2018 Mac Mini with 2011 iMac as Second Display

[JaysonW]

Before we toss my daughter's 2011 21.5" iMac I thought I might give it new life as a second monitor in my setup. Currently I'm running the 2018 MM with a Razer Core X enclosure housing a Radeon RX Vega 64 8GB card. This is connected to a Dell U3415W display and works great! Is there a way to attach the 2011 iMac to this setup?

Thanks,
Jayson

 

[Juicy Box]

The Mid 2011 21" iMac has a feature called Target Display Mode. It is no longer supported as of High Sierra, but people are reporting that it still work with the source Mac with Mojave and Catalina.

It will require an expensive adapter that only Apple Makes, the bidirectional TB2/TB3 adapter. Also, a TB1 or TB2 cable.


Here is the bidirectional adapter:

Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter

Effortlessly connect your Mac to a Thunderbolt 2 device with the Apple Thunderbolt 3 Adapter. Buy now at apple.com

www.apple.com

Here is Apple's TB cable, but you can use third party cables for this one:

Apple Thunderbolt Cable (2.0 m) - White

Apple Thunderbolt Cable lets you conduct fast data transfers by connecting Thunderbolt-enabled devices to your Mac. Get fast, free shipping.

www.apple.com

There are plenty of guides on how to do Target Display Mode, but basically once everything is connected, boot up both devices and press and hold "Command" and "F2" on the iMac that you want to use as a display.

I would keep the Mid 2011 on High Sierra which is the highest official MacOS for it, and don't upgrade/patch it to Mojave or above.

 

[JaysonW]

The Mid 2011 21" iMac has a feature called Target Display Mode. It is no longer supported as of High Sierra, but people are reporting that it still work with the source Mac with Mojave and Catalina.

It will require an expensive adapter that only Apple Makes, the bidirectional TB2/TB3 adapter. Also, a TB1 or TB2 cable.


Here is the bidirectional adapter:

Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter

Effortlessly connect your Mac to a Thunderbolt 2 device with the Apple Thunderbolt 3 Adapter. Buy now at apple.com

www.apple.com

Here is Apple's TB cable, but you can use third party cables for this one:

Apple Thunderbolt Cable (2.0 m) - White

Apple Thunderbolt Cable lets you conduct fast data transfers by connecting Thunderbolt-enabled devices to your Mac. Get fast, free shipping.

www.apple.com

There are plenty of guides on how to do Target Display Mode, but basically once everything is connected, boot up both devices and press and hold "Command" and "F2" on the iMac that you want to use as a display.

I would keep the Mid 2011 on High Sierra which is the highest official MacOS for it, and don't upgrade/patch it to Mojave or above.

The 2011 is running Yosemite 10.10.5 and no system updates are available from Apple, is that ok?

 

[Juicy Box]

The 2011 is running Yosemite 10.10.5 and no system updates are available from Apple, is that ok?

AFAIK, that should be fine.

If not, just upgrade to High Sierra.

 

[JaysonW]

Ok, I ordered the TB3 to TB2 adapter and the TB3 cable. That was a quick $70. Will let you know if this works!

Thanks,
Jayson

 

[Juicy Box]

and the TB3 cable

You need a TB1 or TB2 cable, not a TB3.

 

[Juicy Box]

See this:

It will require an expensive adapter that only Apple Makes, the bidirectional TB2/TB3 adapter. Also, a TB1 or TB2 cable.


Here is the bidirectional adapter:

Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter

Effortlessly connect your Mac to a Thunderbolt 2 device with the Apple Thunderbolt 3 Adapter. Buy now at apple.com

www.apple.com

Here is Apple's TB cable, but you can use third party cables for this one:

Apple Thunderbolt Cable (2.0 m) - White

Apple Thunderbolt Cable lets you conduct fast data transfers by connecting Thunderbolt-enabled devices to your Mac. Get fast, free shipping.

www.apple.com

 

[JaysonW]

Typo, TB2 cable ordered.

 

[JaysonW]

No problems. Only surprise was that I had to upgrade from Yosemite to High Sierra and then it worked like a champ!

 

[Juicy Box]

No problems. Only surprise was that I had to upgrade from Yosemite to High Sierra and then it worked like a champ!

Glad everything worked okay!