How long will my imac last?

[Danando1993]

i recently bought an i3 imac and i am wondering how long it should last me, based on the fact i use it for photoshop, iphoto, itunes, light gaming, email, internet surfing?

Hoping it will last a good 2 years atleast

 

[morty192]

Depends on what u mean by 'last' if you mean how long will the technology stay at a decent pace then 2 year is certain. If, however, you mean how long before it breaks down and repairs are needed all machines are different it could die in a minute it could die in 10 years hope this helps in some way

 

[Danando1993]

thanks for the quick reply, yeah I meant how long would the i3 keep up with technology.

 

[gdeputy]

Your i3 is already behind the technology, and if you buy a new iMac within a few months that'll be behind too.

Don't play that game, you'll get burnt. Use it until it becomes a chore, then buy a new computer.

 

[svenn]

It really depends on your uses. I have used 5+ year old Windows PCs without issue, but I have also ran some cpu intensive programs on a more recent system and did have issues. It looks like you should be ok for a few years, but only you can tell when it is not working for you anymore.

 

[MacHamster68]

i am still using iMac G3's 600/700mhz and they are 10 years old and still usable for everything they had been made for and they will do the same in 10 years from now too ..no doubt at all , thank you for reminding me i need to change the pram battery on one , the only spare part needed in 10 years ....a pram battery ....yea the good old days of high quality builds
so in theory your i3 iMac should do the same in 10 years time exactly what it is doing now , ok by then it might be slower compared to the new computers you get in 10 years , but no less usable, as it will run the very same apps and OS it does run now ... if he lasts 10 years without needing spare parts as these dont come cheap after apple care ends and will likely render your iMac in a fancy paperweight

at least with my G3's that would not be a problem at all as here is a new use for them if they cannot be repaired any more , but my spare parts should last me a couple decades to keep them going

otherwise a nice coffee table for the Mac fan

 

[satcomer]

i recently bought an i3 imac and i am wondering how long it should last me, based on the fact i use it for photoshop, iphoto, itunes, light gaming, email, internet surfing?

Hoping it will last a good 2 years at least

IMHO if you do some regular software cache cleaning (about once every three or four months) using a cache cleaning program like Yasu and run all the cleaning routines. Just let the any cache cleaning program reboot your Mac and upon that boot, manually reboot the Mac again. This will rebuild that Macs startup/shutdown system cache.

Doing this kind of cache cleaning every three or four months will keep a Mac almost running like new.

Also consider uninstalling software on a Mac with something like AppCleaner (it's free). It will get all the little bits a program leaves all over your OS X.

 

[biggd]

thanks for the quick reply, yeah I meant how long would the i3 keep up with technology.

If your worried about this then you should have bough i5 or i7
After 3-4 years, if you replace ur harddrive with an SSD it'll last you another 4 years. Add some RAM.

The specs of a computer don't matter, as much as, how we use the computer and look after it.

 

[Danando1993]

thanks for all your replies, the i3 is perfectly suitable for my needs at the moment and runs great that is the reason why i did not buy an i5 or i7. I guess the way to keep it running its best is to look after it, im also going to be adding ram in the future.

 

[MacHamster68]

just one note , keep it clean , not only from the outside , but from the inside too , dust can kill a iMac or any computer really and a lot of people fear to open all in one computers especially iMac's , so they leave the dust inside until the iMac is dead , which is a bit to late and just holding a vacuum cleaner on the bottom and top vent is just not enough as you wont reach the heatsinks that way

 

[MacHamster68]

double post

 

[Sirmausalot]

i recently bought an i3 imac and i am wondering how long it should last me, based on the fact i use it for photoshop, iphoto, itunes, light gaming, email, internet surfing?

Hoping it will last a good 2 years atleast

I've had mine since late 2007. Still running great and handling HD video editing. Encoding is a bit slow, but there are options. Do the following when you can:

Upgrade to an SSD. Lightning fast and in two years price/space will be affordable.
Run utility programs to clean up your harddrive, optimize and defragment it

As for encoding, I could spend money on a better program to make that faster. 2 years ,easy! The upgrades above will get you even more.

 

[jlyanks85]

Is installing a SSD hard? I'm sure it's not as easy as putting in more ram but I probably wouldn't be comfortable taking apart the imac to be able to do this. Even though I'd love to add a SSD on my i7 iMac.

 

[kuebby]

Is installing a SSD hard? I'm sure it's not as easy as putting in more ram but I probably wouldn't be comfortable taking apart the imac to be able to do this. Even though I'd love to add a SSD on my i7 iMac.

You probably don't want to, installing HDs in aluminum iMacs is a pain (it requires removing the screen).

 

[jamesdmc]

I wouldn't describe it as "easy", but it's also not as bad as you might think. I just pumped new life into my 2007 iMac by adding a SSD to it. It took about 2.5 hours, but mainly because I took it slow, being the first time I opened it up. If I had to do it again, I could get it open with the glass and LCD completely removed in less than 15 minutes. There are enough guides on the internet to walk someone through the procedure if they really wanted to do it.

 

[brachson]

I bought my PC 4 years ago (dual core) - it was nothing special, like i3 iMac these days. I still can play most of the games on atleast medium settings, work on PS with large files. The only thing I have problem with is HD encoding - I can do it but its pain.

Technology is not so offensive these days - i7 will last at least 5-6 years imho. You will faster replace it due to new look desire rather than not enough power.

 

[Danando1993]

just one note , keep it clean , not only from the outside , but from the inside too , dust can kill a iMac or any computer really and a lot of people fear to open all in one computers especially iMac's , so they leave the dust inside until the iMac is dead , which is a bit to late and just holding a vacuum cleaner on the bottom and top vent is just not enough as you wont reach the heatsinks that way

To be honest I would not even know how to open it up to vacuum dust, any tips?

and what is the benefit of a SSD? sorry im not great with this stuff.

 

[Maverick713]

To be honest I would not even know how to open it up to vacuum dust, any tips?

and what is the benefit of a SSD? sorry im not great with this stuff.

Solid stat drives are faster, no moving parts, but the expense IMHO right now is not worth it. especially when you look at the size. in a couple years the price will be more justafiable, but right now if you can spare the time it taks for HDD to boot up and do what they need to do hold off on the SDD till the space is greater and the expense is lower.

 

[jlyanks85]

I can't wait until SSD are standard in all apple computers or at least more affordable to add them on. I would of gladly added one when I was getting the i7 imac we bought in November, but it was like a extra 600 dollars. Wasn't going to pay that, when we were already going to pay 2600 for it. Hopefully when I get another imac in 2 years or so, adding a SSD is only like 200, maybe 300 at the most.

 

[Maverick713]

I can't wait until SSD are standard in all apple computers or at least more affordable to add them on. I would of gladly added one when I was getting the i7 imac we bought in November, but it was like a extra 600 dollars. Wasn't going to pay that, when we were already going to pay 2600 for it. Hopefully when I get another imac in 2 years or so, adding a SSD is only like 200, maybe 300 at the most.

I think in 2 years they will be absolutley more affordable, for 200 bucks what does everyone speculate the size will be? And how long before we have cars that drive themselves?

 

[Jdstew1234]

I use mine for the Sam things as well as adobe illustrator and Video editing, I got mine about a year and a half ago and it has lasted great, it's a 24" c2d 2.66 ghz, it will be perfect for you

 

[jlyanks85]

I think in 2 years they will be absolutley more affordable, for 200 bucks what does everyone speculate the size will be? And how long before we have cars that drive themselves?

I would love cars that could drive themselves, but on a serious less sarcastic note I think they'll be more affordable that what they are now. Well hopefully anyway.

 

[Danando1993]

I use mine for the Sam things as well as adobe illustrator and Video editing, I got mine about a year and a half ago and it has lasted great, it's a 24" c2d 2.66 ghz, it will be perfect for you

thats really good to hear, do you do regular cache cleaning ect? Im still unsure as to what the solid state drives do also?

 

[andrew0122]

I wouldn't describe it as "easy", but it's also not as bad as you might think. I just pumped new life into my 2007 iMac by adding a SSD to it. It took about 2.5 hours, but mainly because I took it slow, being the first time I opened it up. If I had to do it again, I could get it open with the glass and LCD completely removed in less than 15 minutes. There are enough guides on the internet to walk someone through the procedure if they really wanted to do it.

I would recommend using iFixit.com for the guide. They have helped me though several repairs. (The hyperlink is for the new 27" iMac hard drive replacement. They consider the replacement difficulty as moderate.)

James, I've been looking at replacing my HDD in my 24" iMac 2.8 C2D. Any recommendations for a Solid State? I'm also considering upgrading the RAM. According to the iMac model number (7,1) it can unofficially utilize up to 6GB. I currently have 3 and I'm not sure 4 is going to cut it. OWC or MacSales.com says for the late '07 model only. . . I'm not sure if my iMac is considered late '07 or not, it is the Aluminum body. . . Anyone know?

Appreciate the help.

 

[kuebby]

I think in 2 years they will be absolutley more affordable, for 200 bucks what does everyone speculate the size will be? And how long before we have cars that drive themselves?

I would guess that in 2 years SSDs will have 2x-4x the capacity they have now for the same price.

Im still unsure as to what the solid state drives do also?

Solid state drives are just a different way of storing data than traditional hard drives. Rather than using magnetic platters they use flash memory, which uses less power, has no moving parts, is faster, and has a longer life (so it is much less likely to fail).