Second hand iMac.

[Drawweight]

Yes or no.

My wife used to use iMac’s at work and has always wanted one at home.

Till recently we had a retail website that would only run on Windows but that’s gone now when we retired so she would quite like an iMac to tie in with our phones and iPads.

However the killer is we can’t justify the price of a new one for leisure use (even using man maths) so are looking s/h.

We’ve narrowed it down to 2015 onwards as the earlier versions won’t take Big Sur (or so I’ve been told) but is a pre 2015 one worth considering anyway? (I’m thinking security updates here)

There’s loads on eBay and gumtree but should I be looking for anything in particular.

Are they easily repaired/upgraded at a reasonable price? I can do all the software installation myself without any problem.

Has anybody had experience of reconditioned rather than second hand as that’s another option?

Or is second hand not advisable at all?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Ta.

[alorotom]

No idea on second hand, mine was bought new (granted it qualified for 12mths interest free)

The most you can upgrade it is the RAM and that’s super easy via a small door on the back. Anything else requires the screen removing from the frame and that’s quite a job.

What about a Mac mini?? Much cheaper option and more than enough power for home leisure use??

[megaphone]

I'm still using my 2009, 27" iMac, it's a quick and speedy as it was when I first switched it on. Had a new SHDD a few years ago. Won't update past High Sierra, but that's not really and issue. So they last a good 10 years+.

My work colleagues similar 27" iMac died with a logic board issue. My friends 21" ditto. So they are not bomb proof.

Get the latest one you can find, test it properly when you buy. RAM can be an issue, you can't upgrade it on the 21" I think, so make sure it has minimum 8GB but really 16GB. Try and get one with a Fusion HDD or an SSD, the newer ones, with the thin bezel are not as easy to upgrade.

[pincher]

As per megaphone, my kitchen Mac is a mid-2010 27” that also won’t go past High Sierra.

Was having a few problems with Citrix Receiver for a couple of weeks, so slapped an (external) SSD on it and it’s running like it just came out of the box.

A 2015 one will be absolutely fine I reckon, although do consider a Mac Mini as someone else said - as long as you have a suitable screen to hook it up to.

[croyde]

I must ask about the external HD.

I have a 2010 iMac, it's dog slow, constant pinwheel of death but it's my only computer.

It has a hard drive attached for Time Machine back ups.

I don't have the original installation disks.

So how would I go about using a new external hard drive which I presume will need the OS?

Cheers

[miniman]

Make sure you get one with SSD or Fusion Drive. I had one briefly with standard HDD and it was utterly unusable.

[pincher]

croyde said:

I must ask about the external HD.

I have a 2010 iMac, it's dog slow, constant pinwheel of death but it's my only computer.

It has a hard drive attached for Time Machine back ups.

I don't have the original installation disks.

So how would I go about using a new external hard drive which I presume will need the OS?

Cheers

What version of OS X are you running?

[croyde]

Haha, that means turning it on, which is a pain.

Hang on!

Ah Yosemite

[vaud]

croyde said:

I must ask about the external HD.

I have a 2010 iMac, it's dog slow, constant pinwheel of death but it's my only computer.

It has a hard drive attached for Time Machine back ups.

I don't have the original installation disks.

So how would I go about using a new external hard drive which I presume will need the OS?

Cheers

You can download the OS and create a USB stick to install it.

[thebraketester]

Drawweight said:

Yes or no.

My wife used to use iMac’s at work and has always wanted one at home.

Till recently we had a retail website that would only run on Windows but that’s gone now when we retired so she would quite like an iMac to tie in with our phones and iPads.

However the killer is we can’t justify the price of a new one for leisure use (even using man maths) so are looking s/h.

We’ve narrowed it down to 2015 onwards as the earlier versions won’t take Big Sur (or so I’ve been told) but is a pre 2015 one worth considering anyway? (I’m thinking security updates here)

There’s loads on eBay and gumtree but should I be looking for anything in particular.

Are they easily repaired/upgraded at a reasonable price? I can do all the software installation myself without any problem.

Has anybody had experience of reconditioned rather than second hand as that’s another option?

Or is second hand not advisable at all?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Ta.

Budget?

[Drawweight]

thebraketester said:

Drawweight said:

Yes or no.

My wife used to use iMac’s at work and has always wanted one at home.

Till recently we had a retail website that would only run on Windows but that’s gone now when we retired so she would quite like an iMac to tie in with our phones and iPads.

However the killer is we can’t justify the price of a new one for leisure use (even using man maths) so are looking s/h.

We’ve narrowed it down to 2015 onwards as the earlier versions won’t take Big Sur (or so I’ve been told) but is a pre 2015 one worth considering anyway? (I’m thinking security updates here)

There’s loads on eBay and gumtree but should I be looking for anything in particular.

Are they easily repaired/upgraded at a reasonable price? I can do all the software installation myself without any problem.

Has anybody had experience of reconditioned rather than second hand as that’s another option?

Or is second hand not advisable at all?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Ta.

Budget?

Probably £600-700 tops.

[AJB88]

Personally would say get one that still gets OS/Security updates. Amazes me the amount of people who run systems that don't get updates and do stuff like online banking etc on them. 2015+ should be perfect and will last another 5+ years.

I ran a 2010 MBP in between 2 Linux laptops and it was good once I had upgraded ram to 8GB and also fitted a SSD, did me well for about 2 years then I sold it for virtually what I paid for it. It had however stopped receiving OS updates.

[Magnum 475]

Also worth checking the Apple UK Certified Refurbished store. Stock changes a lot. It may be a little over budget, but factor in a machine that should run for 10 years and it's still good value.

Failing that, look for eBay sellers who specialise in refurb / upgraded models. Most can update an iMac from HDD to SSD, which is well worth having done. We updated my wife's 2013 iMac from HDD to SSD a couple of years ago, and the performance improvement is incredible. If you contact an eBay refurb seller directly you may be able to get something good

[pincher]

croyde said:

Haha, that means turning it on, which is a pain.

Hang on!

Ah Yosemite

I’ve got High Sierra on a USB stick that you can have - PM me your address if you want it.

And to answer your next question - a Samsung T5 1GB SSD

[nikaiyo2]

Drawweight said:

Probably £600-700 tops.

They have current model i3 Mac Minis on the refurb store for £679, just plug it into any TV and you are there.

[aaron_2000]

I run a 2017 Mac with the fusion drive, I don't think I'd ever go back to a PC. A Boot camp dual boot is easy enough to do which I did to install Windows 10, I was irritated to see that I couldn't install 7 on a 2017 Mac like I could on the 2014 it replaced. I think it's well worth it, much better with the fusion or SSD though.

[sjg]

They're fine machines but I find the secondhand prices bonkers. I think you're better off on a cost-per-year basis buying new (refurb store or ideally edu discount if you can get it), running for 4-5 years, sell it on while it's still getting OS updates for a while.

[mmm-five]

What size screen are you after - 21.5" or 27"?

My 'main' machine is a 2014 27" 5k iMac...and my 'portable' machine is a 2019 21.5" 4k iMac.

In general usage the 2014 iMac is as quick as the 2019 model (I don't swap over to the newer machine unless I'm transcoding video, where I can save about 30% of my time).

Even the benchmarks show it's relatively close...for a 5 year old machine:

2014 iMac quad-core 4.0ghz i7 (single-core/multi-core scores):

• Geekbench 4.0: 4740/15489
• Geekbench 5.0: 1032 / 3769

2019 iMac hex-core 3.2ghz i7 (single-core/multi-core scores):

• Geekbench 4.0: 5855/27121
• Geekbench 5.0: 1130 / 6163

Other than the obvious increase in multi-core score due to 2 more cores - there's only about 20% in it over 5 years.

The most important bit for any of the newer OSes is an SSD - STAY AWAY FROM HDD-ONLY systems, and the dual-core models (usually i3 or 'core duo').

You can get away with a 'Fusion' drive (which is a hybrid of an SSD & HDD) - but you'll have to do some research into how big the SSD portion is for each year, as I believe the 1TB Fusion drive from 2015 on was only a 24/32gb vs the 128gb on the older 1TB Fusion models. Bigger Fusion drives kept the 128GB SSD.

As for finding one good enough at a decent price, then you'll have to either look through ebay (THIS FOR EXAMPLE) (and take a chance on it lasting), or pay a premium and get one from a reseller with a warranty (MacKings, HoxtonMacs, etc. - even CEX have them).

Edited by mmm-five on Friday 2nd October 12:50

[lonny]

I have a late 2015 27” iMac that has developed a pink screen fault that is apparently quite common on this vintage - screen has overall pink tinge which is much more pronounced at the edges. A bit annoying and worth watching for.

[croyde]

nikaiyo2 said:

They have current model i3 Mac Minis on the refurb store for £679, just plug it into any TV and you are there.

Would there be a way to use an iMac mini with my current 2010 dog slow iMac just as the monitor?