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Random talk about a 2007 iMac.

TallManNY

TallManNY

macrumors 601
Original poster
Nov 5, 2007
4,797
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My Mom has been happily using my 2007 iMac for some time now. I'm using a 2011 iMac. It is time for me to pass on my 2011 iMac to her and get me something new. Probably well past time. Do I try to sell the 2007 machine? Will it really fetch the $200 or so that seems to be the going rate on eBay?

I'm left with the decision about getting the MacBook Pro 15" or waiting for refreshed iMacs in 1Q 2017 (I won't buy current outdated iMacs unless a machine failure forces me to buy).

Alternatively, I could try to sell my 2011 iMac (works great with external SSD). I know some folks love that machine because it is last one with a DVD player. And mine has newish GPU and more RAM than she needs. I bet I could get $700 for it. Then I'd buy a new machine for her and me. Of course that would be a chunk of cash to drop in one go. And I hate doubling up on the same year's tech.

I love that I got nearly ten years of use out of that iMac. Great machine! But all it runs is Lion and current programs don't run on it. And even though I back up her HD from time to time, I'm playing with fire having her use that old HD. And of course she would enjoy just having a better machine.
 
I'd keep the 2007. You won't get much for it, so why not? Throw in a cheap SSD, it'll still suffice for basic tasks. Even use it in target display mode as an external monitor, or as a home server.
 
The 2007 iMac should be able to step beyond Lion (if it has the core2duo). Just likely would have to coax the newer OS on there.

I've got El Capitan on my 2006 Mac Pro.

Cant remember which iMac the switch from core duo to core2duo came in.
 
keysofanxiety said:
I'd keep the 2007. You won't get much for it, so why not? Throw in a cheap SSD, it'll still suffice for basic tasks. Even use it in target display mode as an external monitor, or as a home server.
Click to expand...

The 2007 iMac is too old and slow to even be kept as a backup computer for me. But I'd like someone to take it off my hands. And if they pay me $200 that would be nice. Though maybe putting in a cheap SSD would be fun afternoon project some weekend. If I mess it up, it won't really be a big problem.
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flyinmac said:
The 2007 iMac should be able to step beyond Lion (if it has the core2duo). Just likely would have to coax the newer OS on there.

I've got El Capitan on my 2006 Mac Pro.

Cant remember which iMac the switch from core duo to core2duo came in.
Click to expand...

It is a core 2 duo.

How do I get a newer OS on that machine when Apple won't let it be upgraded? Also, I suspect it will not run well on just 4gb of RAM if I somehow get El Capitan on it.
 
I have the same iMac that I handed down to family.

As others have said, upgrade the HDD to SSD. Opening up that iMac is daunting but less so since the screens are only held on by magnets and not glued on like the newer iMacs. Follow the instructions that iFixit has for that model year iMac. Very easy to follow.

Apple probably won't let you update the iMac to MacOS Sierra because that model year iMac can only be updated to El Capitan.

The way to get El Capitan is from the App Store. Download El Capitan from your 2011 iMac. Don't install it, though. Then follow instructions online on how to create an El Capitan USB Boot Disc. It's simple. Then, use that USB boot disk to install El Capitan to the 2007 iMac.

Also, maxing RAM to 4GB's if you haven't already can also help.

Good luck!

PS--I don't remember if you can download El Capitan from Lion that is why I mentioned creating a USB Boot disk from another Mac that can.
 
namethisfile said:
I have the same iMac that I handed down to family.

As others have said, upgrade the HDD to SSD. Opening up that iMac is daunting but less so since the screens are only held on by magnets and not glued on like the newer iMacs. Follow the instructions that iFixit has for that model year iMac. Very easy to follow.

Apple probably won't let you update the iMac to MacOS Sierra because that model year iMac can only be updated to El Capitan.

The way to get El Capitan is from the App Store. Download El Capitan from your 2011 iMac. Don't install it, though. Then follow instructions online on how to create an El Capitan USB Boot Disc. It's simple. Then, use that USB boot disk to install El Capitan to the 2007 iMac.

Also, maxing RAM to 4GB's if you haven't already can also help.

Good luck!

PS--I don't remember if you can download El Capitan from Lion that is why I mentioned creating a USB Boot disk from another Mac that can.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I have 4GB. I think I could even get that to 6gb by swapping out a 2gb and replacing it with 4gb. But that RAM is old and now actually kind of expensive. I saw a price for a compatible 4GB RAM module and it was $99.

I feel like I must have missed something because it is still running Lion and that means it missed Mountain Lion, Mavericks, Yosemite, not to mention El Capitan. I'm concerned that El Capitan will really bog down a 4GB machine. I have a friend who's MacBook Pro (2010, I think) which was near unusable until I upgraded her RAM from 4GB to 8 GB (now it works great). Maybe there is a way to create a boot disk for one of the older OS than El Capitan. Like maybe Yosemite will work better with just 4GB.

It might be fun to open up the iMac and put in an SSD and see how the machine runs. However at the end of the day it would still be a pretty old machine, just with an SSD. I would have to price out the SSDs and see how much money I want to drop into this thing.
 
I have same 2007 imac (2.0GHz Core2Duo)

Ram is cheap £35 from china for a 4GB stick.
I am going to upgrade my CPU as it not soldered and will change to SSD then hack sierra to run on it.
With CPU upgrade can make it think it a late 08 early 09 imac.

I use mine every day after work as main home pc yes not fasted but does what I want with only few beach balls when on facebook.

I bought mine for £189 refurb with 1 year warranty (until june 2017)
 
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TallManNY said:
Thanks. I have 4GB. I think I could even get that to 6gb by swapping out a 2gb and replacing it with 4gb. But that RAM is old and now actually kind of expensive. I saw a price for a compatible 4GB RAM module and it was $99.

I feel like I must have missed something because it is still running Lion and that means it missed Mountain Lion, Mavericks, Yosemite, not to mention El Capitan. I'm concerned that El Capitan will really bog down a 4GB machine. I have a friend who's MacBook Pro (2010, I think) which was near unusable until I upgraded her RAM from 4GB to 8 GB (now it works great). Maybe there is a way to create a boot disk for one of the older OS than El Capitan. Like maybe Yosemite will work better with just 4GB.

It might be fun to open up the iMac and put in an SSD and see how the machine runs. However at the end of the day it would still be a pretty old machine, just with an SSD. I would have to price out the SSDs and see how much money I want to drop into this thing.
Click to expand...

Like, I said, I have this machine handed down to family. It is running El Capitan and runs fine. 4GB RAM is fine. Everything is just fine. It's not too old to run El Capitan. I had to use it recently because my Windows PC was bricked by Windows 10 Anniversary Update and I was able to do work on it just fine. It's a fine machine even today for anyone doing any kind of computer work save super-heavy duty stuff, like gaming on triple-A titles, or doing 3D modeling....

I put a $45 120GB Sandisk SSD in there and even though it's a consumer-level SSD, it is still faster than the 7200rpm HDD that I had in there, which is no slouch in terms of the 7200rpm speed.

Like I said, I am not sure if Lion has access to the App store like newer versions of the OS where one can download El Capitan. But, that is how you would get El Capitan on it. Download it from the App store and create a USB Boot Disk.

El Capitan on mid-2007 iMac (the one I have is a 2.4Ghz Core2Duo, AMD 2600 GPU, 4GB RAM) is fine. This iMac was my computer from 2007 to 2012 and used it from Tiger all the way to El Capitan. And, El Capitan is just fine on it. It didn't like slow down because El Capitan is too new for a 2007 iMac.
 
lion does have app store access, but last time I looked el cap is missing unless you have downloaded it previously where it shows in purchased.

Thats the issue I had with my 2007 macbook pro lately, had to use target mode from my imac as was unable to download from store.
 
I think combo is combination of updates.

I recently did a 10.6 combo update to 10.6.8

As the combo is only 1.5GB for El Capitan
 
namethisfile said:
Like, I said, I have this machine handed down to family. It is running El Capitan and runs fine. 4GB RAM is fine. Everything is just fine. It's not too old to run El Capitan. I had to use it recently because my Windows PC was bricked by Windows 10 Anniversary Update and I was able to do work on it just fine. It's a fine machine even today for anyone doing any kind of computer work save super-heavy duty stuff, like gaming on triple-A titles, or doing 3D modeling....

I put a $45 120GB Sandisk SSD in there and even though it's a consumer-level SSD, it is still faster than the 7200rpm HDD that I had in there, which is no slouch in terms of the 7200rpm speed.

Like I said, I am not sure if Lion has access to the App store like newer versions of the OS where one can download El Capitan. But, that is how you would get El Capitan on it. Download it from the App store and create a USB Boot Disk.

El Capitan on mid-2007 iMac (the one I have is a 2.4Ghz Core2Duo, AMD 2600 GPU, 4GB RAM) is fine. This iMac was my computer from 2007 to 2012 and used it from Tiger all the way to El Capitan. And, El Capitan is just fine on it. It didn't like slow down because El Capitan is too new for a 2007 iMac.
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Cool. If it runs well on El Cap, then that would be the best result. I wonder why my friend's MacBook Pro was choked by El Cap. Maybe because her MacBook Pro had an HD instead of an SSD (which allows faster swapping).
 
For whatever it's worth, my experience is that El Capitan ran faster and smoother on my 2006 Mac Pro than Lion did.

Snow Leopard was fast. Then I updated to Lion to get a little bit closer to current, so certain programs would install. But Lion felt sluggish.

So I finally got El Capitan installed and my system was much more responsive.

I ran geekbench tests on it with both Lion and El Capitan just to verify that it wasn't my imagination. And the geekbench scores were better in El Capitan than they were in Lion.

I still keep Lion installed on a separate drive in case I need to run older software. So it's easy to jump back and forth if needed.
 
I personally own and use a base model 2007 20" iMac on a regular basis. It has a 2.0 GHz Core 2 Duo, 128MB ATI 2400XT, 4GB RAM and a 250GB SSD that I put in around 2012 to help run Mountain Lion. I also have a 2TB WD external drive hooked up to it via FireWire 800 that runs great and some M-Audio AV40's for speakers.

It is currently running El Capitan (10.11.6) just fine. I use it for Office 2016, Adobe CS5, iTunes, Safari/Chrome, some Logic Pro and other apps. But mostly web browsing and office use with some Photoshop thrown in (yeah it'll still process my cameras 18MP RAW files just fine).

Kpi1bpp.png


It's hay day was really Snow Leopard where it ran flawlessly, but El Capitan runs good enough for daily use and can be made a little smoother after turning off some of the translucency effects.
 
BrettApple I have exact same machine!

However the CPU is NOT soldered and is upgradable.
If 2.6GHz or even the 2.8GHz core2duo extreme then can use a hack on osxhackers to fool sierra to think it an 08/09 imac and it will install.
However the wifi will not work without changing the card.

When I do the upgrade I will document here so other can do same if they wish.

The cooler will cope with 2.6 and 2.8 cpu as same thermal output from my research.
 
I replaced the hard drive on my 2007 2.4G Core 2 Duo today. I hadn't ever planned on fixing it, so I threw away the boot discs a while back like an idiot. How can I load an OS onto the new drive with no discs? I would prefer El Capitan if I could. How can I do this? I'm sharp enough to change the hard drive, but I'm not brilliant by any means.
 
TallManNY said:
The 2007 iMac is too old and slow to even be kept as a backup computer for me. But I'd like someone to take it off my hands. And if they pay me $200 that would be nice. Though maybe putting in a cheap SSD would be fun afternoon project some weekend. If I mess it up, it won't really be a big problem.
[doublepost=1478804626][/doublepost]

It is a core 2 duo.

How do I get a newer OS on that machine when Apple won't let it be upgraded? Also, I suspect it will not run well on just 4gb of RAM if I somehow get El Capitan on it.
Click to expand...


I have mid 2007 C2D iMac with 4GB of RAM. I hated it while it was running Yosemite, but El Capitan brought new life to it. It does everything I need it to, but admittedly it's not much, but probably fine for your mom or for a casual PC user. For me with the 24" monitor it's a perfect media server/client, i file my taxes every year on it, I can run anything on the web with any of Safari / Chrome / Firefox, Youtube, etc. I host an iTunes server on the machine for other clients in the house serving up thousands of audio and video files. Since it has a built in optical drive, I ca burn my music CD's. The kids love watching Netflix on it. Machine is backed up via Time Machine on an external Firewire 800 HDD.

El Capitan is a free download from the app store, I have have had to buy Snow Leopard ( I think) from Apple a few years ago for a nominal upgrade ($20-$40), but after that, every OS upgrade has been free. Machine runs great on El Capitan.
 
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I was able to download a dmg version of El Capitan. App store wouldn't let me download it on my newer mac. My son has UNetbootin. Converts dmg to ISO so I can put it on a thumb drive and boot the old one from the drive. Here's hoping it works. If not, more questions...
BTW thanks for the quick reply.
 
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