Old iMacs still good to use?

[GTO-3R]

Hi all, I've recently decided to start a youtube channel and that will mean me needing to edit videos etc. I dont have a clue if the channel is going to go anywhere so don't want to lay out that much money to begin with but if that changes then I'll upgrade to something better at a later date. My question is, would something like a 2017 ish iMac be suitable? I'm very much a beginner so I'll be using iMovie to begin with and don't need something really powerful, plus I will have an external hard drive to store the raw footage etc.

If anyone has an old one they want rid of, I'll happily do a deal with you. I'm in the Manchester area.

Thanks in advance

[AB]

Yeah 2017 iMac will be fine with that. I have a Podcast (it's boring unless you're in my industry!) and I used to edit it on the old 2016 Mac Mini we had in our boardroom - as we used to record on that one too.

It's not too intensive and iMovie worked fine.

[JagYouAre]

You're not going to be able to update it beyond MacOS Ventura (2 OS generations ago - not sure how long they continue with security patches), but aside from that in my experience Macs do tend to have long usable lives.

I would just check that any software you intend to use is still supported. I think you can get some software that will allow you to install more recent OS onto it but I've got no experience with that.

[haggi]

I’m running my 2012 Mac mini with opencore legacy patcher and Sequoia with no issues

[lizardbrain]

The old ones are a bit noisier, if that matters

[GTO-3R]

Thanks all, seems like a 2017 onward will be adequate for my needs as long as iMovie is supported enough.