Hi there ,
i have an urgent question how to set up my iMac(s) with a Laptop ( for now ) and later most probably with a Mini PC.
Short summary:
At the beginning of December of this year I received my late 2012 iMac back - which I haven't been using for about a Year ( iMac Late 2012 , 16 GB Ram, 2GB Nvidia GeForce 680 MX, 3,4 GHZ Quad Core I7 , 3TB Fusion Drive ). After I got it back I couldn't boot up the iMac properly and it literally took hours to boot up and even then it was not possible to use it properly because each and every application was stuttering. `so I thought maybe its time to upgrade some internals ( RAM, SSD, maybe even Processor ). After making a quick assessment of how it would cost I searched for a used iMac from 2015-2017 wit an 5K Display ( which would cost me only about 2,5 times what an upgrade of the old Hardware would have cost me ). So for the time being I chose iMac 2017 version ( mine with 4,2 GHZ QUad Core , 32 GB Ram, 2 SSDs ( 1x 2 TB and 1x NVME 512 GB and a 8GB Radeon Pro 580 ). At the beginning I wanted to buy the first one and sell the older Modell for cheap for somebody who could benefit from it. After booting up the old iMac I started magically to work like it did back in the day when I was using it.
And now comes the tricky part. Due to the fact that I need 2 Displays for my work ( because a good display on its own would cost me the money my old iMac would have got me if I sold it ). So in the end I decided to keep both iMacs. My work which I imagine as many others have to work from home relies on a Computer , in my case it has to be a WIndows machine .
My work requirements: Because I need to log in via VPN and then into a Virtual Machine ( into Citrix ) in order to work my thought process was - lets reinstall Parallels onto the NEW iMac, just buy a cable to connect the two iMacs together and work on two monitor (iMacs ) comfortably . And because my 2017 iMac with 4,2 GHZ should be more than capable enough to do that. My iMac essentially needs to run a Virtual WIndows OS within which it needs to make a VPN connection and then again connect to an outside Virtual Machine ( Citrix ) in order for it to work properly. THAT WAS THE THOUGHT! But in reality it didn't work. It kicked me out out the Citrix in about 1-2 minutes each and every time I tried it, besides being essentially UNUSABLE !. ANNNNNND the Thunderbold3 to Thunderbold2 cable didn't work at all as a direct connection for both iMacs.
SOLUTION ?:
SO now my idea was I would like to keep both iMacs at least as monitors . I would love to somehow connect both of them to my ( for now ) Windows Laptop in order to take of the burden of 2 Virtual Machines off of them -therefore only using one on the WINDOWS Machine itself.
QUESTION:
Do you guys think it is possible within my specific example to connect both iMacs ( late 2012 with Thunderbolt 2 and the 5k 2017 with Thunderbolt 3 mini USB )to a Laptop with only a Standard HDMI Port ( it has also a mini USB - but I do not know if its capable of being used as a DIsplay port in any kind )? As for work matters I would love to stick to those iMac displays which are great- the would need to be a Dual screen Setup and the Laptop would serve only as the source of the OS nothing else .
Which cables do I need - specific ones or 1-2 examples of each cable I would need would be more than helpful !
Thanks a lot for all suggestions
i have an urgent question how to set up my iMac(s) with a Laptop ( for now ) and later most probably with a Mini PC.
Short summary:
At the beginning of December of this year I received my late 2012 iMac back - which I haven't been using for about a Year ( iMac Late 2012 , 16 GB Ram, 2GB Nvidia GeForce 680 MX, 3,4 GHZ Quad Core I7 , 3TB Fusion Drive ). After I got it back I couldn't boot up the iMac properly and it literally took hours to boot up and even then it was not possible to use it properly because each and every application was stuttering. `so I thought maybe its time to upgrade some internals ( RAM, SSD, maybe even Processor ). After making a quick assessment of how it would cost I searched for a used iMac from 2015-2017 wit an 5K Display ( which would cost me only about 2,5 times what an upgrade of the old Hardware would have cost me ). So for the time being I chose iMac 2017 version ( mine with 4,2 GHZ QUad Core , 32 GB Ram, 2 SSDs ( 1x 2 TB and 1x NVME 512 GB and a 8GB Radeon Pro 580 ). At the beginning I wanted to buy the first one and sell the older Modell for cheap for somebody who could benefit from it. After booting up the old iMac I started magically to work like it did back in the day when I was using it.
And now comes the tricky part. Due to the fact that I need 2 Displays for my work ( because a good display on its own would cost me the money my old iMac would have got me if I sold it ). So in the end I decided to keep both iMacs. My work which I imagine as many others have to work from home relies on a Computer , in my case it has to be a WIndows machine .
My work requirements: Because I need to log in via VPN and then into a Virtual Machine ( into Citrix ) in order to work my thought process was - lets reinstall Parallels onto the NEW iMac, just buy a cable to connect the two iMacs together and work on two monitor (iMacs ) comfortably . And because my 2017 iMac with 4,2 GHZ should be more than capable enough to do that. My iMac essentially needs to run a Virtual WIndows OS within which it needs to make a VPN connection and then again connect to an outside Virtual Machine ( Citrix ) in order for it to work properly. THAT WAS THE THOUGHT! But in reality it didn't work. It kicked me out out the Citrix in about 1-2 minutes each and every time I tried it, besides being essentially UNUSABLE !. ANNNNNND the Thunderbold3 to Thunderbold2 cable didn't work at all as a direct connection for both iMacs.
SOLUTION ?:
SO now my idea was I would like to keep both iMacs at least as monitors . I would love to somehow connect both of them to my ( for now ) Windows Laptop in order to take of the burden of 2 Virtual Machines off of them -therefore only using one on the WINDOWS Machine itself.
QUESTION:
Do you guys think it is possible within my specific example to connect both iMacs ( late 2012 with Thunderbolt 2 and the 5k 2017 with Thunderbolt 3 mini USB )to a Laptop with only a Standard HDMI Port ( it has also a mini USB - but I do not know if its capable of being used as a DIsplay port in any kind )? As for work matters I would love to stick to those iMac displays which are great- the would need to be a Dual screen Setup and the Laptop would serve only as the source of the OS nothing else .
Which cables do I need - specific ones or 1-2 examples of each cable I would need would be more than helpful !
Thanks a lot for all suggestions
