iMac (late 2009 w/High Sierra) RAM question

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

Hey, just curious how this project turned out?!?! I'm sitting on an iMac 27-Inch "Core 2 Duo" 3.06 (Late 2009) and I'm an Apple newbie as well. This Mac wouldnt boot, after sitting stagnant for almost a year, so I took it to a local computer shop and they installed a new hard drive. It works but I can tell that it is "overwhelmed" with all the new, updated computation that Apple forces on it. Unfortunately I didnt take the effort to have a far superior SSD installed, I just told the guy to get it running at cheap cost. But, now, I just hate to toss this beautiful 27inch pristine display to the side! I have minimal dollars invested for what I have gained....so, I'm following several "iMac threads" to get a perspective on this desktop's future!
Enlighten me, did the project go as planned?

Just keep the HDD with High Sierra, and use the iMac mainly as a beautiful 27" monitor. Its value is fully reserved that way.

 

[mikehalloran]

Just keep the HDD with High Sierra, and use the iMac mainly as a beautiful 27" monitor. Its value is fully reserved that way.

You are under the mistaken impression that there is any real value to "preserve". It's only good for what it can still do — for the next few years, that's still a lot.

That said, an inexpensive SSD and temp sensor plus new CR 2032 battery (it's on the back of the motherboard of this and the 2010 iMac) will allow it to be viable as long as High Sierra can still connect to the internet. It can run the free Apple apps such as Pages etc. and some other current apps. Used RAM for the late 2009–2011 27" is inexpensive on eBay.

Here in the Silicon Valley, it costs $75 labor to have the battery replaced. Extra labor for installing an SSD at the same time adds a minute or two at the most. You can get by with shorting the leads from the HDD temp sensor but a used optical drive sensor runs about $10 on eBay while the correct one from OCC is closer to $40.

If good with your hands, it's not a difficult DIY following the instructions on iFixIt. Do replace that battery — it will cause all sorts of GPU issues as it gets really low. Apple used a BR2032 but a CR2032 is fine with an SSD inside.

You'll think you have a new iMac with an SSD inside.