How well has your old iMac held up?

bobright said:

I will be a first time Mac owner hopefully very soon with the new iMac release around the corner. I am looking to spend a good amount of money on one and HOPE I can at least get a good 5 years or so life out of it. I have got that out of all my previous PC's hopefully can get around the same out of a Mac.

How has your guys held up over the years?

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I owned an Early 2006 iMac. I replaced in January 2011 with a Mac mini Server that I used as a non-server Mac, running the client version of Snow Leopard and to last me until I bought my 2012 15" non-retina MacBook Pro (the plan is to sell the Mac mini Server having used it primarily as an interim machine). Really, had I been able to easily upgrade the hard drive on said iMac, I would've done so instead of buying a Mac mini to use for an interim. The lack of user-servicability in this machine is downright maddening. Thankfully, much unlike my iMac and my Mac mini, I can very easily change out the hard drive on my MacBook Pro should I ever want to upgrade.

Me too

Payton said:

I have a 2005 iMac G5 20'' that still works great. This was my first Mac.

It runs Leopard and the hard drive was replaced a couple years back, but it has no issues. I gave it to my mother and she uses it daily. For her purposes, it works just fine.

Even as a user of Mountain Lion, it still feels current. Albeit missing a few visual cues and minor features. Possibly my biggest "hope" for the 2012 revision would be the return of the removable back. I know this is unlikely. I just loved being able to service the computer on my own…


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I have the exact same imac except mine is a 17"

My late 2008 24" iMac died on me (the logic board failed) about 5 months ago.

It was my first Mac ever and I've been extremely happy and satisfied about it. I used to build my own custom PCs before and I basically had to reformat it once or even twice every year and sure, while I could upgrade them every now and then to keep them updated and all, I've never been really satisfied with a custom built PC. It has always been somewhat time consuming to keep them feeling "fresh" and I've never had that problem with the iMac.

It just works - until the piece of **** decides to die on you for no reason.

Why do "logic boards" die?? Happened to a lot of MacBook Pros. Shouldn't happen!!

I have a 24" 2006. The superdrive failed years ago. I have also replaced the graphics card twice and recently bumped the ram up to 4 thinking it would help me make it to the next upgrade. The computer runs like crap and will almost freeze up if you have two different web browsers open at one time. Can't wait to replace it. My 2003 PowerMac on the other hand still runs like a champ. If apple still supported it, I wouldn't be replacing it on this upgrade cycle too.

I have upgraded to 8GB RAM in my Early 2009 20" iMac. I am going to purchase a Western Digital 1 TB Green Drive tomorrow to install in place of the stock 320GB drive. I have the Mountain Lion installer saved to an SD card. If I replace the hard drive straight from the box, will I be able to use a USB card reader to install Mountain Lion on the new hard drive? I have things saved on Time Machine but I don't want to have to buy an adapter to copy the old hard drive unless it was absolutely necessary...

Model Name: iMac G5
Model Identifier: PowerMac12,1
Processor Name: PowerPC G5 (3.0)
Processor Speed: 1.9 GHz
Number Of CPUs: 1
L2 Cache (per CPU): 512 KB
Memory: 2.5 GB
Bus Speed: 633 MHz
Boot ROM Version: 5.2.6f1
Serial Number (system): xxxxxxxxxxx
Hardware UUID: 00000000-0000-1000-8000-001124E69A2E

2005 PowerPC G5 iMac (No Intel)

2.5 gigs of RAM. Still runs like a charm but watching Youtube videos etc can be a bit time consuming when they buffer. Also I can hear the fans kicking on almost non stop now. It's on its last legs for sure but it's held up pretty darn good. Haven't replaced anything except added more RAM to it.

Nearly 8 years and hangin' in.

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lol I guess someone bumped this old thread.

iMac mid-2007 24"
4Gb RAM
500GB HDD

Got this refurbished unit at apple store around 2008. Put new memory. It ran for 3 years no problem before the hdd died. It was an easy upgrade - just followed ifixit on youtube. Upgraded to the current 500GB.

It runs great. Very stable for downloading. I am on Mountain Lion with OSX server. And I also have Parallels with Win XP on it. Still running fine. the Superdrive is a bit erratic but hardly used.

I just wish I can it had an input for video so that if it ever dies I can use it as big monitor. But it was an amazing value as a desktop.

17" late 2006 2.0GHz,2 gigs ram,160 gig hd,lion 10.7.5...Mint condition bought this year from craigs for $160.

Runs great,almost dead silent,screen is perfect (love matte screens) no backlight crazy bleeds,or any of the issues i hear about the latest models.

Guess only downside is i can't run mountain lion.

my 2008 (8.1) 24" 2.8 Core2 duo with 4gb ram has always and still is faultless, my q key on the keyboard is sticking a bit since I dripped tea on it the other week but thats the sum total of defects in all this time on a machine that's used everyday for photoshop and webwork etc.

Pretty good -but the end is in sight

I have a VERY early 2006 iMac (ordered Jan 2nd or 3rd of 2006), whihc I still use on a daily basis, and still prefer as my "main" computer. It runs Snow Leopard, and is slower than my MacBook Pro ( 2012 ) but I still like it better - probably the screen, and it is where I do most of my work. I did replace the hard drive after a failure in late 2009, and also replaced the disk drive ( i now have a 1.5 TB drive in it) at the same time ( it had problems ejecting discs, not reading/writing). I have never had any other problems. I am in the midst fo debating getting another iMac, or a Mac Mini. I do like having a disc drive, and have a few FireWire devices, and have utilized the "audio input" on my old iMac more than a few times - which makes me SLIGHTLY hesitant to get the new iMac ( hence my fascination with the new Mac Mini) but it was definitely my lan to repalce it with another iMac. Things are getting slow, software that is compatible is getting slightly more difficult to find ( nothing major, but I can sense the way the wind is blowing) If and when I do replace it, it will not go to the scrap - heap, but rather be given to my children to use as a homework and general family computer ( although they may hasten its demise significantly)

2001 17 inch 1ghz Imac

I have a 17 inch 1ghz Imac with 1 gb ram. I am using it right now to post this. It is running 10.4.11 with the TenFourFox browser.
I bought it new in 2001. I used it for Final cut pro 4.5HD video work and later ran an apache webdav server with it and crunched seti data at night. In 2004 I upgraded the hard drive to 200gb and used various external firewire hard drives and dvd burners as well as presonus firewire preamps for recording guitar tracks. The kids trashed the original mouse and the cd drive broke around 2007.
Before this Imac I used a 1998 strawberry Imac running at 266mhz! The 1998 Strawberry Imac's computer still works but the crt monitor died in 2009. I can hear stuff but can't see what i'm doing. It sits on the shelf now.
I also have a dell gx270 running hackintosh 10.6.8, which is pretty slow and mostly a test/experiment. I now use an HP ProBook 4530s I5 8gb ram, running Hackintosh 10.7.5 , Windows 7 64bit and Backtrack 5 r3 Kali linux 64 bit in a tripple boot configuration.
My computer history:
1.1978 tv ping-pong console Black and white of course.
2. 1980 Atari 2600 game console
3. 1983 Commodore VIC20 4mhz with 2k of ram!!
4. 1985 Commodore 64 8mhz 64k of ram!!
5. 1988 A 1986 Commodore Amiga 500 8mhz with 4mb of ram. Upgraded to workbench 2.4 in the early 1990's before commodore went bankrupt. I would still be using Commodore if they were in business today. This mouse driven GUI was way ahead of anyone else. 1024x768 interlaced resolution in 1988!! Took 19 minutes to draw a screen at that rez. It was a great computer and I used it 'till 1998 when I bought the Strawberry Imac. The Amiga 500 was still working as of 2002 but now I have lost it, it got me through college, my gratitude goes to it and the world book encyclopedia.
6. 1998 Strawberry Imac 266mhz with 768mb ram. Unreal game looked great, first time I saw water effects that looked almost real.
7. 2000 gateway PC with windows 98 HATED IT! After dealing with virus's and defective hard ware I gave it to my sister, I refused to take her calls on how to fix virus troubles.
8. 2001 Imac 17 inch 1ghz. The Lamp post/R2D2 with the swivel display. Awesome computer, has lasted up to this day. I am using it to type this.
9. 2009 I made a hackintosh from an old donated Dell GX270. I made another from a dell GX280 and GX620. All worked well but had a few glitches and a couple incompatibilities, which led me to the latest so far...
10. HP ProBook 4530s I5 4-core 2.5ghz with 8gb ram and a 1TB drive tripple boot with OS 10.7.5, Windows 7x64 and Kali linux x64. Works 99% like a real mac book pro 8,1.

Well, this is basically a two year old thread that I replied to then, but might as well revise. All three of those iMacs I had then (now 6, 5 and nearly 5 years old) are still running and in regular use. The 6 year old one did have its HDD replaced and the nearly 5 year old one had it's HDD replaced under recall. The older iMacs (now 8 and 10 years old) are also still in use.

talmy said:

I've had more problems with functional obsolescence than hardware failure.

17" G5 iMac, purchased 12/04, died in 2011 when power supply capacitors failed (a known issue with computers in that era). Gave to friend who replaced the caps. It's still running in light duty use.

20" C2D iMac, purchased 11/06, gave away 2/10. Had display failure when I had it (fixed under Applecare). Had hard disk failure since.

1 4 year old iMac and 2 3 year old iMacs (27" and 24") all still running, no repairs.

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Glad you got that iMac. My own of the same model is still running very well. I hope to keep it for a few more years.