2009 iMac performance expectations ?

[meyucahu]

What would limitations of a 2009 iMac with an SSD and 16GB RAM be? I would upgrade macOS (unoficially) via a patcher to Mojave. What will I be able to do, what will I not be able to do? I am only looking at work such as web browsing, videos, text processing, emails and such, no gaming or video editing.
I am thinking that the only limitations would be the older mother board and CPU, which is an Intel Core 2 Duo 3.06 Ghz, not very good.
Thank you!

 

[MultiFinder17]

For the uses that you mention, it won’t be blazing fast but it’ll likely be tolerable. I have that same iMac with the same specs and it’s, well, it’s alright. Nothing mind blowing, but it’s alright. The CPU will be your primary limitation as you mentioned, though it won’t be that massive of a bottleneck for the things you described. It will get a bit noticeably bogged down if you’re trying to do all those tasks at once and switch between them quickly, but other than that it’s a decent little machine for basic usage.

 

[BrianBaughn]

I'm still using a 2008 unibody MacBook for this and that…haven't had to give up on it yet. It's updated to Catalina via the dosdude1 patcher.

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

What would limitations of a 2009 iMac with an SSD and 16GB RAM be? I would upgrade macOS (unoficially) via a patcher to Mojave. What will I be able to do, what will I not be able to do? I am only looking at work such as web browsing, videos, text processing, emails and such, no gaming or video editing.
I am thinking that the only limitations would be the older mother board and CPU, which is an Intel Core 2 Duo 3.06 Ghz, not very good.
Thank you!

It will be good enough for all the jobs you mention about.
If you are running the nVidia 9400GT 27" version, then 2k video will not very smooth.
Too many tabs of Chrome will be slow, too.
But anyway, test to see if you can use it in Target Display mode (if 27" model)

 

[Andrea Filippini]

What would limitations of a 2009 iMac with an SSD and 16GB RAM be? I would upgrade macOS (unoficially) via a patcher to Mojave. What will I be able to do, what will I not be able to do? I am only looking at work such as web browsing, videos, text processing, emails and such, no gaming or video editing.
I am thinking that the only limitations would be the older mother board and CPU, which is an Intel Core 2 Duo 3.06 Ghz, not very good.
Thank you!

I can tell you my long-term experience with my iMac 21.5-inch late 2009, Intel Core 2 Duo 3.33 GHz (E8600), 16GB RAM, ATI RADEON HD 4670 256 MB, Maxtor Z1 1TB SSD, macOS High Sierra.
For web browsing you need to update your machine to the latest OS available (in this case High Sierra) and update the browser (Chrome, Safari, Firefox, etc.).
Major bottlenecks can be the CPU (dual-core is sluggish nowadays) and the SSD (these machines supports up to SATA II = w/r up to 250 MB/s). 1080p/60fps videos on YT can be not smooth.
For the tasks you need, the machine is still good.

 

[Hombre53]

deleted

 

[pshufd]

I used the 2009 iMac 27 up until last week as a monitor in Target Display Mode from another system. I have used it on and off for about four years. I have the Core 2 Duo model which has the slowest processor. It will do what you intend adequately. I just had it at High Sierra and it was fine. There was some software that I couldn't run but I run it on newer Macs.

My system has 16 GB RAM though it still uses the original HDD and performance is okay outside of copying large files.

I bought a 2010 iMac 27 with i7 CPU for $100 a few months ago and it's a much nicer system. CPU Geekbench 5 Multicore score is over 3 times higher and it's far more responsive.

 

[Lekha Raju]

The new iMac is good enough, at least for casual players, to play both Crysis (48 fps) and World in Conflict (50 fps) at the lower 1,280-by-1,024 resolution. Hard-core gamers will want a Crysis score of 60 fps or more, as they'll start complaining that they're noticing missed frames in the 45-to-60-fps range. World in Conflict frame rates will seem steady for most gamers, since RTS (real-time strategy) games are playable at a frame rate as low as 30 fps. . . The "old" iMac had a playable WiC score (45 fps), but Crysis was mostly too jerky to play at 36 fps (you could play it, but it won't be as much fun). Therefore, the new graphics are worth it for 3D gaming, and the additional faster memory helps for everything else.

 

[zoom25]

I have the exact same Late 2009 27" Intel Core 2 Duo 3.06 Ghz. I have 12GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD. I kept the 4GB and added another 8GB. It's running the latest High Sierra (10.13.6). When installing the SSD, I thoroughly cleaned it out. I pretty much never hear it now for most tasks and it magnitudes faster then when it had a HDD. Cold start to fully booted up happens under a minute. The only hardware issue I have with this computer is that sometimes the Wifi will stop working. Apparently, it's a known issue. That's fixed with a quick restart.

As mentioned before, 1080p 60 gives it issues. Although, 1080p 50p works just fine. So close! If you're watching a video on Youtube that's 1080p 60, you'll have to go down to 720 60.

There shouldn't be any problems with your tasks. Just make sure you keep web browsers up to date. This screen from 2009 still holds up relatively well.

 

[pshufd]

I have the exact same Late 2009 27" Intel Core 2 Duo 3.06 Ghz. I have 12GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD. I kept the 4GB and added another 8GB. It's running the latest High Sierra (10.13.6). When installing the SSD, I thoroughly cleaned it out. I pretty much never hear it now for most tasks and it magnitudes faster then when it had a HDD. Cold start to fully booted up happens under a minute. The only hardware issue I have with this computer is that sometimes the Wifi will stop working. Apparently, it's a known issue. That's fixed with a quick restart.

As mentioned before, 1080p 60 gives it issues. Although, 1080p 50p works just fine. So close! If you're watching a video on Youtube that's 1080p 60, you'll have to go down to 720 60.

There shouldn't be any problems with your tasks. Just make sure you keep web browsers up to date. This screen from 2009 still holds up relatively well.

One way to watch videos at higher resolution is to download them and then watch them with VLC.