Mac Mini With iMac as Monitor

[krawfo]

My 2011 Imac 21.5 is getting a bit old and tired and has reached the end of the OSX upgrade path at High Sierra. I'm considering a Mac Mini and using the old iMac as a monitor. Is this a completely crazy idea?
BTW the iMac has an 2.5GHz Core I5, 16 GB memory and a 250GB SSD. Would a better option be to sell the iMac and use the money to buy a monitor? If so, which monitor would you recommend.
Thanks in advance for your feedback and suggestions.

2.5 GHz Intel Core i5

 

[Boyd01]

What Mini are you talking about? The new M1 "Apple Silicon" Mini? Apparently, that is not compatible with target display mode on the iMac. See this:

Use iMac screen for 2020 M1 Mac mini? - Apple Community

discussions.apple.com

"No 2020 Macs support Target Display Mode, either as the source or the target computer.

[...]

Apple started the deprecation of TDM six years ago when the last iMac that could serve as an external monitor was the Mid 2014 model, and finished it off for good early in 2020. It's dead."

There's another thread on this topic here

Connecting Mac mini to iMac as display

So everyone, I think it’s because I’m running a version of Catalina on the target display.. how strange the os gives me the option to reboot in target display mode. Same set up didn’t work when I plugged in a 2018 MacBook Pro

forums.macrumors.com

 

[krawfo]

Well, it didn’t take long to torpedo that idea. Thanks for the heads up Boyd. Moving along to the second part of my post, any recommendations for a decent monitor - preferably no more costly than my old iMac with bring on resale?

 

[4sallypat]

I would have loved to be able to re-purpose my older iMacs as well as I love their displays but when I found out that the M1 Mini won't work as target displays, I was a bit bummed.

Instead, I took from my Intel MBP 16 external display (27" Thunderbolt Display) and moved it onto the M1 Mini as my main monitor and for my second display, I picked up a cheap $245 32" Samsung 4K monitor from Best Buy CyberMonday and voila - instant wow!

Now I do NOT miss my 16" MBP that ran hot all the time - nor my hot to handle i7 Mini Server - both replaced by the M1 and dual displays:

 

[MevetS]

You might want to take a look at Luna Display. I'm not sure it if it works with ASi Macs though.

Good luck whatever you decide.