Buying a 2011 iMac

[Choudharymukesh]

Hi Folks,

Planning to buy a iMAc, buying for my 10year old who would use it for his school projects.

Below is config for a price of Aus $500.

What you recommend, guy doesn't have the original CDs or papers and system is running on El Capitan...

Config ;

21.5 Screen
i5 CPU 1st gen 2.5 Ghz with 4 GB RAM
500 GB HDD

Recommendations please

 

[bassjunky]

I have a 2011, though it's a 27", so I was able to upgrade the RAM. Don't think you can do that to the 21.5", so you may be stuck with 4GB. However, the best thing to do for that machine, since it has Thunderbolt, is to boot off an external SSD through the TB port. It'll be much quicker running off an external SSD, and you can use the internal drive for regular storage.

Since you don't have any boot discs, you should be able to perform the Internet Recovery from powering on the machine and download and install El Cap. to whatever drive you have attached, either the internal, or like I advised, an external SSD off the TB1 port.

 

[denisvj]

I had an iMac 2011 ( was 21.5 ) and I upgraded to 16 GB of ram, so yes it can be done :

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201191

 

[chscag]

Hi Folks,

Planning to buy a iMAc, buying for my 10year old who would use it for his school projects.

Below is config for a price of Aus $500.

What you recommend, guy doesn't have the original CDs or papers and system is running on El Capitan...

Config ;

21.5 Screen
i5 CPU 1st gen 2.5 Ghz with 4 GB RAM
500 GB HDD

Recommendations please

I had that same machine before I gave it to my college age grand daughter. The only problem I ever had was the hard drive (Seagate 500 GB) failed but it was replaced for free by Apple since the machine was still under warranty at the time. You can add memory up to 16 GB (4 x 4 GB modules). Keep an eye on the hard drive and make backups often.

 

[JavierDiaz4]

I have a 2011, though it's a 27", so I was able to upgrade the RAM. Don't think you can do that to the 21.5", so you may be stuck with 4GB. However, the best thing to do for that machine, since it has Thunderbolt, is to boot off an external SSD through the TB port. It'll be much quicker running off an external SSD, and you can use the internal drive for regular storage.

Since you don't have any boot discs, you should be able to perform the Internet Recovery from powering on the machine and download and install El Cap. to whatever drive you have attached, either the internal, or like I advised, an external SSD off the TB1 port.

bassjunky, not to hijack this thread, but I agree an SSD will do wonders for that Mac. What SSD do you have set up for yours?

 

[bassjunky]

bassjunky, not to hijack this thread, but I agree an SSD will do wonders for that Mac. What SSD do you have set up for yours?

I'm using a Transcend SSD over TB, works great. Most people around here seem to recommend a separate enclosure and SSD, but I've had no problems with this all-in-one drive:

http://www.amazon.com/Transcend-256...qid=1452522097&sr=1-15&keywords=transcend+ssd