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

Early '09 running smooth. Upgrading the RAM to 8GB breathed new life into it (Aperture was causing it to chug with 4GB).

I did have to replace the logic board two years ago, but it was well worth it.
 
bought a 2nd hand, 24" 2008, 3.06ghz with the 8800gs, 1tb, 4gb etc about 8 weeks ago and i have to say as my first imac im impressed, couldnt afford a new one, but i only use it for itunes and web browsing, my macbook does all the harder stuff. im aware of the issues with the gpu in this model however this one runs very cool, and i dont play games on it, when its on its on all day, so im not constantly heating it up and cooling it down tohelp prevent the thermal issues with the solder on the gpu. love it, now saving for a 2011 era iMac as i love that 27" screen
 
I still have my early '09 24" 3.06GHz that I've installed purely Win7 on and I have it at my office as a main workstation.
It gets used 7am-7pm Mon-thurs and hasn't skipped a beat.
 
I wonder how many people's 24" iMacs that were running strong when this thread was started are still running strong? 🙂

For the record, my wife's 2009 and my daughter's 2008 24" models are both still running strong. Our older 17" G5 and 20" C2D iMacs have been given to friends and are still running, but are not as strong.
 
Mine still is. It's going on 4 years and 7 months old now. Actually running "better than new" as I 1.) now have 6GB of RAM vs. the 2 that it shipped with, 2.) have a 240GB SSD in place of the stock 320GB HDD, and 3.) created a home-made Fusion Drive with my internal SSD and a 2TB external FW800 HDD. I so much want to upgrade to new technology, but can't quite justify it yet. For what I use it for (Aperture, iMovie, Garageband, documents, web surfing, etc.) I find no fault with it. I also have a 2012 MBA that is shared with my wife and son, and the user experience on my iMac is just as good. Besides, I'm still trying to decide whether I want a new iMac, or go the Mini route with maxed out processor, self-installed RAM and self-installed FusionDrive. They benchmark out pretty good, and my graphics needs are not very high, although I would like to "graduate" from iMovie to FCPX, which I can't do on my iMac.
 
24" still ok

I have an early 2008 iMac 2.8G core 2 duo still going 'strong'. It was maxed out to 6GB RAM a few years back, and recently the 500GB HDD was swapped out for a 240GB SSD.
Am slightly disappointed with the SSD. Apart from the Aperture library, all data is on external drives, so when an application is launched, the initial response is good, but then everything pauses while the external drive whirrs into life. Not an issue with the machine itself, but an inevitable consequence of not having everything on the SSD.
Another slight niggle is occasionally when the iMac goes to sleep, it shuts down the bluetooth module so is impossible to wake up with a bluetooth keyboard and mouse. A USB mouse is needed to do a complete power-down/reboot to get things back to normal.
Apart from Aperture which seems to spend more time 'processing' when doing lots of quick actions and so a pause is necessary for it to catch up, everything else still runs fine under Lion. However, will probably upgrade to a MacMini / Thunderbolt display in the near future 🙂
 
Zarkone said:
Am slightly disappointed with the SSD. Apart from the Aperture library, all data is on external drives, so when an application is launched, the initial response is good, but then everything pauses while the external drive whirrs into life. Not an issue with the machine itself, but an inevitable consequence of not having everything on the SSD.
Click to expand...

See my post above yours regarding my experience in a home-made FusionDrive. I too was experiencing the "lag" between when an app launched, and when it was usable, due to the external HDD spinning down or just the latency in it being an external drive. Even though my FD is a hybrid internal/external, the important-to-have files have all been migrated to the SSD so I get no delay when launching apps.

Another possible solution is to keep the drive from spinning down. I have used an applet called "Keep Drive Spinning", which goes out to each drive you specify and "touches it" by writing to it once a minute. This keeps it from ever spinning down, as some drives' firmware over-ride your energy management preferences.

You can find that here:

http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/31158/keep-drive-spinning

Also wanted to add - my experience with Aperture has been that with 6GB of RAM, the most updates to Aperture 3, and then going to Mountain Lion (with having the Library on the SSD and my masters referenced on a FW800 drive) has been my best experience ever. It is pretty fast with minimal lag. I only experience lag when using lots of brushes. My page outs have been reduced dramatically. I am processing D300 RAW files (12MB - 14MB each).
 
Other than a slightly iffy inverter my iMac 2008 with the 8800GS is still running along fine.

Still a fantastic machine, more than happy with its performance.
 
My early 2009 is fine now. Had to replace the video card back in June though. It's a little sluggish sometimes in LR4, but otherwise, it's fine.
 
Mike in Kansas said:
See my post above yours regarding my experience in a home-made FusionDrive. I too was experiencing the "lag" between when an app launched, and when it was usable, due to the external HDD spinning down or just the latency in it being an external drive. Even though my FD is a hybrid internal/external, the important-to-have files have all been migrated to the SSD so I get no delay when launching apps.

Another possible solution is to keep the drive from spinning down. I have used an applet called "Keep Drive Spinning", which goes out to each drive you specify and "touches it" by writing to it once a minute. This keeps it from ever spinning down, as some drives' firmware over-ride your energy management preferences.

Also wanted to add - my experience with Aperture has been that with 6GB of RAM, the most updates to Aperture 3, and then going to Mountain Lion (with having the Library on the SSD and my masters referenced on a FW800 drive) has been my best experience ever. It is pretty fast with minimal lag. I only experience lag when using lots of brushes. My page outs have been reduced dramatically. I am processing D300 RAW files (12MB - 14MB each).
Click to expand...

Hi Mike in Kansas,
Thanks for the reply. I guess your energy bills are cheaper in Kansas - I have 6 external drives (don't ask !) and would not like the thought I was paying the electricity company for spinning disks whilst I was out at work.
As for Aperture, I also process D300 RAW files and after active use with the brushes, things can get a bit laggy. Now I let it catch up and then resume work as in the past Aperture has occasionally just locked up. After relaunching, all the edits are still there fortunately ! The library is on the SSD, and the referenced masters are on an external 2TB FW800 drive.
Now you've got me thinking about your hybrid FD approach, but maybe I should upgrade to Mountain Lion first....
 
Zarkone said:
Hi Mike in Kansas,
Thanks for the reply. I guess your energy bills are cheaper in Kansas - I have 6 external drives (don't ask !) and would not like the thought I was paying the electricity company for spinning disks whilst I was out at work.
As for Aperture, I also process D300 RAW files and after active use with the brushes, things can get a bit laggy. Now I let it catch up and then resume work as in the past Aperture has occasionally just locked up. After relaunching, all the edits are still there fortunately ! The library is on the SSD, and the referenced masters are on an external 2TB FW800 drive.
Now you've got me thinking about your hybrid FD approach, but maybe I should upgrade to Mountain Lion first....
Click to expand...

I definitely understand the power bill aspect! I work from home, so even if I am using my work Wintel PC for work stuff, my iMac has Spotify streaming and browser windows open for work, so it gets about 12+ hours of use a day on weekdays.
 
Early 2008 Duo Core 24 inch with 4GB memory. Runs like a champ: ML + a couple of VMs. May max it out with 6GB memory soon (if it'll take it) to improve the VM performance. Other than that, I'm still thrilled to use it. Betting the next version of OS X may not run on it, given the way Apple is desupporting older hardware now, but I won't care - I'll just hang with ML as long as I can. My 24 rocks!
 
24" imac still kick'n

My 2.93 Ghtz 24" imac is still running like a champ. I put an OWC 8 gig ram kit in it and it runs as good as the day it was brand new. Hell it even runs Final Cut Pro X ok. I'm looking at buying a new(er) machine soon but I won't be getting rid of this one at all.
 
My parents 24" iMac is still going strong too! Almost never used so it's like brand new. I always tell them I can take it off their hands 😀
 
My 2008, 3,0 GHz, died a few months back. The 8800 GS died. I suspect dust killed the effectiveness of the fans. This happened gradually over the years, and I started noticing worse performance 1-1,5 years after usage, and then it got worse and worse. I stopped video editing in 2010, and stopped gaming a little bit later. Shame.
 
24" iMac

Considering that, most of your 24" iMacs are running perfectly, I can buy a second hand one with 1 TB HDD and 4 GB DD2 Ram at a price of around 900 USD.

I'm using a very old desktop computer atm and not using it for games (it wouldn't work also 😛 ). So, for a daily use and a bit for photo editing, would you guys suggest me this old -rock solid- computer?

Thanks,
Wolfied
 
wolfied said:
Considering that, most of your 24" iMacs are running perfectly, I can buy a second hand one with 1 TB HDD and 4 GB DD2 Ram at a price of around 900 USD.
Click to expand...

Price seems high to me. $700 looks more like it. Consider that you can get a 2012 refurbished 21.5" iMac with twice the RAM and much greater speed and a warranty for $1100.
 
i never had a 24", but my 21" from 2009 is doing well. i just upgraded a few months ago because i wanted a little more speed, but the old imac has become my kids' primary computer.
 
wolfied said:
Considering that, most of your 24" iMacs are running perfectly, I can buy a second hand one with 1 TB HDD and 4 GB DD2 Ram at a price of around 900 USD.

I'm using a very old desktop computer atm and not using it for games (it wouldn't work also 😛 ). So, for a daily use and a bit for photo editing, would you guys suggest me this old -rock solid- computer?

Thanks,
Wolfied
Click to expand...

I have a 24" 2008 iMac; $900 sounds pricey to me as well. I'd have a tough time shelling out that kind of money when I could buy a refurb Mac Mini and NEW decent external monitor for just a little more. The monitor may not be as good as the iMac monitor was when new, but it has 5 years' less usage on it. My monitor has definitely developed a bit of banding and some yellowing; not enough to be a distraction, but enough to show its age.

I would also be concerned that the 2007/2008 aluminum iMacs with ATI gfx cards WILL NOT be supported with the next OS update.
 
talmy said:
Price seems high to me. $700 looks more like it. Consider that you can get a 2012 refurbished 21.5" iMac with twice the RAM and much greater speed and a warranty for $1100.
Click to expand...

You are absolutely right with the price being a little bit up but I can't change the market because I'm not living in US. I wish I have a chance to purchase those 21.5" refurbished and shipped it to Europe.

For daily usage (word/excel) and an a little bit of photo editing, is it a fine computer?
 
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