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How many people's 24" iMac is still running strong?
- Thread starter Tutone
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runs like a champ
2.8 GHz, 4GB, 2008. just had to replace the HD and graphics card through the years but just as good as the day I got it. only thing was to install smcFanControl. would like to get the 27, give this one to my sister, and she can pass the cube to the mom. damn, I loved that cube, lol.
2.8 GHz, 4GB, 2008. just had to replace the HD and graphics card through the years but just as good as the day I got it. only thing was to install smcFanControl. would like to get the 27, give this one to my sister, and she can pass the cube to the mom. damn, I loved that cube, lol.
I just bought a used iMac 24" 2.16 Intel Core 2 Duo. It's running okay so far but I've run into the freezing problem. I've also seen when I open up a few applications a line going through the screen. Once I close the application, it goes away. I'm guessing a bad video card? Maybe the fan needs to also be cleaned out? Upgrade to 3 gigs of ram? Not sure what should be done since it's out of warranty. Any suggestions?
Thanks in advance.
Khalid
Thanks in advance.
Khalid
How much did you pay and are you using Mountain Lion? I would stick with Snow Leopard as that's faster than ML on my more capable 24 inch 2008 machine.
To be honest, to buy a computer that old seems pointless. Unless it was given to you, I would say you've been had.
My 24" 2.8Ghz 8800GS still running strong after 4 years. Both LCD Panel & GFX card were replaced by Apple earlier this year.
On Mountain Lion, it is running PS CS6, LR4.1 & PP CS6 almost daily. Once in a while I'll play the latest games on Win 7 (Boot Camp).
Been waiting to upgrade since May this year.
On Mountain Lion, it is running PS CS6, LR4.1 & PP CS6 almost daily. Once in a while I'll play the latest games on Win 7 (Boot Camp).
Been waiting to upgrade since May this year.
Check this thread out and see if it applies to you.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1262891/
I did the kext swap thing - I'm running ML 10.8.2 but have swapped out my video card kexts for the ones from 10.6.2. I was having multiple freezes a day; I haven't had one in almost a month.
Mine is running great as well. It's a 2008 24" 2.8GHz model and I got it in August 2008. Over the years I have swapped out my 320GB HDD with a 1TB HDD, then swapped that out with a 240GB SSD. I also maxed my RAM out to 6GB, and have moved all my user files onto a 2TB FW800 external drive (with the exception of my Aperture library). I run Aperture, iMovie, CS5, etc. without any problem.
The only issue I ever had were freezes after updating to 10.6.8; found out that I was not alone and there are video driver issues for my ATI2600 card. Rolling back the kexts to 10.6.2 have solved that problem.
The only issue I ever had were freezes after updating to 10.6.8; found out that I was not alone and there are video driver issues for my ATI2600 card. Rolling back the kexts to 10.6.2 have solved that problem.
I've had the same iMac for 6 years.....
I've changed the HDD 5 times,
Motherboard twice
Graphics card 3 times
Screen twice
Outer casing 4 times
On my 5th DVD drive
replaced memory each year
on my 4th keyboard and mouse
I'm still on my original iMac 24" and it works like a dream !!!
ps. in case you don't get it, google Trigger and Broom
I've changed the HDD 5 times,
Motherboard twice
Graphics card 3 times
Screen twice
Outer casing 4 times
On my 5th DVD drive
replaced memory each year
on my 4th keyboard and mouse
I'm still on my original iMac 24" and it works like a dream !!!
ps. in case you don't get it, google Trigger and Broom
Hello everybody,
I've had my Mac from new. It's a 2008 intel core 2 duo with a 3.06 Ghz processor. I have what I thought maxed the memory to 4g, but Ive have noticed that a few people have gone beyond this! How is this possible when apple say that 4g is the maximum this machine will go. I would like to be able to up the memory as the machine since installing ML has been running like a dog. I'm about to do a clean install of ML to see if this will help.
Mick
I've had my Mac from new. It's a 2008 intel core 2 duo with a 3.06 Ghz processor. I have what I thought maxed the memory to 4g, but Ive have noticed that a few people have gone beyond this! How is this possible when apple say that 4g is the maximum this machine will go. I would like to be able to up the memory as the machine since installing ML has been running like a dog. I'm about to do a clean install of ML to see if this will help.
Mick
Hey Mick,
The 2008 iMac has two memory slots. If you put a 4gb chip in one and a 2gb chip in the other then the computer will recognize 6gb of ram and run that way. You could also put a 4gb chip in each slot, but the computer would still only recognize 6gb of ram. Apple routinely posts the maximum ram amounts a little under what the machine is actually capable of and they seem to target a max that allows for paired/matched memory across the available slots.
If you go to everymac.com you can look up any mac machine and it will tell you how much memory you can put in that machine that will be recognized.
I bought mine in March 2009 3.06 Ghz and since it has been out of warranty, I upgraded the Ram to 8GB, and the Hard Drive to 2TB. Did it myself. However I think Apple is making the newer models where you can't put in your own HD even for Apple Geniuses who know how to.
But mine is running fairly well, my only complaint is my screen is a bit yellowish, now with age, as I have a 2nd monitor hooked up and it is new and that screen is so white compared to mine.
But I do plan to upgrade again when and if they put Retina into a iMac. My guess that would be 2013/2014 time frame. By then I will be ready for a faster iMac.
But mine is running fairly well, my only complaint is my screen is a bit yellowish, now with age, as I have a 2nd monitor hooked up and it is new and that screen is so white compared to mine.
But I do plan to upgrade again when and if they put Retina into a iMac. My guess that would be 2013/2014 time frame. By then I will be ready for a faster iMac.
I'm running an Early 2008 3.06GHz, 4GB RAM and 8800GS video card on OS X Lion.
Just last week, the video card failed and I got the dreaded green lines of death.
I took my iMac to the local authorized Apple repair shop, and $400 US dollars later, it's as good as new.
Just last week, the video card failed and I got the dreaded green lines of death.
I took my iMac to the local authorized Apple repair shop, and $400 US dollars later, it's as good as new.
Mine is!!! I've had it for over 5 years. Best $1000 i ever spent!! (got an education discount + sold free ipod it came with)
I have the early 2009 and it still runs great. I see a bunch of you all have upgraded your internal drives to SSD. Is this an upgrade you performed yourself or did you take to a shop? I've seen a couple YouTube videos and it looks pretty involved... are my concerns over taking apart my iMac justified? Point of reference, I have worked inside towers before, but curious about the difficulty factor here.
Thanks
Thanks
Yeah, I got rid of my 24 inch imac in Jan 2010. Original brought the 2.4 core 2 duo 24 inch imac in Dec 2007 (I think).
I got the 27 inch iMac core i7 in Jan 2010 (late 2009 imac). Now just sold my 27 inch iMac core i7 cause I wanted an SSD and heard the late 2009 iMac models didn't do well with SSD upgrades.
Once you go SSD (I had it in my Macbook air), it's hard not to go back to regular drives again.
I got the 27 inch iMac core i7 in Jan 2010 (late 2009 imac). Now just sold my 27 inch iMac core i7 cause I wanted an SSD and heard the late 2009 iMac models didn't do well with SSD upgrades.
Once you go SSD (I had it in my Macbook air), it's hard not to go back to regular drives again.
Imagine working on a tower with one hand tied behind your back and a cat balancing on your other arm.
It can be done self-service with sufficient tools (for starters, you need suction cups to get the glass off) and patience (there's a lot of wires etc. in the way that you need to delicately remove, and put back in the right place). Go to iFixit.com and look up the walkthrough for your model.
2007 iMac 24in - one dead HD recently
2GB, 2.4GHz (I think) C2duo - dead HD suddenly a couple of weeks ago, managed to save most data through network backup. New larger HD installed by Apple Store (worth it if not confident) - now working flawlessly once again, despite best efforts of tinkering teenagers. I'm very pleased with this now 5yr old machine - still very speedy and gorgeous.
2GB, 2.4GHz (I think) C2duo - dead HD suddenly a couple of weeks ago, managed to save most data through network backup. New larger HD installed by Apple Store (worth it if not confident) - now working flawlessly once again, despite best efforts of tinkering teenagers. I'm very pleased with this now 5yr old machine - still very speedy and gorgeous.
Anyone with a 24" upgrading to new 2012 iMac?
I have an early 2009 2.93 ghz iMac that I have upgraded to have a 2TB HD and 8 GB RAM. Looks like this config sells for $750-1000 on eBay and I am considering whether or not the new models are a worthwhile upgrade.
Plus side:
Higher screen resolution and less glare
Much faster processor
Much faster graphics
Larger screen size
Built in SD card reader
Cool design
USB 3.0
Thunderbolt
Minus side:
No optical drive (hello - digital copies of Blu-Ray movies?!)
SD Card slot is on the back?!
Cost $1000-1200 after selling old 24" iMac
Probably the biggest issue is whether or not this is worth a minimum of $1000 out of pocket after selling my current iMac. Mostly I use my iMac for iPhoto, email and web surfing. Occasionally iMovie, Aperture, FaceTime, Handbrake, Messages, pages and numbers.
Since I don't use handbrake much any more, my needs for an optical drive are reducing rapidly - mainly just digital copies from Blu-Ray movies. I can't remember the last time I burned a DVD.
iPhoto can sometimes feel sluggish with 40,000 photos, but not dog slow.
I dunno - maybe when I see this new iMac in person I will be blown away, but for now the price is holding me back being that my iMac still works well.
What do you all plan on doing? Keep trucking with the 24" or sell while it still has good value?
Jeff
I have an early 2009 2.93 ghz iMac that I have upgraded to have a 2TB HD and 8 GB RAM. Looks like this config sells for $750-1000 on eBay and I am considering whether or not the new models are a worthwhile upgrade.
Plus side:
Higher screen resolution and less glare
Much faster processor
Much faster graphics
Larger screen size
Built in SD card reader
Cool design
USB 3.0
Thunderbolt
Minus side:
No optical drive (hello - digital copies of Blu-Ray movies?!)
SD Card slot is on the back?!
Cost $1000-1200 after selling old 24" iMac
Probably the biggest issue is whether or not this is worth a minimum of $1000 out of pocket after selling my current iMac. Mostly I use my iMac for iPhoto, email and web surfing. Occasionally iMovie, Aperture, FaceTime, Handbrake, Messages, pages and numbers.
Since I don't use handbrake much any more, my needs for an optical drive are reducing rapidly - mainly just digital copies from Blu-Ray movies. I can't remember the last time I burned a DVD.
iPhoto can sometimes feel sluggish with 40,000 photos, but not dog slow.
I dunno - maybe when I see this new iMac in person I will be blown away, but for now the price is holding me back being that my iMac still works well.
What do you all plan on doing? Keep trucking with the 24" or sell while it still has good value?
Jeff
My 2.8 24" still meets my needs for now. I definitely could do some upgrades to enable it to last even longer. I think the new iMacs look really interesting, but I hardly ever get the latest and greatest. I prefer to wait around and see how things go with all of the early adopters. I'd also rather buy used or refurb to save on some of the initial sticker shock.
Worth upgrading to 2012?
I have a 2007 Alu 2.8ghz C2D extreme. It started getting pretty slow late last year so I upgraded to an SSD and it absolutely flies now. Apps load instantly and I never see the beachball. I rarely play games so think its pretty good now. However, I've had to put the iPhoto library onto a USB drive and accessing photos is pretty horrible. I'm hoping that USB 3 on the new iMacs would address this.
HOWEVER, I'm in the UK and asking for what I think will be £1700 for the 27" with a fusion drive is just obscene. There really is no excuse for booting off a HDD in this day and age so the fusion drive or SSD is a must. My 24" was top of the range 5 yrs ago and even with custom addons via Apple that was £1318 which I thought was pretty expensive. I really can't see how they can charge 30% more than back then and may have to consider getting a mac mini instead. I'm not happy at all
I have a 2007 Alu 2.8ghz C2D extreme. It started getting pretty slow late last year so I upgraded to an SSD and it absolutely flies now. Apps load instantly and I never see the beachball. I rarely play games so think its pretty good now. However, I've had to put the iPhoto library onto a USB drive and accessing photos is pretty horrible. I'm hoping that USB 3 on the new iMacs would address this.
HOWEVER, I'm in the UK and asking for what I think will be £1700 for the 27" with a fusion drive is just obscene. There really is no excuse for booting off a HDD in this day and age so the fusion drive or SSD is a must. My 24" was top of the range 5 yrs ago and even with custom addons via Apple that was £1318 which I thought was pretty expensive. I really can't see how they can charge 30% more than back then and may have to consider getting a mac mini instead. I'm not happy at all
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My early 2008 C2D 2.8 is still going strong with 6GB RAM, had screen backlight replaced a year or two ago under AppleCare.
It does choke a bit (a lot) on larger files in Aperture, and the 2600HD graphics card REALLY can't do justice to X-Plane.
Still, it's served me well for 4.5 years and it'll find a second home; I'm planning to get a pretty-much-maxed-out new 27" in December.
It does choke a bit (a lot) on larger files in Aperture, and the 2600HD graphics card REALLY can't do justice to X-Plane.
Still, it's served me well for 4.5 years and it'll find a second home; I'm planning to get a pretty-much-maxed-out new 27" in December.
I bought my early 2008 24" in December 2008. I had some problems in 2010 but had Apple Care and they were fixed. Then, my hard drive failed in 2011, 2 months before Apple Care was over and they replaced my 320 gb hd with a 500 gb hd.
I was still having problems and was seriously thinking of upgrading when I realized my problems were due to my time machine backup. When apple replaced my hd I was still using the same external hd for back up. What I did not realize was that the old back up was still there and there was not room for the new back up. I had just presumed that time machine would just take over from the date of the new hd, but I guess it makes sense that it thought it was a new machine. So, now my back up is up to date again(phew) and my iMac seems to be running really smoothly (hope I have not jinxed it).
I would like to upgrade from SL to ML but am wondering if I should increase the RAM from 4 gb to 6 gb before I do so and if this is something I could do myself. I googled it and it looks pretty easy, but I don't want to mess anything up.
I am really hoping I can get at least 5 years out of this machine before upgrading. I can't even imagine a 4 year old pc working with this well. Without major maintenance, pc's seem to slow down after 6 months and not be worth much after 3 years.
I was still having problems and was seriously thinking of upgrading when I realized my problems were due to my time machine backup. When apple replaced my hd I was still using the same external hd for back up. What I did not realize was that the old back up was still there and there was not room for the new back up. I had just presumed that time machine would just take over from the date of the new hd, but I guess it makes sense that it thought it was a new machine. So, now my back up is up to date again(phew) and my iMac seems to be running really smoothly (hope I have not jinxed it).
I would like to upgrade from SL to ML but am wondering if I should increase the RAM from 4 gb to 6 gb before I do so and if this is something I could do myself. I googled it and it looks pretty easy, but I don't want to mess anything up.
I am really hoping I can get at least 5 years out of this machine before upgrading. I can't even imagine a 4 year old pc working with this well. Without major maintenance, pc's seem to slow down after 6 months and not be worth much after 3 years.