El Capitan on iMac 20" 2009 (with 8gb RAM)?

[Valkyre]

Hello, I am a very happy owner of a 2009 20" iMac that has been running great with Snow Leopard since I bought it.

I always was tempted with each OSX release, but ended up never upgrading. Thing is this time I am really tempted hearing how great El Capitan is and after experiencing the OS on my retina macbook pro.

But the thing is I dont want my iMac to be seriously affected performance wise. I do understand that performance will take a toll, but I am not sure if it is tolerable or it just ends up making me cringe everytime I use it.

So, without further ado, are there any similar iMac owners that have tried upgrading to El Capitan? Would prefer to hear from people with stock HDDs and not SSDs. I have upgraded my memory to 8GB but I am interested how the machine performs with HDD.

Appreciate the feedback.

 

[mesaken]

Hello, I am a very happy owner of a 2009 20" iMac that has been running great with Snow Leopard since I bought it.

I always was tempted with each OSX release, but ended up never upgrading. Thing is this time I am really tempted hearing how great El Capitan is and after experiencing the OS on my retina macbook pro.

But the thing is I dont want my iMac to be seriously affected performance wise. I do understand that performance will take a toll, but I am not sure if it is tolerable or it just ends up making me cringe everytime I use it.

So, without further ado, are there any similar iMac owners that have tried upgrading to El Capitan? Would prefer to hear from people with stock HDDs and not SSDs. I have upgraded my memory to 8GB but I am interested how the machine performs with HDD.

Appreciate the feedback.

 

[mesaken]

El Capitan is running well on a 2009 24" 3.06 core duo, 8G ram, WD 1TB stock drive.

 

[old-wiz]

I have El Capitan running fine on a 20" 2008 iMac with 4 gb ram.

 

[Valkyre]

El Capitan is running well on a 2009 24" 3.06 core duo, 8G ram, WD 1TB stock drive.

I went ahead and after all these years stuck in Snow Leopard, upgraded to El Capitan.

Man, I cant believe how awesome this is. All this time, I was worried over NOTHING really! The computer works and behaves wonderfully! I honestly cant believe how great everything is, it almost feels like I have upgraded to a better machine... finally I can have all my devices up to date and enjoy all the pros of the connectivity.

My iMac is as snappy as ever, I dont see any beachballs so far, everything just works and feels great.

This has to be one of the best software upgrades I have ever experienced (always considering the amount of doubt I had).

I really encourage people with iMacs as old as mine to upgrade to El Capitan without worrying about performance.