Dual Monitors (iMac 27 2013 & iMac 27 2017) with Windows 7

Hi all,

I have a query that I cannot seem to find an answer to, although I suspect that what I am hoping to achieve may well not be possible as have asked around but no answer forthcoming ;-).

I already have an iMac 27" (2013) model, with two Thunderbolt ports, and am considering an upgrade to the iMac 27" 5K Retina (2017). Now, this is where it gets possibly "interesting". I have on the older model (2013) partitioned the hard drive (using Bootcamp) and installed a copy of Windows 7 Home Premium. I have done this as its just far easier to use the Microsoft Office Suite for work, and not have to become familiar over the years with the Apple OS offering - sad but true.

I wish to know if I can get the latest iMac 27" 5K Retina, and once again partitioning the hard drive and installing Windows 7 Home Premium AND then (via Thunderbolt, or other option) connect both my old and new iMac's to run as a Dual Monitor set-up, with the use of Windows 7, thus allowing me a vastly increased screen 'real estate' area to work with using the MS Office product.

Would be great to know if what I'm suggesting is even remotely possible, and grateful for any and all advice received.

Thanks in advance.

Welcome to our forums.

I have a 2017 5K 27" iMac and can tell you positively that you can not install Windows 7 on that model. It will only take Windows 10 as an installation if you are using Boot Camp. You can, however, if you choose to employ a virtual machine instead (Parallels, VirtualBox, etc.) run Windows 7 from that.

Your other question about hooking both the 2013 and 2017 models together is likewise a no. You can not use Target Mode on the retina.

Here's a suggestion: Instead of spending $2000 or more on a new iMac, why not just buy an external 27" or larger monitor and use that? There are very good quality monitors available that would match the resolution of your 2013 iMac and can be had for perhaps around $500 or less.

Also... what's the problem with using Mac Office? Unless there is some very specific function you need with Excel that's not available in the Mac version, there is virtually no difference between the interface and operation of both suites. I have both suites (Mac and Windows) and actually prefer the Mac version.

The 2017 iMac will not run Windows 7, only Windows 10. Using the older Mac means running it in Target Display mode and that requires another Mac to make that happen, I don't know if the other Mac has to be running macOS as well or can be running Windows.