2019 Intel iMac - What to do?

[Buadhai]

I stopped sitting down at my old Intel iMac about a year ago because of back problems exacerbated by sitting in an office chair. I do all my keyboard stuff with a 15" M2 MBA while sitting in a rocking chair. (Yes, I'm old.) Although I don't sit down at the iMac often, it still does lots of stuff including Plex, encoding and uploading videos to YouTube, storing all my media and photo files on an external drive, and backing all that up with both BackBlaze and CCC. I handle most stuff by logging in remotely via SSH.

But, apparently the end is nigh and I'm wondering if I should think about replacing it sooner rather than later. I'd thought of a MacMini with a decent but not-huge display. Whatever it is it won't get a lot of hands-on use.

I'd also thought of an Apple Silicon iMac, but that seems excessive given the amount of hands-on use it would get.

Any thoughts?

 

[throAU]

Mac mini plus monitor of your choice, however your iMac will still run Sequoia for another 2-3 years before going end of support, which in itself is basically most of the expected life cycle of a computer.

 

[russell_314]

I stopped sitting down at my old Intel iMac about a year ago because of back problems exacerbated by sitting in an office chair. I do all my keyboard stuff with a 15" M2 MBA while sitting in a rocking chair. (Yes, I'm old.) Although I don't sit down at the iMac often, it still does lots of stuff including Plex, encoding and uploading videos to YouTube, storing all my media and photo files on an external drive, and backing all that up with both BackBlaze and CCC. I handle most stuff by logging in remotely via SSH.

But, apparently the end is nigh and I'm wondering if I should think about replacing it sooner rather than later. I'd thought of a MacMini with a decent but not-huge display. Whatever it is it won't get a lot of hands-on use.

I'd also thought of an Apple Silicon iMac, but that seems excessive given the amount of hands-on use it would get.

Any thoughts?

Why are you thinking about replacing it?

Is it struggling to do something you need?

You said you don’t use it very much so I wouldn’t worry about it right now unless it’s giving you problems. You can get an M4 Mac mini cheap but unless you just have an inch for a new Mac then I would wait.

 

[Basic75]

But, apparently the end is nigh and I'm wondering if I should think about replacing it sooner rather than later.

Why? There will be two more years of security updates.

 

[ADGrant]

You don't need to replace it until support for Sequoia ends which is still over two years away. Even then, you may be able to just switch to Linux if you are just using it as a NAS.

Or you could replace it with a NAS.

 

[Fishrrman]

Get a better office chair for the iMac.
Perhaps a "stressless-style" chair/recliner?
(I'm old, also...)

 

[Buadhai]

OK. Thanks to all.

• Keep the iMac for a few more years
• Buy a better chair

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

Other unorthodox option to consider, if you love the big screen.

1. Attach your iMac to an adjustable mechanical arm. (Don't need to go through the complicated conversion process, just drill 4 holes on its base and bolt them to the base)
Control your iMac from your rocking chair....

2. Connect your iMac to a big OLED TV
Control it from your RockChair.
It will take some time to adjust the TV to appropriate sightline and viewing angle from your rocking chair.

 

[frankied71]

I have an iMac 27 2019, with macOS Sonoma, and the end of life is 2026. No worries about upgrading till the new Mac mini M5. I do Fusion 360, Excel, and CAD, all work fine. With new heavy software going browser-based, the need for a powerful PC/Mac unless you are a gamer .

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

I have an iMac 27 2019, with macOS Sonoma, and the end of life is 2026. No worries about upgrading till the new Mac mini M5. I do Fusion 360, Excel, and CAD, all work fine. With new heavy software going browser-based, the need for a powerful PC/Mac unless you are a gamer .

The concern here is mainly about elder people's back when using a big desktop computer, rather than the specs and usability of a certain iMac model.