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Second hand 2011 iMac? Should I or shouldn't I?

H

hardz10

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 25, 2011
18
0
UK
Hi, I am able to get my hands on a 2011 iMac 27in i5 3.1ghz for £1000. It has 32gb ram installed and is in good condition. Comes with keyboard and mouse. 1tb 7200rpm hard drive.

I really want an iMac for Lightroom as my trusty 2010 unibody MacBook over heats when using it. I can't afford a brand new one. What do you guys think? Is it worth it?
 
hardz10 said:
Hi, I am able to get my hands on a 2011 iMac 27in i5 3.1ghz for £1000. It has 32gb ram installed and is in good condition. Comes with keyboard and mouse. 1tb 7200rpm hard drive.

I really want an iMac for Lightroom as my trusty 2010 unibody MacBook over heats when using it. I can't afford a brand new one. What do you guys think? Is it worth it?
Click to expand...

It's less than half the price of a comparable brand new one, which isn't bad at all if you need the 32GB - not that good if you have no need for 32GB. Always good to compare with refurbished iMacs: The cheapest refurbished 27" is about £1400 with 8GB. If you don't need more than 8GB, I'd probably recommend getting the refurbished. If you need 32GB, go and get it.
 
Thanks for your reply. I'm very tempted. I forgot to mention that it comes with a year of warranty remaining too. I would imagine that Lightroom would fly on this?
 
That's a damn good deal. You say it's in good condition, so 9/10 maybe?

Honestly though price seems too good to be true :confused:
 
Yeah 9/10. I'm in two minds. It does sound too good to be true but he's upgrading to the haswell iMac and is using the sale money towards it.
 
I say go for it. I just bought a 27' 2011 iMac for $1300CAD. 4GB RAM, 1TB, and AppleCare till June 7.

The deal you're getting is a steal.
 
Sounds like a good deal! Go for it. A Mac technician told me the new, slim iMacs from 2012 onwards, need to be handled with care. The sides get easily dented when they are closing the alum enclosure. And the cooling fan is smaller and almost flat. The design of the older iMacs were better as the cooling fans location was better.
 
Can anyone advise what the performance of it will be like? Running apps like Lightroom 5 and Photoshop etc?
 
It's excellent. I have the exact same computer with only 16gb of RAM and I use Lightroom and Photoshop on a daily basis.
 
Thanks for all of your replies. I'm still sitting on the fence on this. Concerned that by this time next year the machine will be 'outdated'. Having said that, if it works and does what I need I should go for it! :confused:
 
That's a rockin deal. My 2011 was running the complete Adobe CS6 suite with no issues. It will not be out of date in a year. If that was the case then it would already be out of date. Plus you will have warranty for a year.
 
hardz10 said:
Thanks for all of your replies. I'm still sitting on the fence on this. Concerned that by this time next year the machine will be 'outdated'. Having said that, if it works and does what I need I should go for it! :confused:
Click to expand...

As long as the 2011 iMac still meets your needs adequately you should be good. Though Apple comes up with new models each year, sometimes the changes made to the newer models are minimal and speed differences are minimal if you will count real world performance and not specs on paper. Hope are able to decide and good luck. :)
 
hardz10 said:
Hi, I am able to get my hands on a 2011 iMac 27in i5 3.1ghz for £1000. It has 32gb ram installed and is in good condition. Comes with keyboard and mouse. 1tb 7200rpm hard drive.

I really want an iMac for Lightroom as my trusty 2010 unibody MacBook over heats when using it. I can't afford a brand new one. What do you guys think? Is it worth it?
Click to expand...

Just take that laptop on trial for 2 days. Use it, then show it to experts who can judge whether the product can be or can not be purchased. If it pass, purchase it if not negotiate with the buddy. OK.
 
hardz10 said:
Thanks for all of your replies. I'm still sitting on the fence on this. Concerned that by this time next year the machine will be 'outdated'. Having said that, if it works and does what I need I should go for it! :confused:
Click to expand...

It won't be outdated anytime soon. There is only a moderate improvement in Haswell. Intel has been more focused on Energy efficiency. The video card is also quite good still. If you want it to really shine you'd replace the hard drive with an SSD and make the current drive an external.
 
Thanks for all of your responses. After listening to you all, I've decided to go for it. I'll probably update this with what I think of the performance once I've got it up and running.

Thanks again
 
Guys, I got the iMac and writing this post from it. It was 10/10 condition wise! A real buy! Very happy with it. Transferring things over from my macbook was the easiest thing ever, managed to get all my Lightroom and iMovie projects over without any hassle.

The machine itself is a beast. I haven't done anything major on it yet but it's running perfectly.

Thanks for your opinions guys, wouldn't have made the buy without them!
 
hardz10 said:
Guys, I got the iMac and writing this post from it. It was 10/10 condition wise! A real buy! Very happy with it. Transferring things over from my macbook was the easiest thing ever, managed to get all my Lightroom and iMovie projects over without any hassle.

The machine itself is a beast. I haven't done anything major on it yet but it's running perfectly.

Thanks for your opinions guys, wouldn't have made the buy without them!
Click to expand...

Congrats on your new machine. It's a good deal! Sometimes the features and speed difference between the latest model and older ones may be minimal.
 
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