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2009 imac, is it worth buying?

perfect__defect

perfect__defect

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 10, 2015
3
0
I'm new to macs and I don't want to blow a ton of money out of the gate. I have someone that is willing to sell me their 2009 27 inch version with the specs below.

3.06 GHz CPU
12 GB Memory
1 TB HD
OS X Yosemite (10.10)

they are asking $900, is it worth it?
Thanks for your reply, I really appreciate it.
 
It helps if you give more information like what are you going to use the Mac for...? iMac might not be best choice depending on your usage...

Personally I wouldn't pay that much for a Core 2 Duo model because used i5 or i7 processor models are much faster and you can probably find 21.5 inc 2010-2011 model in good condition within same price range.
 
Mostly everyday use of browsing the internet and maybe some web design.
Thanks for your thoughts.
 
Consider that you may only have 2 years before the latest OS isn't supported. I just bought a 2011. It's got the smaller screen, but will likely be supported twice as long. In terms of performance, you might have all you need with the 2009, but I don't like having an unsupported OS. A year from now, I wouldn't value it at more that $200, and only that because it has value as a target display. The market would probably pay more, but $900 now is too much.
 
Ebenezum said:
Personally I wouldn't pay that much for a Core 2 Duo model because used i5 or i7 processor models are much faster and you can probably find 21.5 inc 2010-2011 model in good condition within same price range.
Click to expand...

x2
 
Samuelsan2001 said:
Seems a bit much for a dual core to be honest.
Click to expand...
it's not just the "dual core" nature of the beast. It's a Core 2 duo. Not a Nehalem; a sandy bridge. an ivy bridge, a haswell, a braodwell, or a skylake (all of which offered dual core cpus that were faster than this)

A sandy bridge i5 or i3 (circa mid 2011) at least gets you quicksync (allows for airplay, quick video compression, etc)

Plus, there's the whole matter of the video card-- though the HD 4670 might be more useful than some later Intel HD models.
 
Tell your friend that he is dreaming at $900. That is a $400 or maybe $500 if you are feeling really generous. You can do much better for $900. That's 2012 model territory.
 
I found an ebay listing for a similarly spec'ed iMac for $522 but the case was in bad shape. iMacs are good machines but I wouldn't pay more than $600 if in good shape for that one.
 
I sold my 2009 21" iMac last year for $500. It was the same processor, GPU, and HDD, but I only had 10GB RAM. That sat on craigslist for while before I found the right buyer. So while it is a good computer, $900 is too much.

Personally, I sold my iMac and went to a Mini to get away from the all-in-one form. The failure of any of the 6 year old parts meant a very expensive repair. Now I can easily upgrade or replace any component at any time.
 
Aside from the price (I don't know what is fair), just wanted to chime in to say my buddy has the same iMac - 2009 - upgraded to El Capitan last week - and still works fast and flawless. He does the same stuff as you.

Honestly - even if that year Mac isn't supported for too many more years with new OS upgrades - it will still work fine for many years after that just fine. IF you're not surfing sketchy sites or answering emails about gold in Africa you don't need to worry much on a Mac :) Good luck!
 
Ridiculous price, its an 7 year old computer. Not gold.

If you are willing to spend $900 you should be able to find something more recent...
 
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Agreed with everybody else here, they're wanting almost double the price that it's worth. Furthermore with the age of the machine it's likely that the HDD's on its way out or at least slower than it was, simply from wear-and-tear on the platters.

For $900 you could easily get a good spec Mac Mini or MacBook Air, both of which would outperform that machine. The Core 2 Duos have half the performance of even the 1.1GHz Retina MacBook Core M; that's how far CPU technology has come.
 
You've gotten good information here. I paid $900 almost two years ago for a 27" late 2009 quad-core i7 iMac, because I wanted something that could run MacOS as far back as 10.6. I don't need that capability now, but I'm kinda stuck with the iMac. Don't get me wrong, it's a fine, fast machine, and runs El Capitan, but it doesn't have Thunderbolt or USB3, which would be really handy...

If you're still looking, save a little more and look for a Mid-2011 (when Thunderbolt was introduced), or late 2012 (when USB 3 was added).
 
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I agree. 900 is WAY too much. Check around and you can find ones less expensive. You could even find a reman that comes WITH a warranty right on Apple's website for maybe that price or just a little higher... and it would be a much more recent model.
 
as most have expressed, price IS high; i've been shopping around myself for an iMac or Mini. most of the iMacs i've seen locally go for around $400(2009 21.5", C2D) - $650(2012 21.5", i5).
 
This is what your friend is offering:

3.06 GHz CPU
12 GB Memory
1 TB HD
OS X Yosemite (10.10)
-----------------------------
$ 900


Apple Refurb: $1059.00

http://www.apple.com/shop/product/FE086LL/A/refurbished-215-inch-imac-27ghz-quad-core-Intel-Core-i5

Refurbished 21.5-inch iMac 2.7GHz quad-core Intel Core i5
Originally released September 2013
21.5-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit display with IPS technology; 1920-by-1080 resolution
8GB memory
1TB hard drive1
Intel Iris Pro graphics
Built-in FaceTime HD camera
 
In short I wouldn't buy it.

What's not so good is the processor series, it's based on the old Core2Duo i.e. pre i3,i5,i7 etc. and from experience they are now below the bar in terms of end user needs, with updated os, more demanding software every year you'll soon find yourself wishing you'd bought newer.
 
I have the early 2009 24" iMac for the kids to use and it runs surprising well considering it's nearly 7 years old (I did upgrade the HDD to a SSD). That being said $900 is way high for a computer of that age. If you disagree I'll sell you mine for $800 ;)
 
Thanks for all the feedback, I'm a newbie to Mac but can't wait to learn more. I'll keep searching for now. I'll check out those sites that some of you posted.
 
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