Old dog new tricks (used mac purchase question)

[renodude18]

Hello world! I'm in need of some help for considering a couple used macs. Recently my parent's trusty Dell desktop of 7 years is starting to go. First it lost two memory slots which caused a reduction in memory. This morning I took a look at it because they said it was becoming slow and getting really loud. Come to find out the system isn't registering the temp of the CPU and the fan is running on Max all the time. So instead of fixing the ageing computer I've decided to get my parents away from Windows as all they use it for is email, web searches, music, pictures and online games (Mostly facebook). They don't need a powerful system so I figured an old Mac would be good for them as I recently switched a little over a year ago to a Macbook pro and have loved it since.

The computer I'm considering mainly for price is a Late 2006 iMac, I've found one at powermax.com for $199.99 and amazon for $149.99 I've also found it at other places for less but I don't trust the sellers.

I know its an old system and a new mac mini would be good but considering I could replace the board in the Dell for less I would rather spend barely more for an All in one Mac but my concerns are weather it would be secure as it is not able to be upgraded past Lion which I believe they both come pre-installed with Lion. I've considered just getting it and hate to say it running Windows 7 (8 if its supported) as they know how to use it which means less trips home to spend the time fixing it.

What are your thoughts??

 

[macs4nw]

Hello world! I'm in need of some help for considering a couple used macs. Recently my parent's trusty Dell desktop of 7 years is starting to go. First it lost two memory slots which caused a reduction in memory. This morning I took a look at it because they said it was becoming slow and getting really loud. Come to find out the system isn't registering the temp of the CPU and the fan is running on Max all the time. So instead of fixing the ageing computer I've decided to get my parents away from Windows as all they use it for is email, web searches, music, pictures and online games (Mostly facebook). They don't need a powerful system so I figured an old Mac would be good for them as I recently switched a little over a year ago to a Macbook pro and have loved it since.

The computer I'm considering mainly for price is a Late 2006 iMac, I've found one at powermax.com for $199.99 and amazon for $149.99 I've also found it at other places for less but I don't trust the sellers.

I know its an old system and a new mac mini would be good but considering I could replace the board in the Dell for less I would rather spend barely more for an All in one Mac but my concerns are weather it would be secure as it is not able to be upgraded past Lion which I believe they both come pre-installed with Lion. I've considered just getting it and hate to say it running Windows 7 (8 if its supported) as they know how to use it which means less trips home to spend the time fixing it.

What are your thoughts??

Buying a late 2006 iMac is risky business, even for light or occasional use, and being stuck with Lion is the least of your worries, That computer is 8-9 yrs old, and has passed from 'vintage' into 'obsolete', meaning if you needed any parts at all, some time down the line, the only way to secure those is from third parties, and that could be difficult to impossible, depending on what you'd need.

It'll cost you a bit more, but I'd say a 2009 or 2010 is the furthest back I would recommend buying, and only from a reputable source.

But if you're prepared to lose $200, then by all means roll the dice, you may get lucky.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

You said it yourself....

...... The mini is what you should be looking at.

This is for variety of reasons

1. they already have all the peripherals they may hate OSX and can easily sell it on and go for a windows box if they so choose.

2. At $500 you get a modern Haswell CPU fast, great turbo boost, hyperthreading and all the goodies in the new architecture. This makes a massive difference to performance.

3. The integrated graphics HD 5000 are unrecognisable from the old imac and core 2 duo processors. Easily stream HD video etc, they'll even run a fair few games at low settings.

4. All the inputs and outputs are the latest standard. USB 3, thunderbolt 2, HDMI, Bluetooth 4, AC wifi. This is the sort of thing that you really need to get now to get the best out of a modern PC.

For me the cost is far outweighed by the benefits of a modern system, with their usage it'll last 5-6 years so at $100 a year for your computing needs seems like a fantastic deal. Replacing the board on the old dell still gives you old standards on everything else, slow RAM and connections etc etc it's more like throwing good money after bad.

 

[mvmanolov]

Hello world! I'm in need of some help for considering a couple used macs. Recently my parent's trusty Dell desktop of 7 years is starting to go. First it lost two memory slots which caused a reduction in memory. This morning I took a look at it because they said it was becoming slow and getting really loud. Come to find out the system isn't registering the temp of the CPU and the fan is running on Max all the time. So instead of fixing the ageing computer I've decided to get my parents away from Windows as all they use it for is email, web searches, music, pictures and online games (Mostly facebook). They don't need a powerful system so I figured an old Mac would be good for them as I recently switched a little over a year ago to a Macbook pro and have loved it since.

The computer I'm considering mainly for price is a Late 2006 iMac, I've found one at powermax.com for $199.99 and amazon for $149.99 I've also found it at other places for less but I don't trust the sellers.

I know its an old system and a new mac mini would be good but considering I could replace the board in the Dell for less I would rather spend barely more for an All in one Mac but my concerns are weather it would be secure as it is not able to be upgraded past Lion which I believe they both come pre-installed with Lion. I've considered just getting it and hate to say it running Windows 7 (8 if its supported) as they know how to use it which means less trips home to spend the time fixing it.

What are your thoughts??

Well, on the other hand my dad (65yo) loves his 2006 iMac and doesn't want anything more....