Best OS X for iMac A1224 aka "Core 2 Duo"

[s¡juandelarocha]

Hi!

My father wants me to reset his old iMac A1224 and install a new mac os x from scratch.

Which OS X do you think fits well in this machine? Not sure if it has 2g or 4g of RAM. He will mainly use the machine as a web browser, mail inbox and photoshop.

Thanks!

 

[Juicy Box]

I think this is the model that bought used 5 years ago, then upgraded the RAM, and gave to my parents to use.

I think 10.6 Snow Leopard was probably the most stable OSX, it was my favorite. I think that once MacOS became free, the quality went down hill.

But, 10.8 Mountain Lion was probably the most stable for the recent ones. I currently use 10.11 on my main Mac, and I am scared to upgrade any further. I believe that the highest that is supported on the mid 2007 is 10.11.

I would recommend to upgrade the RAM, I think it can take up to 6GB, 1 2Gb and 1 4GB.
My father has been complaining about the computer running slow, so I was thinking about upgrading the slow HDD with a cheap, but fast, SSD. Might be able to get some more life out of it.

 

[nathan_reilly]

I'm all for snow leopard too. I have a 2008 Penryn Core 2 Duo Macbook Pro that runs Snow Leopard fine with 4GB of ram. I've tried later OS's on that machine and always gone back to Snow Leopard for speed. SSD really helps too.

 

[Juicy Box]

I think 10.6 Snow Leopard was probably the most stable OSX, it was my favorite. I think that once MacOS became free, the quality went down hill.

But, 10.8 Mountain Lion was probably the most stable for the recent ones. I currently use 10.11 on my main Mac, and I am scared to upgrade any further. I believe that the highest that is supported on the mid 2007 is 10.11.

Maybe I should tell you what ones to avoid.

Do not use 10.7 Lion, while I have never used it, there were a ton of problems with it.
Also, stay away from 10.9 Maverick, I currently use this on my MacPro 1,1, it is not as stable as 10.8, and it has memory leak issues.

I think 10.10 Yosemite was okay, but not as good as 10.6, 10.8, or 10.11.

So, to rate them from best to crap, 10.6, 10.8, 10.11, 10.10, 10.9, 10.7.

As for what is best for the Core 2 Duo, I think how I rated them would be a good guide. While 10.6 is the best, I don't think you can use it with iCloud. 10.8 would probably be the best fit to do modern stuff, while keeping stuff fast and stable.

I'm all for snow leopard too

Snow Leopard was great, so fast, so stable.

 

[nambuccaheadsau]

Just don't expect too much from it as it is a 2009 model.

Upgrade the memory to 8GB and suggest El Capitan OS X.11, the updated to OS X.11.6. The problem with Snow Leopard etc., which was a great OS, is browsers cannot be updated and some high security web sites such as banks, solicitors etc. may not allow access.

Photoshop will no doubt frustrate him a little but it will work if slowly. With only 2/4GB of memory, even motre difficult.

 

[s¡juandelarocha]

Thanks for the tips.

I was very sure about Snow Leopard (10.6.8), but wanted to check because maybe getting up to Lion (10.7) was a better option...

 

[Juicy Box]

Just don't expect too much from it as it is a 2009 model.

I think the model he posted was the mid 2007 iMac....
[doublepost=1516306401][/doublepost]

I was very sure about Snow Leopard (10.6.8), but wanted to check because maybe getting up to Lion (10.7) was a better option...

Stay away from 10.7.
I do love 10.6, but 10.8 might be a better option for finding a balance of speed and stability, while trying to use modern apps.

 

[CoastalOR]

I think the model he posted was the mid 2007 iMac....

How can you tell? A iMac A1224 could be a 20" from mid 2007 to mid 2009. I was trying to figure which iMac he had, but A1224 is too vague for me.

OP: I would choose Snow Leopard:
https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MC573Z/A/mac-os-x-106-snow-leopard
or
Mountain Lion 10.8:
https://www.apple.com/shop/product/...a7dbf78fe3cfb8aebd8493ddc9dc6e6fb6a21e80dfe70

 

[Juicy Box]

How can you tell? A iMac A1224 could be a 20" from mid 2007 to mid 2009. I was trying to figure which iMac he had, but A1224 is too vague for me.

This could be correct, my searching ability is limited on my work computer, and I think I have missed this.

To the OP, more information about the iMac would be helpful, such as a model ID.

I think most of the information above would stay they same for the iMacs mid-2007 to mid-2009, except what the RAM maxes out at and the type of RAM.

 

[s¡juandelarocha]

This could be correct, my searching ability is limited on my work computer, and I think I have missed this.

To the OP, more information about the iMac would be helpful, such as a model ID.

I think most of the information above would stay they same for the iMacs mid-2007 to mid-2009, except what the RAM maxes out at and the type of RAM.

Thanks for your help guys. The exact model is A1224 (EMC 2133). Everymac says (after filling out the serial number) that belongs to the family mid-2007.

Would you guys recommend me to go to Mountain Lion? More than having new features or flashy colors, my father would prefer a better performance...

 

[TheIntruder]

An SSD will make the biggest difference in terms of performance, and make the machine quite usable as a general purpose home rig.

10.7 and later versions do a lot of state-tracking and mini saves; the result is a lot more disk I/O compared to 10.6 and earlier.

The limited RAM in those models (unless you're willing to spring for a 6GB upgrade) means that even when VM is leaned on, it won't hurt nearly as much with an SSD as with a spinning drive.

As far as the OS, I wouldn't mess around with anything but 10.11. It's still supported to a larger extent, and the memory compression that was introduced in 10.9 only got more refined so that what little RAM is available is better managed.

Turn off some of the superfluous UI graphical effects (like transparency) to relieve the burden on the graphics car and the result is a machine that will still be viable despite being 10-year old technology, running a fairly up to date OS.

 

[Juicy Box]

Would you guys recommend me to go to Mountain Lion? More than having new features or flashy colors, my father would prefer a better performance...

For a purely performance and stability, 10.6 imo. If you wanted to sacrifice some performance and stability for an OS that is more compatible with modern stuff, go with 10.8. If you go with 10.6, you risk security issues with using an older web browser, so there is that...

 

[s¡juandelarocha]

Thanks again for your help guys.

I have finally checked my father's computer and though it runs smoothly with 10.6.8 it's true that it has some limitations regarding versions of apps: chrome has not further updates offered to this system, same happens with skype, etc...

But the biggest problem I found is that for some reason, the system freezes and never come back. It just get stopped, with the screen working but nor keyboard nor mouse respond and I have to do a hard reset using the backwards button.

Do you know why this could be happening? I have already made a backup and considering to start from scratch installing Lion (10.8.5). BTW: the system has 4G RAM.

EDIT: Ok, i'm reading the freezes could be related to a faulty HD. Will investigate and update you here...

 

[ElCani]

I’d advise replacing the HDD with an SSD and then installing the last supported version of MacOS, which is El Capitan. Also make sure you have minimum 4GB RAM. Do that and you have a very usual usable computer for basic tasks, and one that’s also secure. I have a 2007 20 inch set up like that and it’s great.

There are guides online detailing how to install the SSD yourself, it’s pretty simple.

 

[s¡juandelarocha]

I’d advise replacing the HDD with an SSD and then installing the last supported version of MacOS, which is El Capitan. Also make sure you have minimum 4GB RAM. Do that and you have a very usual usable computer for basic tasks, and one that’s also secure. I have a 2007 20 inch set up like that and it’s great.

There are guides online detailing how to install the SSD yourself, it’s pretty simple.

Yeah, thanks for the advice. Point is, the screen shows two tiny vertical lines (red and green) which seems to be a very common problem in this model. Not sure if it's the screen or the video card (I guess is the panel 'cause I made a screenshot using cmd+shift+4 and no lines appeared). So that's why I'm not certain about investing in this imac if I'm not able to solve the screen thing...

 

[ElCani]

Yeah, thanks for the advice. Point is, the screen shows two tiny vertical lines (red and green) which seems to be a very common problem in this model. Not sure if it's the screen or the video card (I guess is the panel 'cause I made a screenshot using cmd+shift+4 and no lines appeared). So that's why I'm not certain about investing in this imac if I'm not able to solve the screen thing.

Sensible thinking, I would only add that if you can find a use for the SSD as an external drive (or in another computer) you haven’t wasted your money if and when the iMac does die.

 

[MultiFinder17]

In my classroom, I use a 2008 iMac as my primary computer. It has 6GB of RAM, an SSD, and it absolutely flies running 10.11. I wouldn’t recommend anything less. You get the benefits of modern software support, memory compression, and enough snappiness to get you by.

 

[EugW]

If it has 4 GB, it would be a bad idea to run anything less than 10.10. 10.6 to 10.8 are functionally obsolete in 2018. It’s unpleasant to run these because you can’t even run current browsers. 10.9 is becoming obsolete too. For example, the current version of iTunes doesn’t support 10.9 anymore.

For the described usage, I would recommend 10.11 if it has 4 GB or more.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

That's one of the first "aluminum" iMacs, correct?

If so, then the OS you want to run on it is 10.8.5 "Mountain Lion".

It's the last version of the Mac OS that runs really well on older Macs with platter-based hard drives inside.

Anything "newer" (i.e., 10.9 "Mavericks" or later) is going to run slow because the newer versions of the OS put more wear and tear on the internal drive.

 

[MrAverigeUser]

I’d advise replacing the HDD with an SSD and then installing the last supported version of MacOS, which is El Capitan. Also make sure you have minimum 4GB RAM. Do that and you have a very usual usable computer for basic tasks, and one that’s also secure. I have a 2007 20 inch set up like that and it’s great.

There are guides online detailing how to install the SSD yourself, it’s pretty simple.

very good advice !

I have had good experience with SL and ML, but the last version of ElCapitan is really stable and has nevertheless many advantages compared to SL and ML. Especially concerning security and comfort.

I gave my already retired MBP (dualCore)from 2009 (seems to be technically more or less the same as your iMac) to my daughter with ML on it. One day it went extremely slow and showed more and more beachballs.
So I gave it a nice SSD (not really expensive) and installed a fresh ElCapitan OS on it. This is the latest recommended OS by apple for those machines.

Now this "old" MBP from 2009 (4GB, not more) runs as hell, it is for all-day purposes as fast as a "new" machine.

There are even some workarounds to install even Sierra on these machines - but I didn´t until now.

Sierra ist very stable and I like it a lot on my 2011 and 2012 MBPs.

The last version of El Capitan is a very nice choice and absolutely stable. I really recommend it as well.

Tip: after installing ElCapitan or Sierra Disable the ridiculous "Transparency look" of the side-bar
prefernces --> Accessibility --> Display-reduce transparency

This ridiculous and useless transparency-gimmicks eats up performance.

Many people are disappointed at first moment after (fresh) installing of a new OS because spotlight restarts to list up and this will (dependent on your data) slow down performance. Once spotlight has finished, this will get much better.
You can also disable spotlight or reduce its activity in system preferences.