Some of the old iMacs could just be displays natively.[1] it was just an odd ball feature no one used.

[1] <https://support.apple.com/en-us/105126>

It's a real shame they got rid of target display mode. But then people would hold onto iMacs even longer.

Today, you can use software like Luna or Duet, or native screen sharing to control an iMac from another Mac (or vice versa). I have a 2019 iMac, bought for pennies and upgraded after to max out; way better value than buying the display on its own or a comparable monitor alone. The screen quality is just great.

I use it both as a daily driver and as a "thin client" for all my other machines with the software above.

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romeinaday 11 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

opendisplay - https://github.com/peetzweg/opendisplay - can make a old iMac's screen useful again. In my case, a 2015 27" iMac can be used as a monitor for my modern Mac laptop, connected via ethernet cable.

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evanjrowley an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

I wonder if Apple dropped it because of some proprietary licensed IP, such as Intel WiDi, making the feature possible.

	▲	reverius42 an hour ago \| parent [-]
		They dropped it before the switch from Intel chips; my 2015 iMac could do it (I think) but my 2019 Intel iMac can't.

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dubya 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I think this disappeared with Retina displays.

I'm still using a 2019 iMac 27" and starting to think about Linux again.

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ryandrake an hour ago | parent [-]

I've got a 2014 Retina iMac and a 2017 Retina iMac. Both of them run flawlessly but are now past Apple's support window. And third party software developers are mostly already adopting a "LOL we don't care" attitude about them. The hardware works impeccably, but software developers refuse to lift a finger to make their software run on them anymore. The Apple ecosystem is infuriating. With great sadness, I retired both of them a few months ago and am now running a boring Linux box with a pretty standard DPI monitor. I miss the Macs but their window of usefulness is way too short.

	▲	reverius42 an hour ago \| parent [-]
		My 2019 iMac is actually great with Linux on it. It had some issues (built-in WiFi not working, sleep resume bugs) but Claude fixed them for me.