Late 2007 2.0 Ghz iMac... Worth upgrading to SSD?

[mgridgaway]

Title pretty much says it all. I've been waffling back and forth over whether or not I should get a SSD (samsung EVO 850s are sitting right at $95 right now) or spend a lot more and get a Mac Mini (probably the mid range one). I'm not terribly concerned about it not supporting the next version of OSX, but it does factor in a little. My iMac is pretty much just general purpose now, email/browsing etc. I'd love to get as much life out of it as I possibly can, but I don't want to throw money towards an SSD if it isn't going to really give my iMac a boost.

I've already replaced the hdd once so installation isn't an issue... Is it worth the money to upgrade or would my money be better spent elsewhere? I've played around with a 2012 Mini before and didn't think it was much faster than mine.

 

[dyt1983]

edit: to remove personally identifying information not relevant to thread.

 

[spatlese44]

I've got a late 2006 iMac that I'm getting ready to replace. It's not about speed so much as I can't go any further than Lion and it's causing problems where I can't get Google Mail to work. OK, I could probably download Chrome or another browser, but I don't like having a machine that's not supported anymore. You can sell what you have for at least $100. That plus the money you'd spend on an SSD would get you something decent.

I'm probably going to get another iMac. It's mostly a matter of aesthetics. We have two laptops and two desktops. One's the iMac and one's a Mac Mini. The Mac Mini lives in a room cluttered with bins filled with assorted wires and computer parts and a few stray car parts. The iMac is in our guest bedroom.

In terms of performance, the SSD really is going to do it if you go for it. My 2007 MacBook is showing it's age, but I know someone with the same year MB and it's got an SSD. Pretty zippy for most tasks.

 

[mgridgaway]

Fortunately, my iMac still supports Yosemite, but who knows whether it'll support the next release.

I'd like to hear more reports from other people who've installed ssds on older macs. Worth it? Did you end up upgrading to a new mac anyway or are you still using the older one?

 

[Samuelsan2001]

I hesitate

Fortunately, my iMac still supports Yosemite, but who knows whether it'll support the next release.

I'd like to hear more reports from other people who've installed ssds on older macs. Worth it? Did you end up upgrading to a new mac anyway or are you still using the older one?

To recommend anyone upgrade a computer that is 8 years old, with sata I connections you won't get much faster speeds than a good 7200rpm modern hard drive on SATA II. It will be quicker for opening apps etc but will not give you the kind of boost you are seeing in modern computers.

Also at that age you are in the realms of catastrophic logic board failure becoming more and more likely and any money you have invested may well be money down the drain in a few months time.

If it was a 2010 onwards with a core i processor and SATA 2 it'd be different matter.

 

[mgridgaway]

The late 2007 iMac has SATA 2.

 

[Blue Fox]

My parents have my old 2007 iMac. I just recently maxed out the RAM as well as thew in an SSD for them to quicken things up. Computer runs surprisingly quick for it's age now, even running Yosemite. Boot up time are quick, and it handles email, web browsing, etc. just as fast as my newer iMac.

I say, yes, go for it. I'm running the Toshiba SSD's. Surprisingly quick for the price. I've been running one in my mid-2010 i7 iMac for some time, and just put one in my MacBook Pro. Love them, no complaints.

 

[dyt1983]

edit: to remove personally identifying information not relevant to thread.

 

[mgridgaway]

Blue Fox, did you put in 4GB or 6GB of Ram? Mine currently has 4GB and I'm pretty much against upgrading it to at this point. The SSD I can transfer by the Ram is a $100 non-transferable sink.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

Sort of true

I'm pretty certain that if he spends $100 on an SSD to upgrade now, his SSD will be usable even if the iMac dies (the chances of a failure in the iMac taking out the SSD are pretty low).

However if he is going to buy a new mac it's not easy or the best solution to add an old ssd to it. It is usually a better idea to upgrade to fusion or ssd when you ordered get the PCIe connected solution in a new mac.

 

[grillp]

I have a mid 2007 27" iMac.. I upgraded the memory ages ago (to 6GB Max), as well as upgrading to a 1TB 7200 drive..

It has been solid as a rock, but had started to get a little sluggish for the stiff I run on it all the time in BG, so the UI becomes slow and unusable (Usually get the spinning rainbow whenever I open an app.. even opening a terminal window is slow).. It is not my main machine (I have a MBP from work) but sits and chugs away 24 hours a day since mid 2007..

I was looking to upgrade to a 5K iMac, but the price is too steep for me at the moment. So I splurged the AU$500 for a 1TB Samsung 850 EVO SSD Drive.. Uses Carbon Copy to copy over the HDD (used a USB/SATA enclosure I had lying around) overnight, verified that it booted ok (over USB) then installed the new SSD this morning (with a cheap 3.5 to 2.5 bay converter).. took about 30 mins all told.

Panicked a little when the 'apple' took a while to appear on first boot, but then it raced away and booted in less than 120 seconds, including loading all the BG software..

I tell you what, it is like a new machine! Like I said,, it is not my main machine, and was questioning whether to use it for a Plex Server (as it tends to thrash the HDD for transcoding), but now I have it all running and notice no slowdown when using the machine..

Think I just got another 2 years out of my 2007 investment, which is not bad at all! And from all accounts it will run El Capitain when it is released.

Absolutely worth doing unless you really, REALLY want that 5K display..

 

[philip.ihle]

I have a mid 2007 27" iMac.. I upgraded the memory ages ago (to 6GB Max), as well as upgrading to a 1TB 7200 drive..

It has been solid as a rock, but had started to get a little sluggish for the stiff I run on it all the time in BG, so the UI becomes slow and unusable (Usually get the spinning rainbow whenever I open an app.. even opening a terminal window is slow).. It is not my main machine (I have a MBP from work) but sits and chugs away 24 hours a day since mid 2007..

I was looking to upgrade to a 5K iMac, but the price is too steep for me at the moment. So I splurged the AU$500 for a 1TB Samsung 850 EVO SSD Drive.. Uses Carbon Copy to copy over the HDD (used a USB/SATA enclosure I had lying around) overnight, verified that it booted ok (over USB) then installed the new SSD this morning (with a cheap 3.5 to 2.5 bay converter).. took about 30 mins all told.

Panicked a little when the 'apple' took a while to appear on first boot, but then it raced away and booted in less than 120 seconds, including loading all the BG software..

I tell you what, it is like a new machine! Like I said,, it is not my main machine, and was questioning whether to use it for a Plex Server (as it tends to thrash the HDD for transcoding), but now I have it all running and notice no slowdown when using the machine..

Think I just got another 2 years out of my 2007 investment, which is not bad at all! And from all accounts it will run El Capitain when it is released.

Absolutely worth doing unless you really, REALLY want that 5K display..

Hi Grillp,

am planing exactly what you just did: installing an 1TB 850 EVO in my iMac mid2007. Yes, it is a little older than yours, and my research tells me, that it would not take the 6GB RAM.

Could you point me to some instruction on what to buy and how to do it? Did you replace the hard drive or did you install it instead of the optical drive?

Thanks,
Philip

 

[ApolloBoy]

Did you replace the hard drive or did you install it instead of the optical drive?

Considering he mentioned using a 3.5" to 2.5" drive bay adapter that means he swapped out the original hard drive. The original white Intel iMacs use PATA for their optical drives, so installing an SSD there wouldn't make much sense.

 

[keysofanxiety]

Considering he mentioned using a 3.5" to 2.5" drive bay adapter that means he swapped out the original hard drive. The original white Intel iMacs use PATA for their optical drives, so installing an SSD there wouldn't make much sense.

Are you sure? I thought even the G5s used SATA, and the last PATA was the G4 PowerBook.

As no SSDs come in 3.5" format I think he may be referring to a 2.5" to 3.5" bracket or something.

 

[ApolloBoy]

Are you sure? I thought even the G5s used SATA, and the last PATA was the G4 PowerBook.

It does indeed, as do the pre-unibody MBP and white MacBook. The iMac G5 does as well. Apple didn't start using slot-loading SATA optical drives until 2008 or so.

As no SSDs come in 3.5" format I think he may be referring to a 2.5" to 3.5" bracket or something.

That's what I meant.

 

[keysofanxiety]

It does indeed, as do the pre-unibody MBP and white MacBook. The iMac G5 does as well. Apple didn't start using slot-loading SATA optical drives until 2008 or so.


That's what I meant.

Ohhhh right, sorry for the confusion there! I glossed over the whole optical drive bit.

 

[MacNerd1239]

Incredible difference. I have the same machine with an SSD boot drive and a 1TB HDD in the SuperDrive slot. You'll get a few more years out of the machine without a doubt.