Hi, since the introduction of the M1 iMac, the Thunderbolt ports are the subject of the day. One that I have never cared for but now...There a 2 ports on my old late 2012 27 iMac that I have never found use to. All my devices are connected to one of the 4 USB ports. My iMac boots Mojave from an external SSD Samsung T5 that came with a USB type-C to C and a USB type-C to A cables. Since the beginning the T5 is connected to the Mac with USB type-C to A. Found the box of the T5 and there was the USB type-C to C cable. Thought I could use it but either end fits into the Mac. All this because I read somewhere the Thunderbolt port would make the SSD faster. Is that true? And why the cable doesn't fit in the iMac TB port? I know, dumb to never have bothered before with the TB ports of my old dinosaur. Thanks anyway.
Yeah, why not?
A) For faster storage
Go ahead and try to find a 2nd-hand Thunderbolt box with RAID function. Slap 2 SSDs in it and run it in RAID 0 mode.
This combination will max-out the Thunderbolt speed (10Gbps), giving you 200% of USB 3.0 speed (5Gbps) thereotically.
Another way is try to find a Thunderbolt 2 cable (backward compatible with TB1), and Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 adapter (49$). Then you can hook-up a Thunderbolt 3 NVME disk to iMac 2012. But speed will be limited by the Thunderbolt 1 port.
B) For a second monitor
Another interesting use of this Thunderbolt Dock, is to hook it up with an Apple Thunderbolt Cinema Display.
Or simply hook a minidisplayport to HDMI adapter to connect it to your TV or other HDMI monitors.
C) To use iMac 2012 as a monitor
Must keep the iMac at High Sierra or lower.
TB3 (on other Macs) to TB2 adapter, then TB2 cable (real cable, not minidisplay cable) to iMac 2012.
Have fun!
