Bringing life back to a 2007 iMac, worth it?

[rich12]

I have a mid 2007 iMac 24" that is just pathetically slow.
It has 1tb of storage and it has 972gb remaining so barely anything on there yet it's slower than you could ever imagine.

I've seen you can replace the HDD with a SSD like:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Internal-SSD/SanDisk-Ul...

It's memory is 2GB (Max it will allow is 4GB apparently) would this help?

What i'm getting at, is there anything I can do to it to speed it up like my 2015 Macbook is without spending way more than its worth?

[markyb_lcy]

Simple question before you'll get a good answer ... what do you use it for, or rather what do you intend to use it for?

[rich12]

Good point.

Interwebbing
Photoshop
Emails
Youtube
Whatsapp
Maps
Calender
Calculator

No games or anything like that.

I've done a like for like comparison of it and my Macbook Pro:
MBP
Read 978.4 mb/s
Write 492.6 mb/s

iMac
Read 108.8 mb/s
Write 73.2 mb/s

Edited by rich12 on Tuesday 30th April 14:03

[boyse7en]

Photoshop wants plenty of memory so put in as much as it will take. Apparently the 2007 iMac 24 can take 6GB (1 x 4GB, 1 x 2GB)
An SSD will improve things no end. Even a new HD drive would improve things if you need loads of storage space.

[Derek Smith]

I've got a Dell of 2008 vintage. It's well built, the keys have a nice feel. It's only downside is speed and weight.

The original 70gig HDD struggled with Win10 so I shelved it.

I saw an offer of a 250gig SSD for under £40. It would not clone from the HDD so went Linux.

I use it for browsing but it's main function is word processing. I take it to Nero's and such and do my work while my wife shops.

It boots up much faster than my fast I7 laptop with Win10. It's not only boot up that quicker. It is through everything it does.

The speed upgrade is remarkable. Go for it. A 500gig is less than twice the price of a 250.

[rich12]

Ok so just so I don't miss anything, this is my shopping list.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Internal-SSD/SanDisk-Ul...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01EGZWHRI/ref=pd_luc_...
(Do i need all these cables? Will the SSD be plug and play?)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-DDR2-SO-DIMM-PC53...

Is that it?

[rich12]

Is there a preferred SSD for iMacs?

This one is £10 less than the other one
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Crucial-MX500-CT500MX500S...

[LordGrover]

Crucial direct will be able to guarantee compatibility: Crucial.
I just guessed at your model so double check.

ETA fix link

Edited by LordGrover on Tuesday 30th April 16:36

[rich12]

Thank you.

[markyb_lcy]

Yea, sounds like Photoshop would be the only demanding use, which will also depend on if you're a power user or an occasional user.

If you can get 6GB RAM in there and an SSD then unless you're a professional photoshop bod, I suspect you'll be fine.

Reinstalling the operating system (Mac OSX) from scratch will also improve lag and speed in my experience, so do this too if it's feeling sluggish and you're refreshing some of the hardware.

[markyb_lcy]

BTW SSD performance and reliability varies quite a bit. I mean, you'll be fine with the cheapest one, but I would recommend the Samsung EVO if it's not much more / on offer etc

[gregs656]

If you're getting to the HDD you could also consider upgrading the processor.

A quick google suggests that T9500 2.6 GHz Core 2 Duo will allow you to run high sierra.

More info here - http://lowendmac.com/2018/penryn-t9300-9500-cpu-up...

Should be quite a cheap upgrade.

[rich12]

Thanks for all the suggestions etc.

If I do it, i'll let you know the difference.
My main concern is needing to replace the fan too as it gets so hot very quickly.

[Bikerjon]

I seriously wouldn't waste your money upgrading a 24" iMac at this late stage. I can't believe there's many of these left in use now as they all seem to develop GPU problems eventually. Good machine in its day, but even with upgrades it's just too old now - in my opinion.

[Vaud]

I refurbed my iMac 24" for my father in law. SSD and 4gb RAM.

Going strong for his usage (web/mild photoshop/word, etc)

[timmymagic73]

I've posted about mine before on a previous thread I think, but I also have core2duo 7,1 24" iMac. It has 4GB of RAM and a 500GB Cruical SSD which I installed - the SSD made a massive difference.

However - a year or so on I'm still finding the whole machine frustratingly slow even for basic tasks, the processor just isn't fast enough when compared to any vaguely recent hardware.

I'm also stuck on El Capitan I believe without hacking firmware.

Considering these are worth about £100 now, personally I'd look at buying a replacement used 27" one from late 2012/2013 that can run Mojave and think about a decent 1TB SSD in there. These are SATAIII too, your iMac is only SATAII.

[Vaud]

The other alternative is to run W7 on them, keeping an OS more in line with the age of machine.

[LordGrover]

Updates and support for Windows 7 ends next January, in theory. I suspect it will be extended though.