How many people's 24" iMac is still running strong?

I'm still using my late 2006 white iMac for app development. I bought it new in early 2007 with upgraded 2 GB RAM and 7600 GT GPU.

I took it in for repair just before the 3 years Apple Care was up. They replaced the screen with had a slight buzz when that varied with how high the brightness was set (louder when lower), and replaced the hard drive. They had no 250 GB drives, so they put in a 320, which was useful.

It gets used for many hours most days, yet still runs well. I would love a new iMac, but cannot stand the glossy screens they now have, and don't have the money yet.

johto said:

If you have upgraded you OSX always by updating and not done CLEAN install, i would highly recommend you to do so !

I bet your slownes is mainly to do with the disk performance(fragmented files) and all the weird processes background taking you CPU time.

I know you can upgrade leopard-snow leopard-lion just fine, like i did, but i started to see more frequently slow performance and beachballs.

I had, to this point always just upgraded / restored from time machine.

What i did some time ago, was to backup all my stuff the old school way, and then erased the drive clean, did a fresh install, then manually importing all my media back and reinstalling every software from scratch. This way i had to stop and think "do i really need this and this software?", and also this way i made sure there were no old versions of programs library / preferences bugging eatch other causing "weirdnes".

Gotta say, it was / still is way snappier than the upgrade of upgrade of upgrade. Its just so gradual process of getting your system full of crudd(if you install big sofware many times, differend versions etc). Like mine had many differend versions of Office and Final Cut Studio etc.

I would say, it would be recommend to do a clean install at least after 3 major upgrade (this of course depends how much have you installed differend programs during that time).

Click to expand...

Thanks for taking the time to write some fantastic advice.

I have always wanted to take the time to do a clean install on the iMac especially after installing Lion. My hesitation is losing data or settings on the machine. I have both my iTunes media and home videos on an external drive and a second external for Time Machine. The only thing that resides on the actual hard drive are my applications and photos (14000+) in iPhoto. Beyond the basic applications, I didn't install too many things, as I know it will eventually bogg down the system.

I guess at some point I need to "google" the steps to do a clean Lion install. I was gonna wait until I get the eventual 2012 iMac to mess with my current model to minimize down time.

I like how to mentioned that you manually installed everything. I guess by that you mean importing photos, video, music. I just dont want to lose my setting s doing it this way. I have all my Events, Places, and Faces organized in iPhoto. I also enjoy having my total play count in iTunes. I would hae to lose this. Everything else I can see manually installing.

Two questions for you:
Did you lose anything from iPhoto?
Did you use Time Machine to upload your data after the clean install?

Thanks again for writing and for the feed back.

Looks like I'm in the minority. I have a 2006 iMac that hasn't ever worked as good as I would have hoped. This year I replaced my graphics card for the second time ($300) and bumped the Ram up to 4 Gigs from 2. Still has lots of page outs and will slow way down if I run Safari and Firefox at the same time. Dvd drive failed years ago but it doesn't seem worth replacing. Waiting as patiently as I can for the 2012 iMac.

Moonjumper said:

I'm still using my late 2006 white iMac for app development.

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Have you released any apps?

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imwest said:

Looks like I'm in the minority. I have a 2006 iMac that hasn't ever worked as good as I would have hoped. This year I replaced my graphics card for the second time ($300) and bumped the Ram up to 4 Gigs from 2. Still has lots of page outs and will slow way down if I run Safari and Firefox at the same time. Dvd drive failed years ago but it doesn't seem worth replacing. Waiting as patiently as I can for the 2012 iMac.

Click to expand...

You put $300 into a 2006 iMac?

Tutone said:

Show some love for the 24" iMac my early 2008 model still runs like new,only thing I have had to do was replace the hard drive which I did myself with a 1TB WD Black Label and upgraded the memory to OWC 6GB kit.I purchased the Magic Mouse when released and then the Trackpad which I prefer over the Magic Mouse. I am hoping I added some years to my 24" model by cleaning all the dust out of the fans etc. when I opened my iMac to replace the HHD amazing how much dust collects inside. Lion has run flawlessly for me so far and cannot wait for the Mountain Kitty to arrive. Ok I am done just wanted to show my appriciation for Apple products and how long they last. Thanks

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I have a 2009 24" and it's running as good today as it was the day I bought it. It's never had any defects or needed repair.

I am typing this on a G5 iMac!

I wish Apple would introduce a size somewhere between 21 and 27.

ep2002 said:

Thanks for taking the time to write some fantastic advice.


Two questions for you:
Did you lose anything from iPhoto?
Did you use Time Machine to upload your data after the clean install?

Thanks again for writing and for the feed back.

Click to expand...

No i did not lose anything from iPhoto. Easiest way for you should be to do time machine copy or a 1:1 copy of your internal disk to another disk.

Check out carbon copy cloner if you are interested to do a "old school" 1:1

Making 1:1 backup is always a good thing even if you use time machine backup. With the carbon copy cloner backup, you then have a external backup which can be used also as a full bootable backup. Its never bad to have more than one backup

Anyways...

After you have installed your new clean system and made a new user account, you can use the "migration wizard" program and it will see you have your old time machine backup (this point do not yet start using your old time machine disk as a new backup). From migration wizard you only select music,photos,videos..not any applications or other system settings. This should keep your new system otherwise clean but import your iphoto library(which contains your photos, events, faces etc). Same goes for your itunes library.

I would recommend you to do the time machine route, but remember. Do NOT RESTORE the time machine the normal way.

1) make sure you have current time machine copy of your system Even better if you also have another disk as carbon copy clone 1:1

2) Detach the time machine backup/carbon copy drive(s).

3) Boot your lion installation.

4) Erase the internal disk.

5) Install fresh clean Lion.

6) Create a new account.

7) Install system updates, tweak the basic system settings as you like.

8) Attach your time machine backup disk (when it asks do you want to use it as a time machine disk, answer NO at this current time.

9) Launch the "migration wizard" utility and choose to import from te time machine disk under your last user account.

10) Select music,photos and stuff you want.
This way, migration wizard will copy the old backed up iphoto,itunes library in right place and it will work just fine in your new account. This can also be done "by hand" if not used wizard. You just need to know what to copy and where.

11) After that check that you have all your stuff the way you like and manually copy other stuff if you need to.

12) When you are 100% sure you have all your important stuff off from the old time machine disk, you can use disk utility to erase the old time machine disk and then it asks if you want to start using it as a new time machine disk. You can then answer yes and it will start backing up your current new system.

UPDATE: Oh i seem i missed the point that you have itunes and movies on external.
It should be fine either way. You only then need to worry about the iphoto part when using migration wizard.
Because you have your itunes library already on the external, you only need to tell your new itunes to point to that external library.

You should have your external disk(s) backed up to another externals and disconnect them just to be safe

Reaktor5 said:

I wish Apple would introduce a size somewhere between 21 and 27.

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I agree, such a big gap between 21.5 and the 27.

Re-Install - thanks for the advice, I guess it can apply to any older computer than has not been done in years but wouldn't it be easier to use something like CCC?

1) Use a 2nd external HDD, make a new fresh clone of the internal HDD.
2) Boot from the clone and erase the original internal HDD, run checks on it.
3) Clone back to the internal.
4) Boot from the internal and it's done, all your settings and files should be there like they were before.

The reason I say do a 2nd backup is it leaves you original backup intact in case there is any problems, plus you then have a shinny new HDD to use for extra storage or a new backup HDD.

I've used this some procedure to replace the internal HDD in an iBook years ago for my Mom, she only just upgraded to a new MBP 6 months ago. The only difference was I switched out the HDD with the only I just cloned, but largely the procedure is the same.

Reaktor5 said:

I wish Apple would introduce a size somewhere between 21 and 27.

Click to expand...

Some rumors suggest the forthcoming Retina iMac could be a new line at a new midrange size.

2.4ghz, 4gb ram 24" iMac 2007 still going strong!

Has Lion 10.7 on it. All I do though is basically use Chrome, SZBnzbd+ and VLC.

No plans to upgrade this iMac...hopefully it lasts for another 5 years.

TacticalDesire said:

Have you released any apps?

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Yes, you will see ShootStorm in my signature. My next game has been ready for a while and looks a lot nicer, but I have been talking to publishers about releasing it, although most say they are not interested in shoot-em-ups (eventually say it, hence the delay).

My third app really pushes a lot further. It is based on a board game I designed (I have a publisher for the physical version coming later this year), and I have done everything on my iMac: design, programming, audio and art (even down to my own font).

Even at more than 5 years old, my iMac is still a very capable machine. Pity it won't be allowed to upgrade to Mountain Lion.

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You put $300 into a 2006 iMac?[/QUOTE]

I figured I could sell it for more than $300 if it was working so why not. If the new iMacs had been out, I wouldn't have bothered.

My 2008 24" 8800GS iMac has been great and still runs most stuff well (6GB RAM). No heat or hardware issues (save for the dirty inside screen thing) have caused it problems. Only reason I upgraded is because i tend to run too many things at once and 6GB wasn't cutting it.

iMac 2007, 2.8 extreme, Radeon 2600 Pro, 4gigs of RAM
iMac 2008, 3.06 core2duo, Nvidia 8800gs, 4 gigs of RAM

Both machines are good. I originally owned the 2.8 but gave it to my father when the 27" came out in 2009. It runs excellent and is probably my favorite Mac I ever had. He only uses it for excel, email, word and safari, so it's great for him, glad ML will run on it.

The 3.06 is my mothers, but I think it is time for an upgrade soon. She edits thousands of photos in aperture, and it's starting to show its age. Waiting for the new machines to see if it's worth it this year. Overall though, I felt that the 2007 model was more stable than the 2008. This machine always had some minor issue or a lot of beach balls.

I have an iMac 2007, 2.8 extreme, Radeon 2600 Pro, 4GB of RAM and no issues since purchase. I did upgrade the RAM from 2gb to 4gb (PITA - went through 2 vendors and 3 sets of RAM before got a working set. The 24" is a little big, I'd have preferred 21", but 24 is what they offered. I wouldn't go for 27" if the 24" dies.

I got mine in 2009, still my main Mac at home. Will be replaced by a 2012 iMac, 27" if available.

Well I have two old Macs. My 24 inch just had a hard drive failure while it was still under AppleCare and replaced for free. Glad I had a Time Capsule back-up! I am also running Windows 7 64-bit in BootCamp, which took a bit of effort, but got it done, thanks to the forums. I have an even older MacBook Pro that needed two fans, hard drive, thermal paste and a heat sink. Did that stuff myself and learned a bunch. It is still cheaper to fix them then buy new ones that still do what I need. Just bought my mom a refurbished base 21.5 iMac and my 24" seems to have just as much power to handle the basic things. I would have gone through a couple of PC's by now. My mom wanted a PC, but with BootCamp, she gets the best of both worlds. Apple, please keep supporting our older machines, as they still have life in them.

June 2009 24" iMac.

Not a single problem! Runs great!

And, I'll probably upgrade.

stevenb said:

I would have gone through a couple of PC's by now.

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How?

I have a Mid 2007 24" iMac that runs better than the day it was new, because it has more RAM then when it was new.

I would have sold it but my kids G4 Power Mac was getting a little old so I felt sorry for them and gave them the 2007 24" iMac.

UbuntuFu said:

2.4ghz, 4gb ram 24" iMac 2007 still going strong!

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Same here. Very happy with the value I have got from this machine, especially considering I have had it on pretty well 24/7 since I got it in early 2009 (as a refurb).

My 2008 still running like new.

My main machine is still an early 2008 2.8- have run it through the full cycle of upgrades over the years... 2 to 4 to 6gb mem. 320gb to 1TB to intel 330 180 GB SSD with the 1TB in FireWire. SSD really woke her up (even though it only works at SATA 1.5 speeds). Second the comments about the 24 inch size- always felt that 21.5 was slightly small and with the 27 you have to move your head around to find what you are looking for...

Of note, noticed higher CPU usage on activity monitor after SSD upgrade- suspect the SSD keeps the CPU fed better...