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Fool to buy late 2009 imac?

N

Navras2535

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 12, 2015
7
0
I'm currently looking at buying an old late 2009 imac 2.66GHz i5 16gig ram 1TB HD, with 512 graphics, second-hand for general web browsing/media consumption/word processing to go alongside a powerful laptop I have.

Good idea or foolish? Will I feel the sluggishness of it? Also wanting to use it as an external display for a macbook pro which I will be getting next year.
 
Navras2535 said:
I'm currently looking at buying an old late 2009 imac 2.66GHz i5 16gig ram 1TB HD, with 512 graphics, second-hand for general web browsing/media consumption/word processing to go alongside a powerful laptop I have.

Good idea or foolish? Will I feel the sluggishness of it? Also wanting to use it as an external display for a macbook pro which I will be getting next year.
Click to expand...

it all depends on the price, but if it were me I'd look into a tad bit newer model with a stronger Video card. I already can see the lag coming on my mac mini with 256mb. Movies are starting to lag
 
yukyuklee said:
it all depends on the price, but if it were me I'd look into a tad bit newer model with a stronger Video card. I already can see the lag coming on my mac mini with 256mb. Movies are starting to lag
Click to expand...

Its going to cost about $900NZD (About $550USD)
 
Just sold off my Mid 2011 iMac 27" i7 3.4GHz with 10GB RAM, 1TB HDD and Apple 256GB SSD for USD860.
In Singapore though.

If you can put an SSD inside your iMac 2009 i5, it will greatly enhance your daily use experience.
 
OP wrote:
"Also wanting to use it as an external display for a macbook pro which I will be getting next year."

I may be mistaken, but I don't believe this is possible with a 2009 iMac. All that you can use the display with are the internal graphics.

I'd either look for something newer (with USB3 is "new enough"), or...
... consider a late-model Mac Mini instead (late-2012 would be good if you can find one).
 
Hi,
have a late 2009 27" (only the 2 core with 256 graphics) its still annoyingly good for most things. did put an SSD in though, that made a huge difference.

using it as a target screen for my MBA also works a treat.
i do believe all late 2009s have Target Display Mode.
 
Last edited:
That is the same model I bought in '09 and it is still used daily at my office now as a workstation. It all depends on what you're going to do with the machine but I think that is a pretty decent price for that computer.
You do have to remember you're getting a 27" 1440p (2k) IPS monitor in that deal.
I will agree with above posts that installing an SSD will really wake the machine up in terms of speedy everyday use. I installed an Intel 80GB X25-M SSD back in January 2010 and this machine hasn't skipped a beat.
 
I bought my Mom a 2007 iMac (which the company sent me a 2008 instead), installed an SSD and Yosemite and it's (for her needs) blazing fast and perfect for every task she'd ever do on it.
 
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