Use iMac as monitor for XBOX360 or PS3

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Anyone had any luck with this?

There's some (expensive) Firewire adaptors that claim to be able to, and I suppose the lack of HDMI is a massive hindrance.

Any cheaper alternatives out there?
 
From the research that I had done a couple of months ago it seems like there aren't any particularly cheap or particularly good options available at the minute
 
There was a very good thread in this very forum not so long ago. Might be worth digging that out as there are options out there.
 
Yes there is an hdmi to display port box that works on the display port in port. Although the successes I have read about we're all regarding ps3 I don't see why it shouldn't work for Xbox.
 
I think only last years 27" iMac can do this, the 2011 models only allow target display mode for other thunderbolt macs :( although I think it's still possible but only when the iMac is turned off!!
 
I think only last years 27" iMac can do this, the 2011 models only allow target display mode for other thunderbolt macs :( although I think it's still possible but only when the iMac is turned off!!

Didn't realise they had removed this feature on the 2011 models, that's a major fail. With the 27" iMac having one of the best displays on the market you would think they would be using it as a real selling point.
 
Both the new models have it now but only for thunderbolt equipped macs, least from what I've read. They dropped it from the spec too!
 
Both the new models have it now but only for thunderbolt equipped macs, least from what I've read. They dropped it from the spec too!

Seems Kanex are working on a new version for the thunderbolt 27"


Will the Kanex XD work fine with the new iMac's (MC812B/A) via the Thunderbolt port?
Our Kanex XD requires modification to work with the new thunderbolt iMac 27-inch. We are under development of a newer version. Please look out for an announcement soon. In the mean time the Kanex XD still works for iMac 27 2009-early 2011 and also the LED Cinema Display 27-inch.
 
Didn't realise they had removed this feature on the 2011 models, that's a major fail.

It wasn't removed, it was 'enhanced' ;)

A new adaptor should be possible, they just need to convert the HDMI output to displayport and then encapsulate it in the Thunderbolt protocol. Easy, eh?

As somebody pointed out in the iPhone thread, Apple don't really care about third party solutions too much, as there's no revenue in it for them. So anything which breaks a third party product probably doesn't lose them any sleep.
 
It wasn't removed, it was 'enhanced' ;)

A new adaptor should be possible, they just need to convert the HDMI output to displayport and then encapsulate it in the Thunderbolt protocol. Easy, eh?

As somebody pointed out in the iPhone thread, Apple don't really care about third party solutions too much, as there's no revenue in it for them. So anything which breaks a third party product probably doesn't lose them any sleep.

You'd think will Apples love for 'supplying' extra adapter options they would have swooped on this themselves in-house. Maybe it's the thought of people plugging in their blu ray players or playing games that were not purchased from the App Store that horrified them so much.:rotfl:
 
All joking aside, that's probably not a million miles away from the truth (although the Thunderbolt ports are much more flexible than just being display connectors now).

Look at the Mac Mini - perfect media PC with an HDMI port to plug into your TV, aside from one minor detail missing. No DVD drive means no way of playing back DVDs (never mind bluray). But that's not a problem, you can rent or buy stuff from the iTunes store instead and Apple will get their 30% cut. Same with having a nice little self-contained machine running Windows for LAN parties and the like. Any portability is outweighed by the need to bring a USB-DVD drive or seek out no-dvd hacks to let you run more than a few games on it.

Apple seem to becoming past masters at coming up with innovative and neat products that don't quite hit the mark.
 
Apple seem to becoming past masters at coming up with innovative and neat products that don't quite hit the mark.

That depends on the eyes you view the product through.

If you buy an iMac as an external monitor with a PC built in, you'll no doubt be disappointed with your options.

If you buy an iMac as an all-in-one computer that doesn't need a separate monitor, you'll have exactly what you wanted.

Same with the Mac Mini - Buy it on what it is - as a small, light and power efficient computer - and you'll be delighted.

Buy a Mac Mini as a complete computer package that needs nothing more and you'll be disappointed. It's never come with a keyboard or a mouse which are far more fundamental elements to your experience than an optical drive, given the massive shift to online content.

Fortunately there are plenty of other options out there for folk whose requirements aren't met by either product. Not fitting one persons requirements doesn't mean they didn't hit the mark or are bad products, it just means they are not for you.
 
That's a fair point, Rob. Perhaps a better way to put it is that they are starting to remove features that make them less appealing to a wider market?
 
That's a fair point, Rob. Perhaps a better way to put it is that they are starting to remove features that make them less appealing to a wider market?

Oddly, given their popularity, I don't think they have ever appealed to the wider market. Not everyone is comfortable with the idea of an all-in-one and the Mini is just a little bit too odd for most people. I'd dare suggest that your average punter on the street looking for a new computer aren't quite ready for a tiny little silver brick, running OSX with bring-your-own peripherals.

They have their market for sure, a decent sized market at that, but it's not mass market.

But your point is right, of course... the changes they have made certainly wont increase their appeal in the wider market and will put some of their existing market off. The Mini more than the iMac though, IMO.
 
I don't agree. Just look at the MB Air. Released originally as the first Mac without an optical drive, a single USB port and not much else connectivity wise. People turned their noses up as a knee-jerk reaction and today it's almost their most talked about product Mac-wise!

They are trendsetters without a shadow of a doubt and pushing things ahead of everybody else. That's why their so popular.

Who decides when a product or component of a product is end of life? The manufacturer who removes it first and is strong enough to carry it. Apple hits this mark perfectly.

They never did make their decisions based on mass market, that's simply not their style!
 
Most talked about doesn't mean most purchased.
 
That's correct but it was initially not even considered by many and now people are trying to justify if it could become their main machine! It's discussed here regularly...
 
Of course, I'd expect nothing less in the Apple Mac Computer section of a technology forum. And Macbook Air sales are indeed better than ever before (something like a 333% increase over the last year). But that doesn't mean they are outselling everything else, nor are they the common choice for the majority of people buying a laptop, who just want that - a laptop. But this will change for sure, as more and more people realise optical media is a dying breed and portability becomes a higher priority for the majority. The ever increasing demand for Apple laptops will help, along with the lack of a standard Macbook. It's just not quite at the stage where the MBA accounts for mass-market figures, as we were discussing above.
 
NONE of the Macs account for mass Market figures!

The above discussion is about whether the removal of components, such as the option to input an XBox in the OP example, loses them any mass Market appeal. Clearly it's not as popularity is still rising despite such removals.

I think we were all attracted to Macs by them being different to the mass market and we shouldn't complain when they turn things on their head once in a while.
 
Apple didn't remove the ability to input an XBox, it never had it in the first place. And I don't think we, well, certainly not I, were attracted to Macs by them being different to the mass market. That's actually quite an odd reason to spend a couple of grand on a computer IMO. That's what *nix is for, for free too...
 
I think what Rob is saying is that previously, the iMac had the ability to be used as a target display for any device with a displayport output. Obviously that device needs to have Thunderbolt output to be used in the same way. So while it was never advertised as being capable of being used as an Xbox display, some enterprising people worked out a way of doing it, which Apple rendered unusable with the changes to their hardware.
 
What Rob was saying is that it "never had it in the first place" but the proof is in the video albeit with an adapter. The point I was actually making was that it was possible before, but no longer possible now.
 
Yes but with a third party adapter that was made for a display port, so the moment they have updated it for thunderbolt they may be able to do it again.

Further more it never even was submitted to the 'made for mac' programme, so from that perspective it was always a hack. A hack that worked but like with any hack it only works for so long.
 
I agree, and as stated in the vid and my replies, but that's no longer available as per one of the posts above, which I was replying to. The difference being that this time, the cables are a lot more expensive to build with Thunderbolt cables alone being £60 or so at present.

Rob said it never had the ability and thats incorrect, is it not?
 

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