Screen Sharing VS. Target Display Mode on 2019 iMac & 2011 Mac Air

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Screen Sharing VS. Target Display Mode on 2019 iMac & 2011 Mac Air

Hi all: I have a 2019 iMac running Mohave and a 2011 Mac Air running High Sierra. I wanted to view the screen and interface with the Mac Air using my iMac. So I had a few thoughts about this that I decided to try:

1) Using Screen Sharing using an local internet connection

2) Using the iMac in target display mode via a thunderbolt connection

SO ideally, I'd like to use target display mode on my iMac, but I do think that the Mac Air won't support it. Also, the Mac Air has a thunderbolt but I believe this is the first thunderbolt and the iMac has thunderbolt 3. I bought a thunderbolt 3 to thunderbolt 2 adapter but I haven't been able to get the iMac into Target Display Mode. (Sidebar, I'm able to get the Mac Air and iMac to interface using Target Disk Mode)

I've checked the article for Target Display Mode here: https://support.apple.com/sl-si/HT204592

I've made sure to make my F1, F2 function keys active in keyboard system prefs.

The Screen Sharing is a workaround that I've been using that seems to work fairly well but I'm sure I'd benefit from a faster connection. However, I know going from a thunderbolt 1 connection to a thunderbolt 3 might be a bit of a stretch. I wanted to see if the community had any additional insight.

Thanks all.

iMac Line (2012 and Later)

Posted on Aug 17, 2019 9:10 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Allan Jones

Level 9

71,750 points

Aug 17, 2019 9:43 AM in response to Nicholas Collins1

Nichols wrote:

I do think that the Mac Air won't support it.

It is the iMac that does not support TDM. Under "System Requirements" in the article you linked is this:

iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2014) and later iMac models can't be used as Target Display Mode displays.

Screen sharing is the remaining option, and it is often slow.

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Answer 2

rkaufmann87

Level 10

143,308 points

Aug 17, 2019 10:01 AM in response to Nicholas Collins1

This is really pretty simple, the best option is to buy an external display to use with either you iMac or MBA. Not what you wanted to hear but that is what is really what you need for the best user experience. Using Screen Sharing is relatively slow and likely will not solve the problem which isn't connecting the two together but having a external display with good performance.

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Answer 3

Aug 18, 2019 1:43 AM in response to rkaufmann87

Thanks all, and appreciate your input, I figured as much just wanted to investigate and do my due dilligence. I don't really require a second monitor it's just a bit easier since I don't want to encrypt this computer under their BYOD policies - so was looking for another solution. Screen sharing works well for me in this situation as I'm not doing an intensive operations. Have a great one!

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Answer 4

Allan Jones

Level 9

71,750 points

Aug 18, 2019 9:42 AM in response to Nicholas Collins1

Thanks for the follow-up, Nicholas.

I always feel obligated to mention screen sharing being slow because we have a lot of people posing who find a laptop screen too small for gaming and then discover that sharing frames rates drop to the point of uselessness. Glad t know sharing works for your needs. I've had not had problems with using screen sharing for more "business-like" pursuits.

Have a great day.

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Screen Sharing VS. Target Display Mode on 2019 iMac & 2011 Mac Air

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