r/iMac

I have a 2017 27-inch 5K iMac that I still really like, but I wanted to use it as a display for my M3 Pro MacBook.

The usual solution is to open the iMac, remove the logic board and install a third-party display controller. That works, but I really didn’t want to gut a perfectly functional machine just to keep using the panel.

So I ended up building monitorOS: github.com/eriskhan/monitorOS

It boots Linux on the iMac and turns it into a dedicated display appliance.

At this point I have:

• 5K / HiDPI
• Display P3
• native macOS brightness controls
• audio through the iMac speakers
• automatic discovery and connection
• low-latency transport
• one Thunderbolt cable between the Mac and iMac

The iMac stays intact - original logic board, GPU, display, speakers, everything.

It’s still an early release, and right now my tested setup is a 2017 5K iMac with Radeon Pro 580 + M3 Pro MacBook Pro, so I’d especially love to hear from anyone with other Radeon Pro iMacs who wants to try it.

Would love feedback, especially from anyone who has one of these iMacs sitting around unused.

Wanted to do a little setup update for this year. My purple M1 iMac has held up extremely well even 5+ years in; I have been very happy with this machine. I snagged this Satechi desk mat from the Apple Store and thought it matched the vibe pretty well. I also added a 10TB LaCie 1big Dock with Thunderbolt 3. This thing is sweet and hope to have it for years to come. 

The newest and most interesting addition is this BenQ iScreenbar monitor light bar. I have never had a light bar, but I don’t have a desk lamp in this setup and thought this would be a nice alternative. I love a good accessory that is designed for a specific product (as seen by the purple Hyper USB-C hub) but this thing was so thoughtfully done. It attaches magnetically to the back of the iMac and has another magnetic cable route. There is NO glare, and I don’t even have a nano-texture display. The capacitive buttons on top are very responsive, and there is also a Mac app that has a lot of granular control. It just feels premium and solid. I also saw they made color matching ones for blue and green, but sadly no purple. However, I think the silver with the white glass on top matches quite well with the white bezels of the iMac. I am new to the monitor light bar world, but this thing is really nice and brings the whole setup together.

I’m hoping to upgrade the iMac sometime next year with the nano texture display, and a VESA mount on an arm, but I am very happy with this for now