Second monitor for iMac

[Operationlvy]

I have a 27" i5 780M iMac and I want to get a 22" 1080p Samsung TV to use as a second monitor via Thunderbolt to HDMI (and as a TV sometimes.)

Any problems with this setup? Can the 780M handle the second monitor load okay?

 

[rkaufmann87]

I have a 27" i5 780M iMac and I want to get a 22" 1080p Samsung TV to use as a second monitor via Thunderbolt to HDMI (and as a TV sometimes.)

Any problems with this setup? Can the 780M handle the second monitor load okay?

Your Samsumg does not support Thunderbolt, however the Thunderbolt port can be used as a mini-display port. Connect with a mini-display port to HDMI (readily available from Apple) and connect to the Samsung.

The graphics card will easily drive the external display.

 

[thekev]

You may be overestimating the cost of driving a second display. The biggest issues are typically driver support for that display resolution, which it has, and sufficient bandwidth to drive the desired number of connections. Things that are actually taxing on a gpu would be gaming, and drawing CG scenes to screen (not offline rendering). Drawing a desktop or application windows doesn't require too much. It cuts out whatever is completely hidden, does a few blending computations to achieve some of the pretty OSX effects, and that is about it.

 

[AppleFan360]

You shouldn't have any issues. I drove a second Dell 2560 x 1440 display without problems. The 780M is very capable of driving both displays.