Upcycle an old iMac display with this INSANE mod!

If you want to preorder the DockLite use coupon code Getcrumputing for a discount! Do note that Juicy Crumb is a startup Kickstarter project so I can’t personally guarantee their future operations. Regardless, a very cool project! What do you guys think?

Huge thanks to Brilliant for sponsoring!

I'm looking for a similar mod for my iMac 2017 27" Retina which is not getting the new MacOS and is slow for Xcode now. I want to update to a M2 MacMini and would need a screen. Seems a shame to give up that fab 5K screen on my iMac. Looking around for a screen comparable to my iMac and I can't find anything to match. At least not for stupid money. That would be 27" at 5120x2880 which seems impossible to source.

This is so lovely, I have a 2011 iMac and looking to get a new M2 Mac mini. This would save me a bunch of ₹₹₹

I think regulators should forbid this setup: I think displays that cannot be separated from a computer should be forbidden.

Why wasn't there a switch in the first place, allowing the user to use the inbuilt pc or an external pc?

Have this iMac, but lowest priced version is still $400. Cool project, but not worth the money imho. I understand they put a lot of time and effort in developing this, so it's obviously reflected in the price. You can get a used 27 inch Thunderbolt display for about half the price of this, and it's the exact same screen.

We really need this for the 5K iMac.

Existing orders shipping now!
DockLite
$386.00 – $400.99 ex. GST

Shipping 2024
DockPro
$588.00 ex. GST

Shipping 2024
DockPro +M1/M2
$697.00 ex. GST

Cheaper to just go by a replacement monitor, love the recycling concept everyone should be doing it as best they can, you can buy a pretty decent monitor at lest than half the price as to what is being asked for in this list that's for sure, Nice idea though 👍

Just swap the GPU with another one that is already pre-flashed and abundant online, or buy a generic card and flash it yourself with a process that takes 15 minutes (excluding the GPU swap time)

why won't the 2010 work? can you reference a video on how or if a 2010 would work with this type of mod?

would you be so kind and show the DockPro
M2 to ?

did i miss the link to the Board ? yes i did find it

Is there a board for a late 2009 iMac?

for 400 USD sure....

They need to get ahold of the prices on that stuff. I can buy a new iMac buy the time you get all that together.

So would i be right in saying you cant fully know the screen model number until you disassemble it? Those converters seem really hard to come by. just searching for LTM201M1-L01 from the ifixit tutorial i cant find any except "no longer available" :(

Thank heavens for pc's 😂

This is cool. It would be cooler if it worked with iMacs 5k. It’s also very expensive :(

fyi earth isnt a nation....its a planet with different nations on it :)

lol great vid :)......i gotta ask tho....dude are you colourblind?....i ask because you do not know how to match jackets and shirts at all.

flash news dude if u bake that gpu 150 c for 10 in at oven guess what it works for all the time

At $600 US, it's a stretch to make this worthwhile. For a 5K 27" display, it would be well into "worthwhile" category. For a 2011 unit? Nope. Killer is that the 27"5K units are hard to disassemble... not impossible, just a tad harder. Also, if you value your time as a professional, none of this beats just buying a refurb Mac 5k monitor for $1300 or so. if you value your time at some modest pay rate... ($25-50 an hour), it's still bordering on non-economic to save a 5K display. This kind of stuff takes a day to do, allowing for the inevitable problems that pile up. Great idea, but the upfront costs for a 27" monitor make it less appealing. Not a bad idea, just priced for an ambiguous value. My solution was to pass on my old 27" iMac to a worthy recipient for free, and buy an Apple monitor which I will now use as my main display for the next 8-10 years, replacing the MacMini with progressively more powerful versions as they evolve and make economic sense.

This is so not what I was looking for. I really want to put a newer gpu with more vram into an older imac but they flash special firmware onto the gpu's. I was able to find one that fit into the pci slots but I had to dremel out a piece and I can't get past the white bootloader screen. If I could go from 256mb to 512mb of vram I would be pretty happy. Mine is all supe'd up so I could use it for playing some retro games, but yeah the gpu's on macs are the weak point apparently, and now they've gone full arm processor I don't even know lol. It seems like most of these Imacs are destined to be in the e-waste because noone takes it serious. I have two of them, and one I saved from ending up on the garbage truck. I've painted these old computer purple and gold sparkle and put 2.8ghz cpu's and 6gb of ram. I could have gone 3ghz and 8gb, but it was a lot cheaper this way. They run windows and linux fine, as well. One one of them I use for cloning or managing my steam deck's external storage. I use them for a lot of things, even if they can be sluggish at times.

This is great, but $400 to get a 12 year old LCD panel working is not going to work. Gotta get it under $100. Maybe with volume, since there are thousands of these out there.

Great product but their prices don't make sense. It's cheaper to buy a new monitor.

If I could run a pair of the 5K Macs with a mini, I would be all for this setup. Nice video! I was sitting here actually cleaning my old 2010 27" in prep to back up all my data off the old dude.

I would love to see a headless mac book and a i mac turned into a display setup ❤

Wait... Is this board ran by a Raspberry Pi Pico-W...?
WTF?!?

it's too expensive

The DockLite and DockPro are very expensive for what you get. Upcycling old hardware has some appeal to it, don't get me wrong. But you can get a clean, compact, modern 27" 2560x1440 monitor with much thinner bezels than a 27" 2011 iMac, for the cost of of a DockLite alone. And if you want a decent-enough monitor that's on par with the 2011 iMac's, you can pay half the price. It's a poor value.

Does anyone have a link to re-purpose my iMac just for a second monitor I can’t even get my computer to boot up anymore after I wiped it out

My 2011 27 hasn't died yet. I have the CPU and RAM maxed out. I cleaned and re pasted it last year. I guess as long as it does what I need, if it failed I would just replace the GPU. Another one of the same can be gotten for under $50, or it can be upgraded to another card. Although, if the machine doesn't do what you need it to do, the displays in these machines are beautiful, so this is a great option.

Hi Luke! Hoping you still browse your comment section, as you seem to be the guy to ask the following: i was just browsing for ways to upgrade or jailbreak older imacs, as my old man has a 2010 model, that's he's quite emotionally attached to, and while still working fine (for now) it started the apparently common issue of not wanting to upgrade..it's currently running High Sierra (10.13.6) and iirc it should at least needs to run Catalina to still support the bulk of apps and prog's my dad needs...

Now, i was watching this and saw you mistakenly got sent that 2010 model, and you had to re-order and re-do, so i have to ask: this doesn't work on pre-2011 models? I was hoping it was, but so far everything pre 2011 seems really difficult to upgrade, both in software and hardware. I am somehwat savvy with regular PC;s but a total newb on the whole Apple scene: in a nutshell, should i go for it and try and make his machine fit for another few years, or just try finding a 2011 one and doing the whole shebang on that model?

We are but humble folks, and have limited budgets, so anything over 200 bux for a chance of a revival would be risky - hence my first thought was to buy/build a mini PC for around 200/300, with touchscreen, so he could use that as a portable proxy and if need, hook it up to the Apple, but i'm not even sure that's a possibility...

Lotta Q's for a new sub, i know, and not really expecting an answer, but hey!

At current price of the juicy crumb board and ships only in 2024, get a cheaper brand new 4k monitor instead omg

Luke, wouldn't LUNA or DUET do the same thing now....As I posted below in a weak attempt at humor BUT what I stated was true with respect to owning all of that stuff...plus a lot more...if interested in the reasons, etc email me and be happy to explain.... Any case, I purchased my first PC or Microsoft run computer for personal use or gaming/flight sims less than a year ago....I used PCs exclsuively for work and Apple's ecosystem for personal all the way back starting with the Commodore 64 ...Yep, I'm old....Having all of these PC's, servers, MacBook Pro's, mabook Airs, Ipads, etc I was certain I could figure out how to upgrade or to use as a 2nd monitor or a 3rd monitor...connect my iMacs to the new PC I built/had built...the 2011 iMac is a 21.5" and the 2010 is a 27 "....TDM only works on the 2010 model...2011 iMac TDM only works on the 27" models...even so, the 2011 iMac is actually functional to perform simple task such as accessing Adobe or word files...watch or stream something but I wanted to use to extend my workspace which is now a Windows Operating System (Windows 11)....The 2010 internal drive is about dead and it does take forever to load but I can boot and open my apple account...however, I can not get it to engage TDM...probably doing something wrong with the PC but as stated prior...being in the Apple exosystem for 30+ years I can use Terminal without having to do any research on what to search for or enter...same can not be said for Windows...I know how to navigate but compared to Mac's logical processes IMO...most of Window's processes are far more complicated than they need to be or should be...nevertheless, it is what it is....

I will take a peak at juicy Crumbs and while this video was posted 9 months ago or so I did subscribe and will search through your videos and playlist...If ever need another iMac or old laptop...depending on circumstances perhaps wouldn't cost either of us anything...or perhaps can share an idea with you that I beleieve would create a demand in a specific niche PC community....but that's all for another day...enjoyed your vid...Take Care
ps. apologize for the typos and rambling...I'm old...it's late...I'm tired....and honestly I don't care...am sincere about having a good day however!

Need to check in the attic for the old iMac but I think it is from 2004-2005 😅 wonder if something can be done

expensive thou
i mean the board around 500 and i have to risk to break everyting in a flimsy diy ? cut the cost of the board..

I’ve just bought an iMac 27” late 2009 to turn it into a monitor. Can you please tell me how I identify the correct video controller to buy? So far, from about this Mac, I’ve identified it’s an LCD 2560 x 1440 ((QHD/WQHD - Wide Quad High Definition) screen. But do I have to strip it to find the actual controller to order? I’m a Brit, based in Germany. Help! Thanks in advance.

instead of just invest money to separate monitor and PC, they buy monoblock and trying to fix this error to invest enen more money to it.
nice.

genius!!!

What juicycrumb is doing is a great project, the only thing I would mention is the price for the docklite board.
if a Dell 35" curved (4k, 140Hz) costs $280 and then this board costs almost $400, I would say that it might not be the best solution for someone who is on a budget.

long story short please

I love the beginning how it just sounds like an ad

Awesome refit!! Can same be done with a 2007 27" iMac. I just purchased an M2 Mac Mini (waiting on del’y) and would like to convert the old iMac for the display.

The one I got is giving the issue that's why I'm here I want to make a little screen I can take on long road trips or camping.

Unfortunately the cheapest board is €200, with that you can buy another perfect working one from cex with year warranty😅

It's very cool but the boards are too expensive.

Target display mode on the 2011 is VERY limited. Only works with macbooks/mini's released between 2011 and 2019. My new Mac Mini 2 can't use target display with my 2011. Ugh....

LMAO What iMac has EVER been cleaned inside on a regular basis ??? Not designed to be ! Too bad this can't be done with a 2017 27" Retina Intel iMac. Of course, mine is still running fine. Will be upgrading to something M2/3 this year, maybe. Really want a new M2/3 27" iMac......grrrr. Not getting a 24" iMac, there are "too many" of them in the Apple refurblished store is a 2nd big reason not to.

Can I connect this to my PS5