Old/Retired iMac

[LuminousFX]

What do you guys do with your old/retired iMac?

I wish I can easily repurpose it into a display, without the hassle of target display mode :S

 

[keysofanxiety]

Providing it's not faulty, I'd max it out with RAM/SSD, and use it as a 24/7 dedicated server for games or something like that. My housemate's still rocking a 2007 iMac. It's a real plodding workhorse; reliable as a wood-burning stove.

 

[nightcap965]

I recently got rid of a whole bunch of old machines when I sold my house. I had told myself I was collecting them to play with in my retirement, but the fact is, when you get a Mac SE working again, what have you got? I was just auditioning for "Hoarders: Buried Alive!"

If you like learning about operating systems, you can always find a version of Linux that will run on it. You might be able to donate it to a school or non-profit. Or you can unclutter and send it to Apple for recycling.

 

[MadDane]

Everything I don't need anymore I either give to someone who can use it or sell it. With Macs it is typically the latter since they keep their value pretty well.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

I usually pass my old apple stuff to friends and family. if it's still runnig a recent OS and works fine somebody will want it.

 

[pondosinatra]

I have 3 generations of iMacs. From the white plastic, non-glossy screen one to the modern (non-retina) one.

I use all of them - one in office, one upstairs, one in the garage. One running Lion, one running Mavericks, one running El Capitan.

 

[AJsAWiz]

I'm waiting for UPS to deliver my new 27" iMac right now . . . more on that in a minute.

Anyway, I'm keeping my old 27" 2011 iMac. Unlike the new iMacs, at least it has a disc drive (which I use often).
I'll just put it downstairs so I'll have a computer to use on each level . . . not that I really need that as I use my iPad Pro everywhere. Oh yeah, but the iPad Pro doesn't have a disc drive so I guess that the older iMac really will be useful downstairs.

I have always, in the past, sold my old computer and devices when getting a new one. This will be the first exception. Even though it's terribly slow, when compared to newer models, it is still useful. I think it will be great as a second computer. And if either one goes in for repairs, I'll have another to use. Actually the one I have now has only been in once to get the disc drive replaced and it was under warranty at the time.

Now back to the new iMac coming today. I really don't like UPS at all and they are delivering my new iMac. Ugh!
It seems as though, no matter where I'm living, I seem to get the bottom of the barrel of the UPS driver pool.
Unlike Fed Ex, they deliver late and are famous for the old "dump and run". Or claim no one was at home when they "attempted delivery" even though I was right there. I think they do this because I'm at the end of their run and they just don't want to deliver the rest of their packages. Not only will I be at home all day. I will stay downstairs where I can see the front door and I'll have the deliver app running just in case (they do another attempted delivery routine).

 

[BrettApple]

What do I do? Well, I live in a house with some roommates and one of them happens to be an aspiring DJ/Graphic designer so I set up my old 2007 iMac for him to use and he absolutely loves it. It's a Mid 2007 base model (2.0 GHz C2D) but I've put in an 128GB SSD with 4GB of RAM and it runs El Capitan beautifully with Adobe Photoshop/Bridge/InDesign CS5 (older software but still works), Logic Pro X/Garageband, MainStage 3, Serato DJ, and iTunes paired with a 2TB FW800 external drive.

Despite it being over 8 years old and having every OS from Tiger to El Cap installed on it, it runs perfectly. Nearly 100% reliable and it never seems to have any of the same bugs my MacBook has for whatever reason. I can easily see it hitting 10 years and being used on a daily basis still.

I recently posted a short video on my Instagram when I got some M-Audio monitors to go with it.

It's only weak spot is the video card, which only has 128MB of VRAM on it. So I usually unplug our external monitor when doing GPU intensive work otherwise it gets quite frame-droppy in El Capitan running a 1080p monitor plus the internal. Snow Leopard was the last OS that was perfectly smooth doing that. Though Mavericks wasn't bad. I did turn off transparency and it helps a lot. The SSD still hits about 250 MB/s R/W and it's a few years old, the Core 2 Duo isn't super speedy but it'll still run Serato DJ with multiple tracks and effects just fine. Office/Safari use is nothing to it still, unlike my old G4 that didn't age so gracefully in the web era.

 

[lkalliance]

I sell mine. Actually I usually purchase my new Macs through PowerMax, and they'll take my old one in trade for credit. PowerMax happens to be the one I use, I'm sure there are others. Trading in on a new purchase does limit the amount you'll get, but lessens the risk. If I'm feeling my oats, I'll sell it myself instead. You never know!

 

[stroked]

Just remember, if you give your iMac to somebody that doesn't know Macs, you will be their IT person.