How do I use my 2011 27" iMac as an external display for a pc?

I just bought a 27" imac for my home, and was also planning on using it as an external display for my work Dell Laptop running Windows 7.
The Dell laptop has a displayport output, so I was planning on getting a displayport <-> minidisplayport cable, and using the iMac in target display mode.
I would simply plug the minidisplay end of the cable into one of the iMac's 2 Thunderbolt ports. Seemed fairly simple.
Except now it seems from what I have been reading that 2011 iMacs DO NOT WORK in target display mode unless they are connected to another Thunderbolt source. This leads to me two questions.
1. Can anyone confirm or deny this? If this is true, does that mean I cannot plug my Dell's displayport into the iMac's Thunderbolt port as I described above?
2. If #1 is true, is there any other option? Are there any adapters that I can use to turn my Dell into a Thunderbolt source for display purposes?
If I can't resolve this I will have to return the iMac
Thanks very much.
David

David,
Sorry you can't use the 2011 iMac as an external display to your PC. The feature you are referring to is called Target Display Mode and works on 2009 & 2010 27" iMacs. The 2011 machines use Thunderbolt as you know however they do support external displays that are not Thunderbolt displays. So for example if you wanted 2 displays on the iMac you can easily do that with either Mini Display port to DVI or MDP to VGA or even HDMI. MDP is the same size as Thunderbolt and this will work fine to drive a display, TV or even a projector.
I'd recommend reading Apple's explanations at Target Display Mode 2009 & 2010 iMacs & Target Display Mode Mid 2011 iMacs.
Using a Mac as an external display for a Windows machine to me seems like a horrible waste of a Mac. Why not enjoy the iMac and if anything run Windows on it and get rid of the PC?

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