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You can use the iMac Pro with Apple's Pro Display XDR, but only up to 5K

Even though it's not on the list of supported devices...
Stephen Warwick

Pro Display XDRSource: iMore

What you need to know

  • It appears that Apple's Pro Display XDR is compatible with the iMac Pro.
  • The feature was spotted by Thomas Grove Carter of Trim Editing.
  • It will only work up to the 5K resolution of the iMac Pro, not the 6K of display.

It appears that Apple's Pro Display XDR is compatible with Apple's iMac Pro, despite the fact that it is not listed as a supported device by Apple on the product's technical specifications page.

As reported by AppleInsider, over on Twitter, Thomas Grove Carter of Trim Editing revealed the news:

Apple lists the following devices as compatible with the Pro Display XDR, when running macOS Catalina 10.15.2 or later:

Mac Pro (2019) with MPX Module GPUs 15-inch MacBook Pro (2018 or later) 16-inch MacBook Pro (2019) 21.5-inch iMac (2019) 27-inch iMac (2019) Any Mac model with Thunderbolt 3 ports paired with Blackmagic eGPU or Blackmagic eGPU Pro

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Despite the fact that the iMac Pro is not listed, Carter seems to have been able to connect the display to a 5K iMac and run the Pro Display XDR at 5K resolution. As expected, the iMac Pro cannot drive the display beyond its own resolution. Still, 5k looks pretty good...

The report notes that according to support page discussions, the option of any Mac paired with a Blackmagic eGPU is capable of supporting up to 6K resolution with 10-bit color. It further notes:

While the iMac Pro from 2017 without an eGPU cannot drive the full 6K experience on the Pro Display XDR, the discovery that it does so at 5K shows the monitor is still usable with other Mac configurations, albeit not at the highest resolution available.

Apple's new Pro Display XDR was released alongside Apples' new Mac Pro earlier this week.