Hi,
My father in law has a late 2013 21" iMac and it's starting to feel a bit slow and tired (I think hdd is on its way out) plus it doesn't look like it will take the newest OS so he is looking to replace it. I work in IT but mainly Windows/PC related but I said I would help him choose a replacement.
We live in the UK and this one looks to be the most common iMac across the major retailers
https://www.johnlewis.com/2021-appl...KUBzraO2NF3p-JY36W4aAjuBEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds - he is only going to use it for browsing/e-mails really - is there anything with this spec or model I need to watch out for? I initially did think a Mac a couple of years old might be good for him but looking at the prices of second-hand ones they only seem a couple of hundred pounds cheaper than this new one, is this down to the processor change?
Thanks for any help, with it being the father in law I want to make sure I give him the best advice I can
Thanks,
Danny
Most computers feel slow and tired because the owners don't properly maintain them. You'd be surprised what a clean install of the OS will do to clean out the cobwebs. As an IT guy, you now the difference between a machine that has just been set up versus one that has been running for a few years. Daily usage bogs down the system eventually.
Next up, older computers do better with an OS designed for them... sure you can install later OSes onto them, but in some cases, it actually degrades performance rather than improving it. Case in point being Mojave or later on machines with only mechanical hard drives. Mojave was written with SSDs in mind, so if you want to turn your computer into a slug, run Mojave on a mechanical hard drive. The Windows world has it's own examples where newer OSes and older hardware don't go hand in hand.
And lastly, there are upgrades that you can do to your system to give it new life. Upgrade the RAM, the internal drive, et al. It comes down to how much tinkering you are willing to do with it.
Now for ARM Macs... Apple is replacing it's entire line with ARM Macs. This means any non-ARM Mac is essentially obsolete from Apple's perspective. Sure, there will be maintenance updates for some models, but your current machine is already considered EOL, so it really isn't even getting anything short of maybe security updates... if that.
The question is, does your Father-in-Law really have a desire to have an ARM Mac? Run Monterey or later when it is actually released? Does he have any 32-bit applications? Does he run bootcamp? Has he been using older Apple products such as iPhoto in lieu of Photos? Sometimes the desire to buy a new computer isn't tempered with the reality that everything that is familiar now on the current machine becomes suddenly unfamiliar on the new one. A lot of people truly despise Big Sur. They'd rather run an earlier OS if given the choice. Who's to say if Monterey is an improvement or another step backwards.
My motto is, if it ain't broken, don't fix it... especially when it comes to people who are set in their ways. They don't take to change very well. If he isn't saying... my machine is old and too slow and wants to toss it out of a third story window... then consider that maybe the machine is really just fine for his usage. It's easy to buy a new computer. But lets be real here, does a super fast CPU really mean much to someone who likes to sip a cup of coffee while surfing the internet? They aren't in a hurry. They aren't standing in front of the microwave saying to themselves... damn 15 seconds is way too long to heat up a cup of coffee. I'm going to get a faster microwave.
Reality is, a new computer is always nice, but then it's not going to be new forever. Eventually it becomes the same machine you just replaced. You surf the web and read email... accepting its performance for what it is... until something faster comes along and then you say to yourself... I need a new computer because it loads this one web page 1 second faster than my current one does. If you really don't have a need for newer hardware (i.e. the software you run requires it), you don't really have a need for newer hardware. Sure you can buy it, but in the end it's like buying a Ferrari knowing that you only drive to the end of the driveway to check your mail. Some people like to do that.
As a college student (been a good 25 years since I graduated now), I came home to my parents and looked at their computers and thought, how archaic. It was easy to convince them how this or that is better for them. Reality is, they had no notion that what they had was archaic until I convinced them it was. Something to consider before "helping" them to choose a new computer.
