How to upgrade my late 2013 iMac 21.5'' to last another decade?

[Evan Aad]

Hello.

I have an original late 2013 iMac 21.5'', which has never required service, never been opened or tampered with. However, it's become very slow over the years, and its 1T hard drive is almost full. I'd like to renew it so it will be fast, high-capacity, robust, and durable and serve me well another decade like new.

Intended usage: office apps, scientific writing (LaTex, scientific graphing), software development including parallel computing and machine learning, watching movies and listening to music. The computer will not be used for gaming, video editing, and fancy digital art and graphic design.

I'm not going to do the upgrade myself, I'm going to have it done by a professional. But I'd like to know what components I should buy. I'll appreciate it if you be specific and state the exact brand and model of the components you suggest, or link to their Amazon/eBay/whatever pages where I can buy them from.

I'm a complete hardware illiterate, so please don't make any assumptions about my knowledge base, understanding or common sense.

Here's a possible upgrade meant to serve as a starting point for discussion. Will this work? Can I do better?

• CPU: Intel Core i7-4770S Quad-Core Desktop Processor 3.1 GHZ 8 MB Cache
• Hard drive: SAMSUNG 870 EVO 4TB 2.5 Inch SATA III Internal SSD Alternatives: Crucial MX500 4TB 3D NAND SATA 2.5-inch 7mm (with 9.5mm adapter) or 4.0TB OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 6G
• RAM: 2 x 8GB PC12800 DDR3L 1600MHz SO-DIMMs or Silicon Power 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3L RAM 1600MHz (PC3 12800) SODIMM Memory Module

Please give me your opinion on these specs, and one-up me if you can. Some points for your consideration:

1. Is my current CPU soldered in? Can it even be replaced? Is it worth the risk and expense?
2. The Samsung hard drive listed above is SATA III. Is this compatible with my motherboard?
3. Is my memory soldered in? Can it even be replaced (footnote 3 in the bottom of this page claims it cannot)? If so, is it possible to go beyond 16GB of RAM (as implied by this answer)?

 

[Bigwaff]

Please give me your opinion on these specs, and one-up me if you can. Some points for your consideration:

1. Is my current CPU soldered in? Can it even be replaced? Is it worth the risk and expense?
2. The Samsung hard drive listed above is SATA III. Is this compatible with my motherboard?
3. Is my memory soldered in? Can it even be replaced (footnote 3 in the bottom of this page claims it cannot)? If so, is it possible to go beyond 16GB of RAM (as implied by this answer)?

Just upgrading the storage and memory w/ professional installation is going to cost you in the ballpark of $300-350USD. You won't be able to upgrade the processor w/out some very expensive, time-consuming, and very skilled professional services. The CPU in your model is soldered to the motherboard and any replacement CPU you retail purchase would most likely be of the socketed variety.

My advice: Sell your iMac and put the money along w/ the money budgeted for these upgrades to purchase a new or used later model iMac which can run latest operating system and software.

 

[Chuckeee]

In my opinion, the only cost effective upgrade would be a 2TB SSD. Try that 1st and see how far that gets you. Beyond that it is probably more cost effective to get a new Mac (new for you that is).

 

[bryo]

If you really intend to do work with machine learning, especially any kind of trainjng I would recommend a new machine.

 

[HDFan]

However, it's become very slow over the years, and its 1T hard drive is almost full. I'd like to renew it so it will be fast, high-capacity, robust, and durable and serve me well another decade like new.

As above with expanding hardware and software requirements it will only last 10 years if you freeze all software and keep using 10 year old versions. No ability to update to current software versions as Intel support will not exist, apply security fixes, etc. which will cripple it and make it a security risk without taking extraordinary measures. Machine learning can use immense resources and will require using the latest and fastest hardware/software combination if you want to stay current in that space, depending on what you are doing.

 

[B S Magnet]

The CPU in your model is soldered to the motherboard and any replacement CPU you retail purchase would most likely be of the socketed variety.

This is applicable only to the base, Core i5 2.7GHz variant; logic boards for the higher variants, from the i5-2.9GHz upward, have a socket and do not have a BGA-soldered CPU (these data on the Everymac pages are incorrect, as iFixit have verified the same difference between the base model and the higher-spec variants, as discussed in step 7 of their product teardown in 2013).

To @Evan Aad — all of the ideas you have, provided your model is at least the 2.9GHz (or 3.1GHz) variant, are valid and doable.

And if so, the SATA III slot where the OEM HDD lives can accommodate a SATA III SSD (regardless whether you use a 2.5-inch form factor, or an m.2-SATA used with a 2.5-inch adapter). Likewise, there is also an PCIe-based slot supplied on all variants of the late 2013 iMacs (same link as before, but with a focus on step 2, making it possible to use an Apple SSD blade-to-NVMe adapter and an m.2 NVMe SSD for markedly faster transfer speeds than the SATA III bus). Putting, say, your OS on the PCIe/NVMe drive and your data on the SATA SSD would be a way to get the most out of your storage use, access speeds, and capacities.

Your RAM cap, however, will be 16GB, given how the 21.5-inch variant for late 2013 A1418 has only one memory channel (with two slots), not two (with four slots), as with the 27-inch iMac A1419.

There may even be a provision to use the i7-4790S 3.2GHz Haswell CPU (as its TDP is in line with the i7-4770S, but there is little information on success in upgrading an iMac in this manner — largely due to Apple’s restrictive firmware expectations of what hardware it may find on a particular model revision). So on that, it may be prudent to stick with finding an i7-4770S, as the performance difference between the two is slight.

Hope some of this helps. With OCLP, you should be able to use macOS for a little while longer, but if you’re planning out an additional decade of use, this would be a great time to begin looking into Linux variants which work best for your particular research needs.

 

[picpicmac]

Here's the answer I wrote initially, shortly after you posted, but then this thread disappeared for some reason (at least for me):


Switching your boot drive to an SSD will do wonders. That is what I did to keep my older-than-yours iMac going.


Other than that, recommend calling up Macsales/OWC and see what they recommend. They claim your machine can go to 16GB: https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/memory/iMac/2012_21.5/DDR3L

They have pretty much everything you need, and will even do the service for you. I've not had them service my machine, but I have bought memory and external drives (HD and SSD) from them, and they've been in the Mac business since forever.

They have one used iMac of your model in stock, and the upgrades available suggest it can do a CPU upgrade but it may top out at what you already have:

New, Used, and Refurbished Macs

Looking for a new or used Mac? OWC can help you look at price points for used Macs so you aren't paying the full price for a brand new Mac.

eshop.macsales.com

 

[sack_peak]

If you bought your iMac 9 years ago then I'd sell it when the 2024 iMac 24" M2 comes out.

That should last you up to 2034.

Let your 2013 be the problem of someone else.

 

[Spock]

By the time you pay to have the upgrades done, you could most likely purchase a new M2 Mac mini that will for sure last you another decade.

 

[sack_peak]

Does anyone here know of anyone using a computer with all its parts introduced in Oct 2003?

Unless you are a antique collector then you would not willingly use it as your daily driver.

If one were to ever upgrade an Intel iMac and use it for a decade then do so on year 5.

Replace spindle HDD with SSD & increase 8GB memory to 16GB or more.

 

[Spock]

Does anyone here know of anyone using a computer with all its parts introduced in Oct 2003?

Unless you are a antique collector then you would not willingly use it as your daily driver.

If one were to ever upgrade an Intel iMac and use it for a decade then do so on year 5.

Replace spindle HDD with SSD & increase 8GB memory to 16GB or more.

Gonna be honest, if I could still be using my iMac G4 as my daily driver I would be thrilled.

 

[sack_peak]

Gonna be honest, if I could still be using my iMac G4 as my daily driver I would be thrilled.

I think we miss being 2 decades younger than be using ancient tech in 2023. ;-)

I sometimes find myself wondering how it would be like using a iPhone 15 Pro Max during the 1st years of WiFi.

It would likely have raw performance of a whole supercomputer.

 

[JamesMay82]

Also the os stops signing security certificates with safari so you wont be able to web browse.

 

[VivienM]

Does anyone here know of anyone using a computer with all its parts introduced in Oct 2003?

Oct. 2003, no, but in Windowsland, try using a late-2000s C2D/C2Q running Windows 10 (or 11 unsupportedly) with 8 gigs of RAM and an SSD. It's not exactly going to be the fastest Windows machine around, but it is strangely usable for something with 15 year old parts. Runs (almost) all the latest software too - productivity software, web browsers, etc. Maybe some games or other things require CPU instructions that those don't have.

In a way, this is complete crazy insanity. In September 2008 when I bought the motherboard in question (the processor on it has since been upgraded twice), a 15-year-old computer would have been, oh, an LC III or Centris 650 on the Mac end or some 486 on the DOS/Windows end, and not only would both of those have been laughably obsolete in 2008, but the replacements you would have bought in 1998 (a B&W G3 or a Pentium II) would also have been laughably obsolete in 2008. And the replacements you would have bought in 2003 (a G5 or a Pentium 4) would have been... struggling... by 2008, though at least somewhat functional.

And yet in 2023, a 2008-era Windows machine is still quite usable. And meanwhile a 2010 Mac Pro is a few months away from not having a modern web browser anymore unless you go into OCLP land...

 

[B S Magnet]

It would likely have raw performance of a whole supercomputer.

That isn’t the sage take.

An iPhone 15 may be fast, relatively speaking, but the difference between a slower computer which allows the user to do whatever the user needs for it to do, versus a faster computing device (for which the manufacturer dictates how you are allowed and/or able to use it — or not — and finitely, at their sole discretion), is why people here and elsewhere reflect fondly on a twenty-year-old computer (or, more realistically, a 15-year-old computer running an Intel Penryn or better CPU) and less so on a blazingly quick, but strictly hobbled, locked-down hand appliance.

It may not be “as fast”, but the former “just works” as the user needs it (very nearly, for everything a user wants to throw at it); the latter works only for a limited time, and only as the manufacturer permits. A user doesn’t want to have to guess whether the manufacturer will permit a use-case or lock it out.

 

[VivienM]

I think we miss being 2 decades younger than be using ancient tech in 2023. ;-)

I sometimes find myself wondering how it would be like using a iPhone 15 Pro Max during the 1st years of WiFi.

It would likely have raw performance of a whole supercomputer.

And I sometimes find myself wondering what it would be like using a modern computer with no modern web technologies. No embedded web browsers in everything, no Electron, all HTML and JavaScript compartmentalized to a browser and limited to what it was used for in 2003. And, you know, business software written in native code with efficient client-server protocols rather than the now-decade-plus-long of writing everything as a "web application."

One of the interesting quirks of Mac history is that basically, the PPC world is frozen in time before all of that garbage came along. There's no Chrome/Chromium/Electron/etc for PPC, just Classic/Carbon/Cocoa like Steve Jobs himself intended. And, speaking as someone who acquired two G4 machines in the last year or so, it's... astounding... how fast the G4s are running period-correct software with a lot less RAM than modern machines. And then try to run a web browser and... wow are they ever useless.

 

[sack_peak]

Also the os stops signing security certificates with safari so you wont be able to web browse.

There are work arounds like using 3rd party browser like Firefox, Chrome, etc.

Although they also stop supporting abandoned OSes as well eventually.

Example, Firefox users on macOS: 2016 10.12 Sierra, 2017 10.13 High Sierra and 2018 10.14 Mojave moving to Extended Support Release that will end with version 115 on September 2024.

Macs that are stuck on 2016 macOS 10.12 Sierra had its final release on Sept 26, 2019. Firefox gave them an extra 5 years of browser support.

Combined it gave 2009 & 2010 Macs that are both limited to Sierra a total of 15 to 16 years of life.

For the 2012 iMac 27" that is last supported by 2019 macOS 10.15 Catalina will likely be dropped by Firefox some time in 2027. Total 15 years official useful life.

 

[sack_peak]

Oct. 2003, no, but in Windowsland, try using a late-2000s C2D/C2Q running Windows 10 (or 11 unsupportedly) with 8 gigs of RAM and an SSD. It's not exactly going to be the fastest Windows machine around, but it is strangely usable for something with 15 year old parts. Runs (almost) all the latest software too - productivity software, web browsers, etc. Maybe some games or other things require CPU instructions that those don't have.

In a way, this is complete crazy insanity. In September 2008 when I bought the motherboard in question (the processor on it has since been upgraded twice), a 15-year-old computer would have been, oh, an LC III or Centris 650 on the Mac end or some 486 on the DOS/Windows end, and not only would both of those have been laughably obsolete in 2008, but the replacements you would have bought in 1998 (a B&W G3 or a Pentium II) would also have been laughably obsolete in 2008. And the replacements you would have bought in 2003 (a G5 or a Pentium 4) would have been... struggling... by 2008, though at least somewhat functional.

And yet in 2023, a 2008-era Windows machine is still quite usable. And meanwhile a 2010 Mac Pro is a few months away from not having a modern web browser anymore unless you go into OCLP land...

You do need to bump up the RAM though to the max the motherboard could take.

Parts introduced 15 years ago would likely be hitting 80-100% load most of the time. Power consumption and waste heat output would be higher at idle as well.

 

[sack_peak]

And I sometimes find myself wondering what it would be like using a modern computer with no modern web technologies. No embedded web browsers in everything, no Electron, all HTML and JavaScript compartmentalized to a browser and limited to what it was used for in 2003. And, you know, business software written in native code with efficient client-server protocols rather than the now-decade-plus-long of writing everything as a "web application."

One of the interesting quirks of Mac history is that basically, the PPC world is frozen in time before all of that garbage came along. There's no Chrome/Chromium/Electron/etc for PPC, just Classic/Carbon/Cocoa like Steve Jobs himself intended. And, speaking as someone who acquired two G4 machines in the last year or so, it's... astounding... how fast the G4s are running period-correct software with a lot less RAM than modern machines. And then try to run a web browser and... wow are they ever useless.

I think those overhead you listed are invented to lower the bar to entry for less skilled workers in the hopes of lowering labor cost and increase turn around time.

Imagine if you are able to use period-correct software on a G4 that was die shrunk to 3nm. A whole Mac on space equivalent to an Apple Watch or even Airpods? Consumes ~1W of power.

 

[B S Magnet]

I think those overhead you listed are invented to lower the bar to entry for less skilled workers in the hopes of lowering labor cost and increase turn around time.

Imagine if you are able to use period-correct software on a G4 that was die shrunk to 3nm. A whole Mac on space equivalent to an Apple Watch or even Airpods? Consumes ~1W of power.

Stay on topic with what the original post was asking about, please. Cheers.

 

[picpicmac]

Does anyone here know of anyone using a computer with all its parts introduced in Oct 2003?

I still have my MacBook Pro 17" bought in that year.


Does it still work? Yes.
Do I use it daily? No.

Instead, I use daily my much newer.... (looks at About This Mac)... 2007 iMac.

Just a reminder that a well built and not abused computer can last quite a while.

 

[VivienM]

Just a reminder that a well built and not abused computer can last quite a while.

Running what OS? And is it on the Internet or not?

For machines from the lateish 2000s and newer, that's usually what determines how long a computer lasts. And that's where things are not pretty for Macs...