how long has your iMac lasted you?

[macj3]

OK, first off I would not buy a new iMac with the 1TB Fusion Drive option because it is a poor value. The current 1TB Fusion Drive only has a 32GB SSD, where as the original one had a 128GB SSD. I recommend springing for at least the 512GB SSD instead and simply using a 3.5” external drive for much greater storage. As for RAM, I recommend the minimum being 16GB.

Such a configuration should give you many years of fast and reliable service. Apple is supporting most Macs for 7 years on the software side. I see no reason why it wouldn’t serve you well for that long.

All that said, you sure want the little iMac over the big one?

Well, upping the game to the bigger 27"mac is a slippery slope, a 21.5 with 8g ram and 1 TB SSD is $2399, the entry 27 iwith 1TB SSD is $2499, plus 3rd party ram @ $107 (that could be put in later). Then there's the high end 27 for $2299 right in the middle but with a 2TB fusion (that would bring the SSD part to 128g) I can't see getting a BTO without a 1TB SSD because I'm at 85% full now with a 1TB HD. and with needing to purchase an external for the Photo Library(502GB) it would not be a big cost to keep all on one SSD in the machine......That's why I posted why not just get the 121.5 @1499 and expect a little less life and have $800 in the bank for a new mac in about 5 years if needed....Desicions, Decisions

 

[Coconutcreampie]

Well, upping the game to the bigger 27"mac is a slippery slope, a 21.5 with 8g ram and 1 TB SSD is $2399, the entry 27 iwith 1TB SSD is $2499, plus 3rd party ram @ $107 (that could be put in later). Then there's the high end 27 for $2299 right in the middle but with a 2TB fusion (that would bring the SSD part to 128g) I can't see getting a BTO without a 1TB SSD because I'm at 85% full now with a 1TB HD. and with needing to purchase an external for the Photo Library(502GB) it would not be a big cost to keep all on one SSD in the machine......That's why I posted why not just get the 121.5 @1499 and expect a little less life and have $800 in the bank for a new mac in about 5 years if needed....Desicions, Decisions

21.5 iMac for $2399??

Consider that in five years (four years is the sweet spot) an iMac will retain great resale value.

 

[alrec]

Just replace the logic board. It's not hard to do. You'll need some thermal paste. The board can be bought for around $60 on eBay.

Logic board? Wouldn't this more likely be a graphics card issue?

 

[RUGERMAN]

Just replace the logic board. It's not hard to do. You'll need some thermal paste. The board can be bought for around $60 on eBay.
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Safari? No up to date security on such a machine.

[doublepost=1560351953][/doublepost]I am running High Sierra, the last version b4 Mojave and Safari 12.1.1 no problems

 

[Coconutcreampie]

Logic board? Wouldn't this more likely be a graphics card issue?

Sorry, I was thinking of 2012 and up, which have the GPU as part of the logic board. In your case look into replacing the GPU card then.

 

[ancientappleuser]

My early 2009 iMac 24 lasted 9 years, 9 months, and 3 weeks until it was replaced with the new mini. I'd still be using it today but that model only supports 8 gigabytes of RAM.

 

[macj3]

21.5 iMac for $2399??

Consider that in five years (four years is the sweet spot) an iMac will retain great resale value.

Yes $2399.00 for the 1TB SSD, goes down to a measly $1999 if built with 16g, and a 512SSD .....but If you go that far, what's another few hundred and get the 1TB SSD.

 

[dazzer21-2]

I have a 2008 iMac I still use every day. Has been switched on 24/7 since the day I bought it, bar the odd power cut! All original (running Leopard!) and still works as if straight out of the box.

 

[Coconutcreampie]

Yes $2399.00 for the 1TB SSD, goes down to a measly $1999 if built with 16g, and a 512SSD .....but If you go that far, what's another few hundred and get the 1TB SSD.

Why not get the 27” with the 512 SSD for $2399?

 

[macduke]

[doublepost=1560273940][/doublepost]Mine is a late 2009 and still running great, it slowed down a few years ago but I put another 4 gig of ram in and it was just as good as new. If I upgraded to a ssd it would be better yet but I haven't seen a need. I run Excel;Word,mail,Safari, and Parallels w/win 10 and no problems.

Yeah, I wouldn't take that thing online. Or at least do anything "secure" with it. My grandpa's 2008 MBP had all kinds of issues relating to that. I gave him my 2012 MBP last year which has current patches.

 

[Ursadorable]

DLL hell is a thing of the past. It was a thing with Windows 95, 98, and ME. But starting with XP and SysWOW it's been nothing but an urban myth. It simply doesn't exist, and it hasn't for almost 20 years.

Yup.. Totally been eliminated. 😀

 

[Fried Chicken]

My 2012 iMac has had it’s logic board swapped twice, the display swapped, and the PSU swapped, and the hinge in the back swapped, but is otherwise going fine.

 

[mmomega]

My current daily iMac Pro. 3 days old.

My other iMacs.
2015 5K 27" i7
2013 27" i7
2012 27" i7
2011 27" i7
2010 27" i7
2009 27" i7
2006 24" C2D
2001 17" 1GHz

All still operate.
The 2009-2013 models listed are used at the office 4 days a week 12-13 hrs a day, never turned off.

 

[Coconutcreampie]

My 2012 iMac has had it’s logic board swapped twice, the display swapped, and the PSU swapped, and the hinge in the back swapped, but is otherwise going fine.

I'm betting you simply had a bad power supply, the Delta made one, and everything else was fine. Only the LiteOn version was reliable on that year of iMacs.

 

[ilyasdesign37]

Apple iMac late 2013 3.5 GHz Intel Core i7 GTX 780M/ 24GB PCIe Flash Drive – High MacOS 10.12.6 Sierra
brought in April 2015

hoping to get eGPU for it soon, don't really want get the new macs, not big fan of AMD graphic cards

 

[Coconutcreampie]

Apple iMac late 2013 3.5 GHz Intel Core i7 GTX 780M/ 24GB PCIe Flash Drive – High MacOS 10.12.6 Sierra
brought in April 2015

hoping to get eGPU for it soon, don't really want get the new macs, not big fan of AMD graphic cards

You need Thunderbolt 3 to use an eGPU. Only iMacs from 2017 have it.

 

[ilyasdesign37]

You need Thunderbolt 3 to use an eGPU. Only iMacs from 2017 have it.

i know but there is away around it which works for older macs

 

[wmagnum1]

21.5 iMac for $2399??

Consider that in five years (four years is the sweet spot) an iMac will retain great resale value.

Very true. My late 2009 iMac, which , yes, was slow and the WiFi was failing due to overheating (lots of dust inside... ran a vacuum cleaner through the vent and it solved the issue) sold on fb marketplace for $150. The only upgrade I made was RAM. Everything else was original equipment and working.

 

[uller6]

I'm using a late 2009 27" i7 iMac. In 2018 I changed out the CPU and GPU thermal paste and upgraded with a 256 SSD and 12 Gb RAM. I'm using dosdude1's patched Mojave on the machine and use it for recording in Logic Pro X. I hope I can get another couple years out of it!

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

Mid-2011 iMac here, still going strong. Sure, I've had to bake its GPU twice, but that's really a minor thing for getting extra years out of it. Have added RAM and an SSD in the free SATA port.

Still my main machine for everything but portability.

 

[Coconutcreampie]

i know but there is away around it which works for older macs

What is it?

 

[Zen_Arcade]

A high school I guest taught at had a room full of about 30 iMac 17" C2D machines from ~2006 running 24/7. They could just run 10.7.5, and were using them for google docs, etc. Pretty remarkable.

 

[ignatius345]

My iMac 5K is a 2014, and I bought it in 2016 as an Apple refurbished unit. It just went out of AppleCare, but before it did I had the display replaced because it was showing some very serious image retention -- basically, anything that was on screen for more than a couple minutes, like the menu bar of an app, would be "burned in" when switching to something with a darker background. The first AppleCare person I got on the phone was terrible, was trying to tell me this was somehow normal -- and I basically hung up and talked to someone more reasonable who booked me an appointment to take it in. It did get fixed very quickly and without incident, though.

Now it's about 3 months out of AppleCare and the Fusion Drive, which was very fast and very reliable for a long time, seems to be slowing down considerably. The wear count on the SSD part seems quite high, and I'm thinking of getting rid of it and getting a newer iMac with a pure SSD. Currently grappling with the possibility of living with a 512GB internal drive and keeping my media (photos, music, videos) on an external SSD.
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I’ve got a late 2009 iMac running. Since I got my iPad Pro just before Christmas i’ve used the iMac less and a less.

The iMac is still running all though the hard drive is showing its age - especially booting takes a long time. I’m thinking about putting in a ssd. Other than that I’ve only added more ram - 12 GB in total.

When I bought it in 2009 I bought the highest possible configuration so it would last me longer. I didn’t expect it to last 10 years though...😱😉

I only use for light use and some recreational photo and video-editing. For professional use it would need a ssd in stead of the 7200 rpm hard drive.

If you don't want to pry it open, I think some people on here have had some success using a fast external SSD as a boot drive...

 

[ilyasdesign37]

What is it?

alot research and getting right eGPU plus software to make it work

 

[barnyard]

Still on my 2012 27" with a rebuilt fusion drive which for whatever reason still won't allow me to upgrade to Mojave, but it should get replaced by a Mac Pro in September.