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

Pro Display XDR
Pro Display XDR (Image credit: 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

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.

Stephen Warwick
News Editor

Stephen Warwick has written about Apple for five years at iMore and previously elsewhere. He covers all of iMore's latest breaking news regarding all of Apple's products and services, both hardware and software. Stephen has interviewed industry experts in a range of fields including finance, litigation, security, and more. He also specializes in curating and reviewing audio hardware and has experience beyond journalism in sound engineering, production, and design. Before becoming a writer Stephen studied Ancient History at University and also worked at Apple for more than two years. Stephen is also a host on the iMore show, a weekly podcast recorded live that discusses the latest in breaking Apple news, as well as featuring fun trivia about all things Apple. Follow him on Twitter @stephenwarwick9