How many people's 24" iMac is still running strong?

[harcosparky]

I wish Apple would introduce a size somewhere between 21 and 27.

I agree, such a big gap between 21.5 and the 27.

Not much more of a gap then when they sold 20" and 24".

When I bought my latest iMac I was coming from a 24" unit. Not wanting to go to the 27" because I *thought* it was too big. I found the 21.5 to be too small and the 27" not really much bigger than the 24".

In fact the 27" isn't all that much bigger than the 24"

Measurements from the desktop .......

24" - 20 1/4" height 22 1/2" width

27" - 20 1/4" height 25 1/2" width

It really helps when you can put the two or three, side by side, to do a real world comparison.

The 27" is only 3" wider than the 24".

 

[eric44]

Our two imacs from 2008 are still going strong.
I do wonder if the graphics card could go though...
As there are four of us in the house I have just got a base rMBP and the kids can fight over the imacs!
Overall very pleased with the pair of them especially as we bought the second in 2009 at an amazing price just after the 2009 early revision came out

 

[lozpop]

My 2008 24" iMac is still great, but I need to sell it in the next months to sell it at a still acceptable price.

This is why I really hope we'll see a new iMac at the launch of Mountain Lion.

 

[superlatic]

Although technically not my iMac any more, I handed down the mid 2007 core 2 extreme imac that I bought at launch to my youngest cousin.

Its currently running Snow Leopard but still running like a dream.

 

[GizmoDVD]

[/COLOR]

You put $300 into a 2006 iMac?

I figured I could sell it for more than $300 if it was working so why not. If the new iMacs had been out, I wouldn't have bothered.[/QUOTE]

Probably better off selling it as broken on Craigslist.

 

[mscriv]

My main machine is a 2008 2.8 24" with the Radeon HD 2600 and it runs great. I actually bought the machine used a few years ago to upgrade from a 20" White iMac. I've never had a problem and we use this machine daily.

For those of you who've upgraded to an SSD do you really see a major improvement? Would anyone recommend putting a second drive in the DVD slot and switching to an external DVD drive?

 

[Tarjas]

For those of you who've upgraded to an SSD do you really see a major improvement? Would anyone recommend putting a second drive in the DVD slot and switching to an external DVD drive?

I saw a huge improvement with an upgrade to SSD. I'd recommend a FW800 enclosure for your current drive. I copied my iTunes folder, iPhoto library, and movies over to a 3rd drive, leaving about 60GB on the internal. Used Super Duper to clone my internal to the SSD in the FW external. Booted of FW to make sure it worked (surprisingly good performance off FW). Swapped out the drives, made sure the SSD booted fine. Erased the original drive now in the FW and copied the iTunes/iPhoto/movies to it.

For the 2008, did't see the benefit of a pata-sata adapter and the reduced performance of using the DVD ROM PATA interface...

 

[midorix]

Late 2007, 2.8ghz Imac with 4gb of RAM. This is our main computer for our home and has been running almost everyday since purchase and it's been a great computer.

For those upgraded to 6gb of RAM, did you just buy one 4gb stick and replace (assuming you already have the 2gb stick installed in each slot) or did you need the "matching" set and bought a 6gb kit?

Any signficant improvement (I know YMMV but any opinion based on your experience would be helpful).

 

[Big Dave]

My 24" 2.4ghz is still going strong. I just bought a 2011 27" and I notice that my old 24" can't display the color white. I never knew I had the yellowing problem until I started using my new imac. I used handbrake to rip one of my dvds last night and handbrake on the 27" kept crashing so I fired up the 24" and it worked like a charm.

 

[hsotnicam8002]

Just sold mine (last week) on eBay for £420. It was going strong but running short of HD and time for a change. New i7 is bright! But have a darn sleep problem that is sending me squiffy!

 

[joesegh]

My late 2007 HDD died a few months ago, but everything else is operational. Not worth the money to replace.

Or maybe it would have been, considering how long it seems to be taking Apple to release the 2012 iMac. Now I'm so deep in to waiting all I can do is wait some more.

How much money do you think someone would pay for a 24" C2D 2.8 Ghz that needs an HD replacement?

 

[California]

Greetings,

Long pc user and soon to be 2012 iMac owner. I don't understand the big deal that Mac's has last 3 or more yrs. My first Compaq in 1998 lasted till 2004 and my current Dell since 2004. Both were upgraded due to new technology and not wear or tear. BTW, only changed one HD in 14 yrs (lucky I guess).

While it's nice to know that Mac's last for yrs, pc's do also.

One of my first macs -- the Powerbook 145b -- was purchased in 1994 and was in daily use until 2001. And it wasn't the Powerbook that went bad either, it was the ram upgrade I'd done.

On the subject of 24" iMacs, my biz partner just maxed out his 2006 White iMac 24" with 4gbs ram, upgraded video card to 256mb and new hard drive for Lion.

 

[johto]

My 24" 2.4ghz is still going strong. I just bought a 2011 27" and I notice that my old 24" can't display the color white. I never knew I had the yellowing problem until I started using my new imac. I used handbrake to rip one of my dvds last night and handbrake on the 27" kept crashing so I fired up the 24" and it worked like a charm.

Huh? Ever tried to calibrate it with a hardware calibrator? You seem to confuse something...

Your 24" uses cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFLs) and your newer uses 27" LED(not necessary better).

There will be color temperature difference out of the box comparing the CCFL vs LED.
CCFL will naturally be more "yellowish" and LED more "blue". Either case both can display "white". Its all relative. you should calibrate it "for real". No, i dont mean the "osx's own calibrate program, im talking about hardware-calibrators here.

 

[iDutchman]

My 20" Late 2007 iMac is used as the kitchen Mac nowadays. It looks awesome.

Upgrades done:

- 4GB RAM
- 128GB Vertex 3 SSD
- Clean Install Lion.

Smooth as butter with Spotify and Airfoil. Fortunately, this is the oldest iMac to be supported for Mountain Lion, so that will be awesome. (No Airfoil anymore)

 

[jamin100]

Early 2009 24" Imac.
2.66 Ghz
Upgraded to 1 TB Hard drive (internal)
Removed Optical drive into a USB caddy
Installed 120GB SSD Drive in the optical bay (running at 3Gpbs )
Running lion and will be upgraded to mountain lion when its release.

Its on 24/7 as it holds all my itunes data for my apple TV's. I backup the data to a HP Microserver (Windows 2008R2) and have a small 128GB portable hard drive to do a Clone of the SSD drive in the event it fails.

This computer is great, I use it mainly for lightroom, Itunes, Handbrake and surfing the web and its never missed a beat.

It handles 20MB RAW files in lightroom comfortably and unless something drastic breaks in the next couple of years, I cant see me replacing it for a while.

 

[Bigtree]

My mid 2007 was the first (aluminum) sold out of the Apple store. Went to the Flatirons (CO) store. Watched the keynote address about the new aluminum iMacs (in the store). When Steve Jobs said they will be available today, I walked up to the counter and said "I'll take one"! Had to wait 2 hours for the Apple online store to reopen to so they knew what to charge me.

It's still ticking with an upgraded 1tb hard drive (been replaced twice) and I'm on my second optical drive and it's starting to go.

Sooooo just waiting for the new model to come along.

 

[fred.bloggs]

Early 2008 - Still running fine

I was experiencing slowdowns. This turned out to be the early signs of hard drive failure.

So it's had a new hard drive, keyboard (was randomly waking it from sleep) and mouse.

The DVD drive won't read CDs anymore, but will write to CDs and read/write DVDs.

This is my 1st mac and I don't plan to relpace it till it dies in some way that I can't repair myself.

 

[swordfish5736]

My late 07 ordered at launch is still running strong. 24" 3gb of ram(thinking of going to 6gb) only problem I had was a dead HD around the 2 yr mark. I've updated it to a newer intel chip and am thinking about going for an SSD as well

 

[ATC]

My early 09' 24" iMac has been going good. I just did a clean install of ML today and it's flying now. But I do have what appears to be a display-related hardware issue that might need a trip to the genius bar (I have AppleCare for another month before it runs out).

Basically, when the display warms up good (after an hour or more of constant use) there is an oval-ish area of about 4-5 inches in diameter in the lower lefthand corner that becomes noticeably darker - see image below (click to enlarge). The picture was taken with a digital camera.



Interestingly, that same area seems to be abnormally susceptible to image-retention. Even after a few minutes sometimes you'll see well defined remnants of websites or text etc.... just in that area.

The issue has been documented on my file with Apple support (via phone) but the closest AppleStore is 2+ hours drive away so I'm planning to lug this thing there in two weeks and hopefully Apple will take care of me. My guess is I'm going to need a screen replacement.

 

[johto]

My early 09' 24" iMac has been going good. I just did a clean install of ML today and it's flying now. But I do have what appears to be a display-related hardware issue that might need a trip to the genius bar (I have AppleCare for another month before it runs out).

Basically, when the display warms up good (after an hour or more of constant use) there is an oval-ish area of about 4-5 inches in diameter in the lower lefthand corner that becomes noticeably darker - see image below (click to enlarge). The picture was taken with a digital camera.

[url=http://i903.photobucket.com/albums/ac235/Rob76/th_DSC04117.jpg]Image[/URL]

Interestingly, that same area seems to be abnormally susceptible to image-retention. Even after a few minutes sometimes you'll see well defined remnants of websites or text etc.... just in that area.

The issue has been documented on my file with Apple support (via phone) but the closest AppleStore is 2+ hours drive away so I'm planning to lug this thing there in two weeks and hopefully Apple will take care of me. My guess is I'm going to need a screen replacement.

Thats is caused obviously from heat! Your LCD panel suffers from it! You should check your cooling is ok. Have you cleaned the inside from dust(or in rapairshop)? Have you tried to boost your fans a tad more with fancontrol software? The area you are pointing is close to the imacs CPU/GPU. No wonder there's that heat. Of course this issue should not be happening in the first place, but maybe that's a apples failure when they designed the heat envelope...

 

[baypharm]

My 2009 model (2.8, 4gb, with "only" a 320gb HD) is working flawlessly. I use Quark, Adobe CS5 programs, FCX, and everything else under the sun. Never bogs down, no spinning balls, etc. And I LOVE my anti-glare screen! Bought it brand new for $995. Definitely getting my $$$ worth.

 

[ATC]

Thats is caused obviously from heat! Your LCD panel suffers from it! You should check your cooling is ok. Have you cleaned the inside from dust(or in rapairshop)? Have you tried to boost your fans a tad more with fancontrol software? The area you are pointing is close to the imacs CPU/GPU. No wonder there's that heat. Of course this issue should not be happening in the first place, but maybe that's a apples failure when they designed the heat envelope...

I've never used any fan control software on my iMac (I did on my MBP) and I've never opened the case to clean the insides. I do have a fairly dust-free office although I'm sure there is some dust in there.

I'm still going to take it into an AppleStore as I think there's some damage or defect in the display, they might as well take a look at it since it's still covered under AppleCare.

 

[Reaktor5]

I've never used any fan control software on my iMac (I did on my MBP) and I've never opened the case to clean the insides. I do have a fairly dust-free office although I'm sure there is some dust in there.

I'm still going to take it into an AppleStore as I think there's some damage or defect in the display, they might as well take a look at it since it's still covered under AppleCare.

It sounds like burn-in but it doesn't look it. If you're still within AppleCare they should replace it for you.

 

[ATC]

It sounds like burn-in but it doesn't look it. If you're still within AppleCare they should replace it for you.

My AppleCare runs out on Aug 21 and I'll be taking in my iMac about 10 days before that. Talk about cutting it close but there isn't any AppleStore near me and I'm working every single day till then.

I'm just hoping when I take it in it'll be a painless experience. Love my iMac otherwise and it'll at least go for another 1-2 years before needing replacement. It runs 10.8 great even with 4GB RAM, although I've been contemplating upgrading the RAM to 8GB.

 

[am2am]

I'm still using my white late 2006 iMac24. Waiting for new imac to finally replace it.
It became really slow recently (especially if I wanted to use Aperture) so I decided to buy external FW800 exclosure with SDD. After transferring the system and booting from SDD its like a new machine. Speeds up approx 300% in some cases - maybe not a speed demon, but absolutely usable - even with Aperture