5K iMacs Can’t Be Used As Standalone Displays

With Apple’s iMac being updated to sport a whopping 5K display, we’re sure many are wondering – could the Thunderbolt Displays be next in line to receive a similar upgrade? And if not, will the iMac be usable as a standalone display? Well the answer to both those questions would be no.

It was recently noted by TechCrunch’s Matthew Panzarino that the new iMacs with 5K resolution will not be able to double up as a standalone display. This means that you won’t be able to hook your laptop up to it, or hook it up to another computer for a dual display setup. It has been suggested that due to the custom hardware used to make the iMac and its display that it might not be compatible with other computers as an external display.

Apple has yet to confirm or deny these claims. As for a Thunderbolt Display with a 5K resolution, this is out of the question as well due to bandwidth limitations. This is due to the DisplayPort 1.2 standard used on Apple’s Mac computers, meaning that none of Apple’s other computers will have the capability of driving a 5K external display.

Perhaps that could and possibly will change in the future with Mac computers adopting the DisplayPort 1.3 specification, but until more Mac computers adopt that specification, we suppose it doesn’t make sense for Apple to release a 5K Thunderbolt Display on its own for now.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Apple, Computers
Tags: iMac