Using an imac as a monitor

[kramerica2]

I've never owned an imac since I don't care for the AIO concept due to the fact that when your computer becomes obsolete, you lose the monitor as well, without any good reason.

I really need a new computer, and as usual I'm thinking about the mini. The problem is that they are really slow and I need the hardware of the imac. I figured that buying an AIO, isn't that bad if you can still use the monitor even when the computer's hardware is obsolete.

I've summed it up to a couple of questions:

1. Can you use the imac as a monitor for another computer without turning the enitre hardware on? Perhaps you can easily mod it, so that the monitor is the only thing working...

2. As a follow-up question, if something goes wrong with the imac, that isn't related to the monitor directly (i.e cpu, ram, hdd, etc..), could you still use it as a monitor for another computer?

If the answers to those questions are positive, I'll probably get a 27" imac.

Thanks a lot...

[Bibble]

I believe that, at present, it's only the new 27" iMacs that have bi-directional displayports (meaning that the port used to connect to an external monitor can be used to connect as an external monitor).

I believe, at present, the switching is done in the software, but you might be able to hack something together, at a push. So:

1. Yes, but only if you get the new 27"

2. Not by default, as far as I know.

[old-wiz]

Apple specs say you have to have the system on to use it as a monitor. If you have a problem with cpu/disk etc you probably won't be able to use it as a monitor.