Hmm, I thought Apple was the grand daddy of all things plug-n-play? Obviously not so much when trying to interface your PC with a Mac.
Quick background, I bought a new i5 iMac as my work computer recently. I've been using PC laptops all my life, so I also wanted to have the option to use the (absolutely) beautiful iMac screen as an external monitor when I wanted to.
My laptop is Alienware M11XR2, it has both a display port and HDMI video output ports. The first thing I tried was to buy an HDMI to mini display port adapter (since I already had an HDMI cable) to connect my HDMI output to iMac's Thunderbolt port. For only $5.70 each when QTY 50+ purchased - Mini DisplayPort | Thunderbolt to HDMI Adapter w/ Audio Support | Mini DisplayPort to HDMI / DVI / VGA Adapters
It didn't work.
Later I learned that iMac's (or Thunderbolt protocol in particular) really are not that clever, in the sense that they only work with a display port to display port cable. Oh well, I was in luck because my 11'' laptop somehow had a display port, too. Great !
So I went ahead and bought the following cable: Amazon.com: 6ft DisplayPort Male to Mini DisplayPort Male 32AWG Cable (Gold Plated Connectors): Electronics
I received the cable last night and came to work this morning all pumped about how I can use my beastly but tiny laptop on the huge iMac screen. And guess what, it didn't work again. I tried everything, but my laptop won't recognize iMac screen as an external screen and on iMac I cannot put it in Target Display Mode as Command - F2 doesn't seem to respond.
I'm in desperate need of help. I don't want to go ahead and spend another $20 just to be heartbroken again.
Quick background, I bought a new i5 iMac as my work computer recently. I've been using PC laptops all my life, so I also wanted to have the option to use the (absolutely) beautiful iMac screen as an external monitor when I wanted to.
My laptop is Alienware M11XR2, it has both a display port and HDMI video output ports. The first thing I tried was to buy an HDMI to mini display port adapter (since I already had an HDMI cable) to connect my HDMI output to iMac's Thunderbolt port. For only $5.70 each when QTY 50+ purchased - Mini DisplayPort | Thunderbolt to HDMI Adapter w/ Audio Support | Mini DisplayPort to HDMI / DVI / VGA Adapters
It didn't work.
Later I learned that iMac's (or Thunderbolt protocol in particular) really are not that clever, in the sense that they only work with a display port to display port cable. Oh well, I was in luck because my 11'' laptop somehow had a display port, too. Great !
So I went ahead and bought the following cable: Amazon.com: 6ft DisplayPort Male to Mini DisplayPort Male 32AWG Cable (Gold Plated Connectors): Electronics
I received the cable last night and came to work this morning all pumped about how I can use my beastly but tiny laptop on the huge iMac screen. And guess what, it didn't work again. I tried everything, but my laptop won't recognize iMac screen as an external screen and on iMac I cannot put it in Target Display Mode as Command - F2 doesn't seem to respond.
I'm in desperate need of help. I don't want to go ahead and spend another $20 just to be heartbroken again.