I have a MBP 16 m1 max and a late 2014 iMac 27. The first one has thunderbolt 4 (usb-c) ports and the second one - thunderbolt 2 (mini DP) ports. Is there any way I can setup a thunderbolt bridge and what cable/adapter I should use?
Earlier Mac models
For the physical cabling, you could use an Apple Thunderbolt 3-to-2 adapter and a Thunderbolt 1/2 cable. Then you would need to set up IP-over-Thunderbolt (a.k.a. Thunderbolt Bridge) on both Macs.
Use IP over Thunderbolt to connect Mac computers - Apple Support
Note that this could let you do networked file sharing between the Macs, but it would not let you use the 27" iMac as a Target Display Mode display for the 16" MBP.
Use your iMac as a display with target display mode - Apple Support
There is a product called Luna Display whose USB-C version might let you reuse the 27" iMac as a second display for the 16" MBP. However, even with a Thunderbolt connection between the two Macs, this would not be as good as a real hardware connection, and I believe you would be limited to refresh rates of 30 or 45 Hz if you wanted to use the iMac's full 5K resolution,.
For the physical cabling, you could use an Apple Thunderbolt 3-to-2 adapter and a Thunderbolt 1/2 cable. Then you would need to set up IP-over-Thunderbolt (a.k.a. Thunderbolt Bridge) on both Macs.
Use IP over Thunderbolt to connect Mac computers - Apple Support
Note that this could let you do networked file sharing between the Macs, but it would not let you use the 27" iMac as a Target Display Mode display for the 16" MBP.
Use your iMac as a display with target display mode - Apple Support
There is a product called Luna Display whose USB-C version might let you reuse the 27" iMac as a second display for the 16" MBP. However, even with a Thunderbolt connection between the two Macs, this would not be as good as a real hardware connection, and I believe you would be limited to refresh rates of 30 or 45 Hz if you wanted to use the iMac's full 5K resolution,.
Thank you very much for your help! Yes, I know about the target display mode and about Luna Display. But I was thinking of Duet Display software. As I heard it should be stable with wired Thunderbolt connection and should provide 60 hz refresh rate.
Mac-to-mac thunderbolt bridge
