5K iMac in Dual Monitor Configuration?

[m021478]

I currently have a 27" iMac (mid-2010) that I use in a dual monitor configuration along with a 27" cinema display. I would like to upgrade to the brand new 27" 5K iMac, but am worried about inconsistencies and problems when pairing the new 5K iMac with an older Cinema Display that isn't 5K.

Anyone have any experience with this? Anyone know if it will be awkward dragging windows and apps from one monitor to the other... Will they shrink when dragging them from the Cinema Display to the 5K iMac? Any other things I should be concerned about, or will it be a pretty seamless upgrade without too many issues?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated... Thanks!

 

[Liffey]

I have 1440p iMac with 1080p second monitor, and yes windows are bigger on the 1080p monitor. Not too big of a deal though.

 

[ljparis]

I have the 5K iMac 27" with the 27" Cinema Display attached. It works seamlessly. Do it! You won't be sorry.

Also, I cut a piece of 1" plywood to size and put it under the Cinema Display stand, which lines up the two screens nicely.

 

[m021478]

I have the 5K iMac 27" with the 27" Cinema Display attached. It works seamlessly. Do it! You won't be sorry.

View attachment 592288

Thanks for the feedback. So it's really not a big deal that the resolution of the 5K iMac (5120x2880) is exactly double the resolution of the Cinema Display (2560x14480)? Just to give an example to one of my concerns... I would think that dragging a browser window that I have maximized on the 5K monitor over to the cinema display would be majorly annoying, not only because the size of the window would be ginormous, but also that whatever you are looking at (text, image, video) would noticeably degrade in quality and clarity. when going from one monitor to the next.

Does it take some getting used to? Are there any real world scenarios you can think of in your day-to-day usage that you experience some of these inconsistency issues that you can elaborate on? Thanks!

 

[theSeb]

Thanks for the feedback. So it's really not a big deal that the resolution of the 5K iMac (5120x2880) is exactly double the resolution of the Cinema Display (2560x14480)? Just to give an example to one of my concerns... I would think that dragging a browser window that I have maximized on the 5K monitor over to the cinema display would be majorly annoying, not only because the size of the window would be ginormous, but also that whatever you are looking at (text, image, video) would noticeably degrade in quality and clarity. when going from one monitor to the next.

Does it take some getting used to? Are there any real world scenarios you can think of in your day-to-day usage that you experience some of these inconsistency issues that you can elaborate on? Thanks!

The default effective (retina) resolution of the 5K iMac is 2560 x 1440. The size of the window would stay the same when dragged from one monitor to the other. The quality would degrade when dragging to the Cinema Display (because you're going from a retina 2560 x 1440 to a non-retina 2560 x 1440).

 

[m021478]

The default effective (retina) resolution of the 5K iMac is 2560 x 1440. The size of the window would stay the same when dragged from one monitor to the other. The quality would degrade when dragging to the Cinema Display (because you're going from a retina 2560 x 1440 to a non-retina 2560 x 1440).

Can someone else please confirm that this is correct? If so, that pretty much cancels out all of my concerns and would green light my decision to go ahead with the upgrade... Thanks!

 

[ljparis]

Can someone else please confirm that this is correct? If so, that pretty much cancels out all of my concerns and would green light my decision to go ahead with the upgrade... Thanks!

The default effective (retina) resolution of the 5K iMac is 2560 x 1440. The size of the window would stay the same when dragged from one monitor to the other. The quality would degrade when dragging to the Cinema Display (because you're going from a retina 2560 x 1440 to a non-retina 2560 x 1440).

This may be obvious, but I would add that the degraded quality is equivalent to what you now see on your current Cinema Display. The quality of your iMac display will BLOW YOU AWAY! Enjoy.

 

[m021478]

This may be obvious, but I would add that the degraded quality is equivalent to what you now see on your current Cinema Display. The quality of your iMac display will BLOW YOU AWAY! Enjoy.

I get your point about the degraded quality being the equivalent of what I have now... But what about the default resolution thing that the other guy (theSeb) mentioned... Is it true that dragging content from one monitor to the other won't result in a scaled up/down version of that content?

 

[theSeb]

I get your point about the degraded quality being the equivalent of what I have now... But what about the default resolution thing that the other guy (theSeb) mentioned... Is it true that dragging content from one monitor to the other won't result in a scaled up/down version of that content?

This technology has been out since 2012. I am not making some crazy revelations.

 

[m021478]

This technology has been out since 2012. I am not making some crazy revelations.

Yes, I realize that... But my question has still been unconfirmed, and I don't have both devices in front of my right now to confirm it for myself.

I just want someone else (ideally the guy that has both the 5K iMac and cinema display in a dual monitor configuration) to confirm that there is no resizing of content when moving between monitors.

 

[arbitrage]

Instead of starting another thread on a similar subject....I want to purchase the new 5K iMac and use my late 2009 27" iMac in Target Display mode as my second monitor. Does this work? I've been using my 2009 iMac in TDM from my 15rMBP and 12rMB so I would assume I should have no issues. I do realize the 5K iMac can't be used in TDM but I don't need to do that, just use my 2009 iMac in TDP from the new 5K iMac.

Thanks for any and all responses.

 

[m021478]

Instead of starting another thread on a similar subject....I.

With all due respect, while your question is similar, at its core it's completely unrelated to the initial question of this thread... So I think you should start another thread for your question and not hijack my still unconfirmed/unanswered question by steering the thread in the wrong direction by provoking answers that won't answer the question initially posed. Thanks.

 

[arbitrage]

With all due respect, while your question is similar, at its core it's completely unrelated to the initial question of this thread... So I think you should start another thread for your question and not hijack my still unconfirmed/unanswered question by steering the thread in the wrong direction by provoking answers that won't answer the question initially posed. Thanks.

Your question was answered and confirmed with a picture in the 2nd reply. Anyways, seems no one cares about your question so I will start my own thread. Actually, I'm just doing you a favour by bumping this post. How about try Searching the Forums as this question has been answered a 100 times in the past when the first 5K iMac came out and the reply in the 2nd post is correct.

 

[JMG]

This technology has been out since 2012. I am not making some crazy revelations.

It seems to me that, logically, if both the 5k and the thunderbolt display are set to 2560 x 1440 then everything should line up and dragging content from the 5k display to the thunderbolt should be seamless. However, wouldn't that mean that playing true 4k content (3840 × 2160) would result in scaled down video playback in both monitors? In order to playback true 4k videos in it's native scale the 5k monitor would have to be set to 3840 × 2160 or 5120 x 2880. The thunderbolt display, still limited to 2560 x 1440, would not interface as seamlessly in this case, correct? Windows dragged across would appear to be different sizes from one monitor to the next. I guess the real question is, will a 5k display be available anytime soon? Or should I just get a thunderbolt display and scale my 5k imac down to 2560 x 1440 and not play 4k videos to their full potential.

 

[gugy]

Just to confirm.
I am thinking in getting a RiMac 5k and use with my 30" ACD. Would that work? I have the display port connector, so I assume I can easily hook up to one of the TB ports of the iMac.

 

[m021478]

Anyways, seems no one cares about your question so I will start my own thread. Actually, I'm just doing you a favour by bumping this post. How about try Searching the Forums as this question has been answered a 100 times in the past when the first 5K iMac came out and the reply in the 2nd post is correct.

I get that you live in Whitehorse, Canada... but there's no need to be rude aboot it.

See here... (oh yes I did)

 

[theSeb]

It seems to me that, logically, if both the 5k and the thunderbolt display are set to 2560 x 1440 then everything should line up and dragging content from the 5k display to the thunderbolt should be seamless. However, wouldn't that mean that playing true 4k content (3840 × 2160) would result in scaled down video playback in both monitors? In order to playback true 4k videos in it's native scale the 5k monitor would have to be set to 3840 × 2160 or 5120 x 2880. The thunderbolt display, still limited to 2560 x 1440, would not interface as seamlessly in this case, correct? Windows dragged across would appear to be different sizes from one monitor to the next. I guess the real question is, will a 5k display be available anytime soon? Or should I just get a thunderbolt display and scale my 5k imac down to 2560 x 1440 and not play 4k videos to their full potential.

The 4K video would playback at 4K on the iMac. I am too lazy to type out a full explanation and there is plenty of info on the web how the scaling on "retina" Macs works.

There is one 5K monitor available right now from Dell. It uses the same panel as the 5K iMac and is supported

Some displays with resolutions higher than 4K require two DisplayPort cables to connect the display at full resolution. With OS X Yosemite v10.10.3 or later, the Dell UP2715K 27-inch 5K display is supported on the following Mac computers:

• Mac Pro (Late 2013)
• iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2014 and later)
• MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015) with AMD Radeon R9 M370X

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202856

 

[m021478]

Thanks to everyone who offered up some helpful feedback. I pulled the trigger and bought the new 5K iMac, and will provide an update on my experience using it in a dual-monitor config with the Cinema Display once I receive it. Thanks again!

 

[WilliamG]

Thanks to everyone who offered up some helpful feedback. I pulled the trigger and bought the new 5K iMac, and will provide an update on my experience using it in a dual-monitor config with the Cinema Display once I receive it. Thanks again!

To confirm, dragging windows from the 5K screen to the 2.5K screen will result in everything staying the same size. But just be aware that the the difference is 4x the sharpness decrease when moving to 2.5K screen. You'll certainly notice that everything won't be as sharp on the old 27" Thunderbolt display.

 

[m021478]

To confirm, dragging windows from the 5K screen to the 2.5K screen will result in everything staying the same size. But just be aware that the the difference is 4x the sharpness decrease when moving to 2.5K screen. You'll certainly notice that everything won't be as sharp on the old 27" Thunderbolt display.

Thanks!