iMac itself is running Monterey via OCLP, yet the TDM feature still works for me, which according to the documentation, it shouldn't work at all.