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Just purchased 2007 iMac

fenderbass146

fenderbass146

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Mar 11, 2009
1,526
2,893
Northwest Indiana
I just purchased a 2007 iMac 20" 2.4 Ghz core2duo with the 2600 pro graphics for $200 bucks. (On a side note, seemed like a decent deal to me)

I plan on upgrading it to 4 GB of ram and probably making a fusion drive for it. 1 TB internal drive and 120 ssd in the disc drive slot. That should all work and I will be running Yosemite on it. Do you think this can be a decent machine, it mostly be for just home use and some light Aperture use. I have always wanted an iMac but my pro is still my main machine.
 
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What is your iMac model identifier?

Click the :apple: in the top left of your desktop
Click "about this Mac"
Click more information or "system report" (depending on your osx version)

You can see the model identifier there.

Thanks
 
brendu said:
What is your iMac model identifier?

Click the :apple: in the top left of your desktop
Click "about this Mac"
Click more information or "system report" (depending on your osx version)

You can see the model identifier there.

Thanks
Click to expand...

Don't have it yet, its the high end 2007 20 inch model.

edit: its MA877LL
 
fenderbass146 said:
Don't have it yet, its the high end 2007 20 inch model.

edit: its MA877LL
Click to expand...

That's not the model identifier it's the model number but it should give me what I need to try and help. I'll report back when I have looked up a bit of info, thanks

Edit: originally I think you had said you wanted to look into replacing the graphics card. I am not sure about that yet. As far as the rest goes, if you upgrade to 4gb ram and setup a fusion drive you should be able to run Yosemite pretty well. You might have to turn off transparency to take a strain off the graphics card but I think you'll be fine. Test it out before attempting to dive into a graphics card upgrade. Enjoy your Mac!
 
Aside from your planned ssd upgrade, you'll have exactly the same machine as I do.
I'm amazed at how well it's still performing using Yosemite.
I use Aperture frequently, along with CS6 (mainly Photoshop & Illustrator), without any particular issue.
For 200$ it's a bargain.


I believe you have the 7,1 model.
 
brendu said:
That's not the model identifier it's the model number but it should give me what I need to try and help. I'll report back when I have looked up a bit of info, thanks

Edit: originally I think you had said you wanted to look into replacing the graphics card. I am not sure about that yet. As far as the rest goes, if you upgrade to 4gb ram and setup a fusion drive you should be able to run Yosemite pretty well. You might have to turn off transparency to take a strain off the graphics card but I think you'll be fine. Test it out before attempting to dive into a graphics card upgrade. Enjoy your Mac!
Click to expand...

I originally did mention the graphics card update but after reading some other sources it seemed like it wouldn't work and the one I wanted (8800gs) was way more expensive then I thought.

Also after reading some more on the hd 2600 pro graphics it looks like it falls between the Intel HD 3000 and 4000, so I am pretty content with that for just a home office computer. My retina is my main machine still.
 
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Just keep in mind that the connection to the optical drive is PATA, not SATA. I have that same iMac as my daily driver and updated it a few years ago after AppleCare ran out. I put the SSD in the spot where the original SATA hard drive was located, removed the optical drive and replaced it with a caddy that has a PATA to SATA connector. I then put a 750 GB 2.5 inch SATA hard drive into the optical bay caddy. I didn't do a fusion drive, but I did move the home folder off the SSD and onto the HDD.

No doubt it extended the life of the machine, and it runs pretty well for day-to-day basic tasks, but it's starting to show its age. I wonder if I can hold out for Skylake?
 
jamesdmc said:
Just keep in mind that the connection to the optical drive is PATA, not SATA. I have that same iMac as my daily driver and updated it a few years ago after AppleCare ran out. I put the SSD in the spot where the original SATA hard drive was located, removed the optical drive and replaced it with a caddy that has a PATA to SATA connector. I then put a 750 GB 2.5 inch SATA hard drive into the optical bay caddy. I didn't do a fusion drive, but I did move the home folder off the SSD and onto the HDD.

No doubt it extended the life of the machine, and it runs pretty well for day-to-day basic tasks, but it's starting to show its age. I wonder if I can hold out for Skylake?
Click to expand...

Thanks, I did not know about the pata optical drive. I will have to look for a different drive caddy. Thanks for the information.
 
fenderbass146 said:
Thanks, I did not know about the pata optical drive. I will have to look for a different drive caddy. Thanks for the information.
Click to expand...

Also I am assuming I know the answer, but I am going to want to put the SSD in the normal drive slot correct. IDE/PATA is going to bottleneck my ssd if I put it in the disc drive correct. What is the speed for the disc drive connection?
 
fenderbass146 said:
I just purchased a 2007 iMac 20" 2.4 Ghz core2duo with the 2600 pro graphics for $200 bucks. (On a side note, seemed like a decent deal to me)

I plan on upgrading it to 4 GB of ram and probably making a fusion drive for it. 1 TB internal drive and 120 ssd in the disc drive slot. That should all work and I will be running Yosemite on it. Do you think this can be a decent machine, it mostly be for just home use and some light Aperture use. I have always wanted an iMac but my pro is still my main machine.
Click to expand...

So just an update. I got the whole thing built minus the 4 GB of ram which should be in monday. And all I can say is wow. This thing is nearly as fast as my rMBP in terms of responsiveness. The fusion drive really is impressive. Only lags when I have a couple windows open. The ram will resolve this. Yosemite runs amazing on this old machine.
 
fenderbass146 said:
So just an update. I got the whole thing built minus the 4 GB of ram which should be in monday. And all I can say is wow. This thing is nearly as fast as my rMBP in terms of responsiveness. The fusion drive really is impressive. Only lags when I have a couple windows open. The ram will resolve this. Yosemite runs amazing on this old machine.
Click to expand...

With an SSD and 4gb of ram, it's probably a pretty slick machine!
 
I'm still keeping mine going, with its clean, saturated pixels it's my favorite non-Retina screen. One suggestion: going to 6GB RAM works great and really lets you stretch out over more open web pages, etc.
 
5iMacs said:
I'm still keeping mine going, with its clean, saturated pixels it's my favorite non-Retina screen. One suggestion: going to 6GB RAM works great and really lets you stretch out over more open web pages, etc.
Click to expand...

I wanted to but man is ddr2 expensive. I only have 4 in my rMBP so I think I should be good for while.
 
You need to know that the dvd drive bay in the 2007 imac is not sata II. If you do put an SSD in there you will find you get about 50 Mb/s max.

I know this as I tried it myself first time round as I already had a large 3.5 inch disk and ended up having to get a 2.5" to replace it.

Replace the existing 3.5" HDD with the SSD and put a 2.5" spinning disk in the dvd drive bay.

I've currently got that exact setup now.
 
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