We’d like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum.

This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are – or become – political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.

📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!
The Forum now has a brand new text editor, adding a bunch of handy features to use when creating posts. Read more in our how-to guide

Windows and Apple compatibility

Emily_N
Emily_N Posts: 8 Forumite
in Techie Stuff
Does anyone know if it would be possible to use an imac as an external monitor with a windows machine?
«1

Comments

  • Owain_Moneysaver
    Owain_Moneysaver Posts: 11,393 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    You could run something like Teamviewer which is available for Windows and Mac, if you want to do something like send a presentation to the iMac
    A kind word lasts a minute, a skelped erse is sair for a day.
  • Johnmcl7
    Johnmcl7 Posts: 2,848 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Which model of Imac is it? Some of them have a mini-display port input so you can use them as an external monitor for another machine.

    John
  • macman
    macman Posts: 53,129 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    The older ones do not AFAIK (mine is 2008 vintage)
    No free lunch, and no free laptop ;)
  • Emily_N
    Emily_N Posts: 8 Forumite
    Haven't got one yet. Just a consideration to help me elimate if necessary
    If we opted for one, would want to be able to hook OH's laptop to it.
  • InsideInsurance
    InsideInsurance Posts: 22,460 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Later models (think circa 2009) can if you can feed it a Display Port signal . This is not just a port shape but the signal itself is different to HDMI/ DVI or VGA so either you need a convertor or one of the few graphics cards that support it (or a mac which all have for a fair number of years)
  • Emily_N
    Emily_N Posts: 8 Forumite
    Would you mind showing me a link to a converter please so that I can judge cost?
    Would it be guaranteed to work then? Would hate to pay for one and then find it's not possible.
  • Emily_N
    Emily_N Posts: 8 Forumite
    And how would I find out if the graphics card supports it?
  • neilwoods
    neilwoods Posts: 2,304 Forumite
    At last someone has come up an actual real world use for an iMac. :)
    Mansion TV. Avoid at all cost's :j
  • custardy
    custardy Posts: 38,365 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    edited 16 January 2013 at 2:09PM
    Emily_N wrote: »
    And how would I find out if the graphics card supports it?

    on a laptop its simple
    you look on the side and see what ports it has
    I would say its unlikely

    what would you be using the laptop for whilst hooked up?
    or more to the point
    why cant the imac be used to do that work?
  • Emily_N
    Emily_N Posts: 8 Forumite
    edited 16 January 2013 at 2:17PM
    The laptop would be like a desktop going between work and home but nicer to use a large screen.

    I think lots of security issues so docs can't leave the laptop? possible software implications too, not sure.
    just know that it would be just for a display and nothing else as far as work was concerned.

    I'm rapidly thinking it's not a good idea and stick with windows.
This discussion has been closed.
★ ★ ★ Meet your Ambassadors

🚀 Getting Started

Hi new member!

Our Getting Started Guide will help you get the most out of the Forum

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 353.5K Banking & Borrowing
  • 254.1K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 455K Spending & Discounts
  • 246.6K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 602.9K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 178.1K Life & Family
  • 260.6K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16K Discuss & Feedback
  • 37.7K Read-Only Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.
Update Your Picture