A 27-inch iMac with Retina display sitting on a wooden desk next to a modern MacBook Pro, both screens powered on.
Article
Tuesday April 7th, 2026
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by Maclord

How to Use an Old Intel-Based iMac as a Second Monitor of a Modern Computer

Apple killed Target Display Mode after the 2014 iMac. If you own a 2015 or later Intel iMac that’s gathering dust, there’s no built-in way to plug it in as a dumb monitor for another computer. But the hardware is still perfectly good — that 27-inch 5K Retina panel isn’t something you just throw away.

Here’s how I turned my 2020 iMac 27″ 5K into a second display for both a Mac and a Windows PC, using only software and a cable or two.

Using the iMac as a Second Monitor for a Mac

The trick is a combination of a virtual display on the new Mac and VNC from the old iMac.

Step 1: Create a Virtual Display on the New Mac

Install BetterDisplay on the new Mac. It’s free for basic features; creating virtual screens is included. Open the app, go to Settings > Displays > Overview, and click “Create New Virtual Screen.” Choose a resolution that the old iMac supports natively — for a 27″ 5K iMac, you’ll want 5120×2880 if your network can handle it, or something more modest like 2560×1440 if it can’t.
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Article
Saturday November 21st, 2009
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by Maclord

How to maximize Safari windows to full-screen on the Mac? * updated *

One of the most annoying and frustrating thing especially for the so-called Windows-converts (i.e. people who “switch to the Mac” from Windows) on Mac OS X is that the maximize button (the small round green button with a ‘+’ sign on the upper-left corner of every window) acts differently on Mac than Windows in most cases. In fact, the maximize button behavior varies from application to application on the Mac, and unlike on Windows, it does not necesseraly maximize the window, but just change its dimensions. (See below and the rest of the article for details and for a couple work-around solutions to making windows full-screen on web browsers such as Safari).

On windows , the maximize button – where the term “maximize” is inherent from Windows operating system anyway – simply enlarges a window to almost full screen except that the window’s title bar, menu bar and the task bar remains visible and the remaining space is allocated to the window and its contents. On the Mac, however, this may not exactly be the case – especially when using Safari.
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Article
Saturday July 25th, 2009
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by Maclord

All About VNC

Vnc_logo

What is VNC?

VNC stands for Virtual Network Computing, and it is a desktop sharing system with a graphic user interface which allows you to connect and control a remote computer over a network or the Internet. Thanks to the RFB (Remote Frame Buffer) protocol it’s using, VNC applications send the keyboard and mouse events to a remote computer on the network (or the Internet) who’s screen is being shared, and it relays back the updates.

RFB (Remote FrameBuffer) is a simple protocol and since operates at the framebuffer level, it can be used on all operating systems with a GUI including Windows, Macintosh (Mac OS X) and Linux. Although RFB started as a very simple protocol used by VNC and its derivatives, it has been improved so as to support file sharing, advanced compression and security techniques in its development cycle.

Why VNC is used and How

With VNC you can display the screen of a remote computer on your own computer in a window or in full screen mode, and using your own keyboard and mouse on this screen, you can control that remote computer as if you are sitting in front of it. All actions taken on the view of the remote desktop on your computer are performed actually on the remote computer itself.

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Article
Friday May 1st, 2009
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by Maclord

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285 coming to the Mac In June 2009

nvidia-gtx-285It looks like NVIDIA supports the Mac hardware more and more than ever:

According to Engadget(.com) GeForce GTX 285 graphics accelerator card will be available for Macs the beginning of this summer (expected to be shipping June 2009).

The GeForce GTX 285 takes DirectX 10 to gaming beyond HD with a top of 2560×1600 resolution.