There’s a Studio Display inside every iMac
This is what Luke Miani, a youtuber that we have already mentioned on other occasions in which he achieved reliable leaks from computers such as Mac Studio. What Luke wondered is: If the Studio Display is a 5K monitor with a port hub, speakers, and camera, what prevents me from being able to do the same thing using an older iMac 5K as a base?
Miani got to work. In his video, which you can see above, you can see how he disassembles and scraps the insides of an iMac with an Intel chip and a 27-inch 5K screen, tremendously similar to the one with the Studio Display. Hard disk, motherboard, RAM memory modules, graphics card… everything unnecessary is left out.
yes luke you have needed to buy a controller with which you can connect video outputs to the panel. It’s not something you can’t get on eBay, although it has had to accommodate DisplayPort connections and not the newer USB-C cables. Nothing an adapter won’t solve.
In the end, the result is a 27-inch iMac repurposed as a 5K display that includes speakers, a camera, and multiple video output connections for use with more than one device. The total cost, counting the iMac (acquired second-hand) plus the necessary components and spare parts, was $871although Luke counts the money he made reselling the discarded components and lowered the cost to $600.
Quite a challenge for those who have a knack for disassembling devices and want to save money, especially if you already have a 5K iMac lying around that you want to give a new life to. Would you dare?