How much longer to keep iMac 27-inch, Late 2009?

[joonyaboy]

I mean, I would love to keep it indefinitely, but not sure how upgradeable it is. I know I can get up to 16GB Ram and always throw an SSD in there.

Is there anything else that would keep this iMac from performing, say, 5 years from now?

I want to get a MacBook Air, but I love the screen on this thing and don't wanna sell it if it still has valuable life left.

I do the usual browsing and word processing, movies and photo editing, and I also run Logic and Garageband to record musician.

Thanks!

(iMac 27-inch, Late 2009, Quad-Core i5)

 

[macjram]

If you're fine with it then keep it. When you feel like it's slowing you down, replace it.

 

[MatthewAMEL]

If you weren't motivated to replace it during the frenzy of the latest update, then I would wait for the Haswell iMac (June 2013).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haswell_(microarchitecture)

 

[joonyaboy]

If you're fine with it then keep it. When you feel like it's slowing you down, replace it.

Sound advice. Just curious if anyone thinks it will start running slow soon, or be left out by an OSX update

If you weren't motivated to replace it during the frenzy of the latest update, then I would wait for the Haswell iMac (June 2013).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haswell_(microarchitecture)

Sweet. Thanks!

 

[NATO]

The single best/easiest/cheapest upgrade to a computer to keep it running fast is a SSD upgrade.

I had a 2009 iMac with a (good) SSD and it was VERY quick. The only reason I don't have it still is because Apple replaced the whole machine under warranty for another reason, but otherwise I would still be very happy with the performance of the machine - and I'm someone who normally lives on the bleeding edge of technology.

 

[joonyaboy]

The single best/easiest/cheapest upgrade to a computer to keep it running fast is a SSD upgrade.

I had a 2009 iMac with a (good) SSD and it was VERY quick. The only reason I don't have it still is because Apple replaced the whole machine under warranty for another reason, but otherwise I would still be very happy with the performance of the machine - and I'm someone who normally lives on the bleeding edge of technology.

SSD would be great, although I am enjoying the 1TB HD. I could probably live with 500GB if I relegated some of my older stuff to an external, but I don't think I'm talented enough to install the SSD on this one.