Using a Mac as an External Display for Another Mac
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- Опубликовано: 15 окт 2024
- This is a first pass at trying to come up with a general solution to using a Mac as an external display for another Mac. The idea is to reuse old equipment or supporting more monitors than a Mac directly supports.
My tests show that older Macs can be used as displays for Macs running Big Sur or Monterey. I have further testing to see if it works on older operating systems like Catalina, Mojave and High Sierra.
You can do this using AirPlay if your systems are running Monterey but many would like to use older, and sometimes much older systems as displays for newer systems.
Sorry for the video quality - this is the first time I've done a video using a camera in a couple of years and it took me a while to find a usable mount. The video overall took about 7 hours as I had to install El Capitan on the old MacBook Pro and do multiple takes. At least I learned a lot about doing videos with cameras.
Link to a detailed video describing how to set up a virtual display: • Using a Mac as a Displ...
Saved me a lot, i was about to buy duet display , i don't need it anymore, using my hackintosh desktop and my macbook pro 2009 like a second screen, thank you so much
Forgive my ignorance, but I have not been able to find how to do that first step of creating a virtual display.
It's described in my other video "Using a Mac as a Display For Another Mac" and it's about 15 minutes long.
@@movdqa Awesome…thanks.
We can’t see anything on this video !
Do you mean you can't get it to work or the video isn't visible? This video just shows what it looks like. There's another video that shows you how to do it.
Thanks - this works better than the built-in airplay sharing between my two 5k iMacs (2020 and 2014, both on Ventura). A lot crisper on the 2560x1440 HiDPI setting - despite the same settings on both systems 🤷♂ I couldn't have managed it without your video, and suspect I'll need to refer back for a few times before I work it out myself!
Glad you have it working. I had a 2014 which I sold after buying a Studio but I still miss the 2014. 2020 + 2014 is a nice combination. I do keep an eye on the used market in my area as I'm open to getting a 2015, 2017 or 2020. I refer back to my own videos from time to time - I did several of them for my own use.
Thanks Micheal. There is a missing part in this video. what exactly is a "virtual display"?
There is an icon added in the upper bar, you click it and then you get a menu. What is that menu Micheal? and where can I find it? The resolution is very low and we can't read what's written there. I would love it if you reavel the mystery :) tnx again
That was one of two early videos showing proof of concept. I just added a link in the description section showing how to set up the virtual display. It also describes using Airplay to Mac for newer Macs.
@@movdqa
Got it, thanks. My old mac is a Macbook pro 15 2015 running Mojave and I don't want to install a newer system, so I guess I can't really use it as a monitor ah...
@@BackToFE_OnlyTruth No, you can do it on Macs going back to around 2007 at least. It's possible that you meant to say that but your reply got cut off.
@@movdqa
Do i have to update my system for that to work? Because Mojave does not show any added options after i turn on the screen sharing
@@BackToFE_OnlyTruth That other video explains 4 ways to use another Mac as a monitor. The first two require Monterey as they describe using OCLP. The third describes using Screen Sharing using FluffyDisplay and the fourth describes using Screen Sharing using BetterDisplay. Those two programs allow you to create Virtual Desktops. You can then attach the virtual desktop to the other system.
how did you create the virtual display / change the resolution so they match? I am not even seeing the two monitors in display settings so I am getting stuck early in this process. TY.
See the video with the title: " Using a Mac as a Display For Another Mac "
Can you please explain to me how you create the virtual display. I can't clearly see the menu bar item. Thanks!
You can use the programs, Better Display and Fluffy Display to create the virtual display.
Thanks for the video. Got a quick question pls. If you plug an external monitor to your old Mac, can you share the screen from your new Mac to old Mac external monitor?
Is there any way to connect an iMac Catalina late 2013 to MacBook Pro m1 2020? I don’t think there is but worth asking. I don’t get the option to extend, only mirror via screen sharing and no other free methods work
Target Display Mode is limited to High Sierra on the iMac so you'd have to downgrade. The other Mac is technically limited to Catalina but I've heard from others that it works on later operating systems and Macs beyond the 2019 models. My other video on this describes the methods: 1) install OCLP and at least Monterey on the 2013 iMac and use Airplay to Mac, 2) install Fluffy Display on the MacBook to create a virtual display and then screen share into the virtual display from the iMac or 3) install Better Display on the MacBook to create a virtual display and then screen share into the virtual display from the iMac.
Hello Michael, is this method working with Sonoma? Somehow these steps don't work with the current OS
Hi, has anybody found a solution for when using Sonoma? I don't get the virtual monitor in neither my Macbboks (intel nor M1)
Omg ty I couldn't see what you were doing but when I reminded and listened, it worked!!!
There's a 15 minute video with directions on how to do screen sharing in addition to Airplay to Mac.
I need help, I have a MacBookPro18.4 and I would like to use my old MacBook Pro Mid 2014 as an extension screen, I work with photo editing programs, so I want a fairly fast sharing, I would like to know what I need to make the system work All .
Screen sharing over GB ethernet or WiFi is pretty good for office stuff and watching videos. I do not know if it is enough for what you want to do if it is at high resolutions. You would need to setup a Thunderbolt network if you wanted the best performance and I've not tried this yet though it's something I'd like to try. It requires about $80 in Apple cables though - their Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 bidirectional adapter and their Thunderbolt 2 cable.
At 2:42 the computer sharing goes black and the window appears on the client :(
hey I was wondering if you knew if there was a cord I could use to do this, I wanna run my MacBook Air (2017) off my new m3 mac as a secondary monitor but use the m3 as the powerhouse for both screens, any info would be greatly appreciated, thanks for the video
I'd guess that a Thunderbolt 3 cable would do it but I haven't tried this myself and I don't like recommending things that I haven't tried myself.
2;21 It says not connected at not connected on the left and on the right it when I press share screen nothing happens
I've tested this on a 2007 MacBook Pro, 2021 MacBook Pro, 2010 iMac 27, 2014 iMac 27, M1 mini, M1 Studio, and 2015 MacBook Pro 15. I have not tested it on a MacBook Air but I have no reason to think that it woudn't work.
Hey, So I managed to share my screen with my other MacBook. But It is really like sharing my screen. Not as you have in your video a second extended monitor screen. If I drop down a menu in on one computer it does the same at the screen on the other computer. So I can't use it as a extra mojito. Any idea how to fix this?
There should be a display setting for Extended Display instead of Mirrored Display.
Can I do this on two MBA M2? Do I still need that virtual screen?
You can just use Airplay to Mac for 2 Apple Silicon Macs.
Thank you so much, Michael! This is a great solution!
Hi Michael. Thank you for this video. I am planning on upgrading from a Macbook pro 2015 to a Macbook Pro M2. Curious if this works for these models?
You can screen share from any Apple Silicon Mac to a 2015 MacBook Pro. You can also use Airplay to Mac but you'd have to use OCLP for that. I actually prefer screen share to Airplay to Mac as Airplay to Mac sometimes gets the screen locations mixed up.
Hi Michael! I'm using a 2014 MBP (Big Sur) as the extended monitor for my 2019 MBP running Ventura. Is there a way to connect the two via Better Display only, or does it require this 'screen share' access shown in this video? I was able to get it to work only once using this screen share OS option, but the lag is so much it's not helpful for my video editing needs (FXP). Have been reading the forums etc to no avail. Thanks!
This is more of a solution for office stuff than for video editing as the bandwidth over networks is usually much less than what monitors transmit for data. One way to speed it up is to set up a Mac to Mac network using a Thunderbolt cable. I have not actually tried this out but I've heard that things are a lot better because you can get 10 GBPS or better transfer rates. You would need a Thunderbolt 2 cable and a Thunderbolt 3 to 2 adapter. Apple sells both. It's something on my list to try. The practical matter, though, is that you could get a 2009 or 2010 iMac 27 for probably $25 - $100 and it would be a cheaper solution using TDM than buying the cables. Just not a portable solution. My use case is carrying my 2021 MacBook Pro and using my 2015 MacBook Pro as a second display when I'm at my other residence.
Hi Michael, i just bought the new macbook pro m2, could i use my 2017 macbook pro as my secondary display? ( i even have an old 2011 17inch macbook pro available for external display)
could i use any of the old macbooks as secondary display?
If I could use a 2007 MacBook Pro, then I think that just about anything after that would work. The video "Using a Mac as a Display For Another Mac" shows you how to do it. The approach you would take depends on whether or not your Macs support Airplay to Mac.
can i do this with m1 pro 16 inch with imac 2013 27 inch?
I'm going to do an updated video on this as I couldn't get FluffyDisplay to work on Sonoma.
Can i use macbook m1 as an external monitor for my xbox series s?
I do not know the capabilities of the Xbox.
so is there a way to connect your m1 to another macbook and control it with the other macbook touch pad in keyboard
You have to be more specific in what you are trying to do. Do you want to use one Mac as a monitor for another or use both Macs independently with one keyboard/mouse/trackpad?
@@movdqa ok so I have a M1 Mac mini desk set up but I want to view and control it from my MacBook Air
My M1 Mac mini is on venture my MacBook Air is on Big Sur
@@DavidOlivarez08 You can probably do that with Universal Control.
@@movdqa yup, that's it. You can do it. Thank you sir :)
Works man, much thanks! 😎
How we create a new virtual display? ))
See the video "Using a Mac as a Display For Another Mac". This video was just a proof of concept.
Hey, how to run the virtual monitor app?
I posted another video on how to run the virtual monitor programs. There are two of them. One is called BetterDisplay and the other is called FluffyDisplay. There are links to the programs in that other video.
hey Michael, thanks for the video! it works with my M2 MBA and 2017 13 inch MBA. However, the virtual display on the 2178 MBA seems to be supper laggy, do you know what this could be related to? is there any way to make it look as smooth as yours seems?
Thanks again!
I had this problem too. Did you happen to figure it out?
Are you using third party software or is this through macOS somehow? And what cable are they connected by?
I have a mid-2012 MacBook Pro and 2020 M1 Mac Mini. I was to use my MacBook Pro as a display for my Mac Mini. I don’t need to control it through the MacBook’s keyboard and trackpad or anything like that.
See the video "Using a Mac as a Display For Another Mac" for directions. You can use FluffyDisplay (open source project) to create the virtual monitor. You can also Better Display, another open source project to create the virtual monitor. So you can do this without spending any money.
@@movdqa thank you sooo much for this info & vid, Michael!
thank you so much!
Now show how to use you mac as a external display for a mac that is already a external display for another mac
It's a joke? I didn't see anything what I need to do. Why the author didn't show what he typed
Michael jus curious if this works for MacBook airs ??
Geek,. Get to the f point
Thank you for this video. Your voice and explanation were easy to understand. Some other guy on youtube made a similar video but that guy's voice was awful.
Hi Michael! I'm using MacBook Pro M1 with Ventura OS and M2 with Sonoma OS, I can barely connect a both of them in display settings, but it can only mirror the display, I can't extended it. Could you help me please?
same here. did you solve it?
@@EnriqueAviles Not sure if it helps, but I had the same problem (only seeing mirror option), but the moment I connected it via USB-c cable, the "extended display" option became available. And it remains available now even when I have removed the physical USBC cable.
@@anandsjha thanks. I eventually got it working, but it was a bit too laggy for video editing. Did you find any difference when using it with the usbc connection?
@@EnriqueAvilesMinimal upgrade. There is hardly any difference in the lag whether I am on the usbc or my high speed WiFi. So I think it is a limitation of the airplay system itself. But since I mostly use it for text unlike your use case of video editing, so I am able to manage.