Monday, April 24, 2023

Cheaper Studio Display Alternatives

Apple finally released the Studio Display in 2022. My initial reaction was to purchase one, even with the starting price of $1599. I’ve really wanted a 27-inch 5K display for a while and wasn’t willing to go with the 5K 27-inch LG UltraFine after a bad experience with the 4K 24-inch version. I was ready to pull the trigger, but I soon learned about the many drawbacks, like having only a single input source, one Thunderbolt 3 port, no external power button, and worst of all, running some version of iOS that needs firmware and software updates!

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At work, we had a few late-2015 27-inch 5K iMacs that were set to be recycled, so I set out to see if there was any way to convert one into an external display. After doing some research, I found that there was indeed a way to do this, so I gave it a shot. This post documents how I did it, so maybe you can too if you’d like.

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In order to convert a 27-inch 5K iMac into an external display, it needs to be disassembled and all of the internals removed. Next, a component called a display driver board needs to be purchased. The driver board will be installed inside the empty iMac chassis and connected directly to the LCD panel of the iMac. The driver board provides multiple HDMI and Display Port inputs, a power port, and a headphone jack. Using these connections on the driver board, the iMac can be converted into an external display.

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