Hi All
I have a local repairer with a good reputation and who I have used before, so I have no concerns in that regard.
I have two iMac as per subject heading that are far from being primary use machines, and although I appreciate that MR forums is not a place to come and get your head examined, for the sake of context and in the interest of getting some honest opinion, advice and feedback, I will have to confess that I do have a bit of a "thing" with regard to the Apple II, Macintosh, iMac range and somewhat of an "extensive" collection of same.
I also have a bit of a hoarders mentality and hate to see serviceable computers lay in a state of disrepair and I do have a tendency to look after my belongings and they become somewhat treasured.
There, I've fessed up and please don't judge me too harshly for it.
So, onto the questions:-
I have a Mid '11 iMac 27" i5, 1TB spinner on board, RAM upgraded by me which is about the limit of my DIY skills. It used to be my primary machine and then I passed it to my daughter a couple of year ago. I used it regularly but relatively lightly, my daughter used it for 2 years a bit more intensively but not overly so. She uses the Adobe CC apps primarily. Apart from so many finger prints on the screen (why do they do that!) and a bit of dust, it will be in aesthetically mint condition after I clean it up.
I recently retired the iMac from her use as I got a great deal on a refurbed Late 27" for her as she is in the middle of her A levels and will be off to Uni later this year.
We retired it because it had displaying the "black screen of death"? from time to time a few weeks back, sometimes only being stable for 30 seconds or so but sometimes being perfectly stable for several hours of use.
I've read up on MR and understand that the AMD Radeon 6770M 512GB is known and prone to fail and the repair shop spends a lot of time sorting these.
Although the most expensive solution, their recommendation which I tend to agree with is, is that they replace the chip element with a brand new one.
Their quote for the part and fitting is £279.
My thoughts are that if I go down this route then I will be giving myself the best odds of a repair that will last the longest but at some point down the road, the new chip will fail, but that this will hopefully be 5+ years down the line.
If I go ahead with the repair, although the 1TB spinner has not shown any signs of failure or any issues as all, I know that replacing it with an internal SSD will breathe new life into it and would intend to give the iMac to my youngest daughter who is 12.5 years of age.
The repairer has suggested that although the caddy replacing the superdrive option is do-able, his own personal preference is to leave the superdrive in replace, remove the spinner and replace directly with a Crucial internal SSD (although he is perfectly happy to use Samsung internal SSD units as well).
I tend to agree with his recommendation. He can supply and fit a Crucial 525GB SSD for £200 or a 1TB for £325.
So, if I replace the graphics chip and go for the 525GB it will cost me £479 in all or if I go 1TB then £604.
Please remember that the computer itself is mint and has all fully working accessories, but please advise if I am insane for contemplating spending on either of these options. If you would do it, which SSD size would you go for given that it will be used by a young girl, so not heavily, and I appreciate that we could add spinner based external storage in addition to an internal SSD relatively cheaply.
With regard to the 2009 24", I purchased this second hand and complete and it is mint other than a damaged LCD which has the orange/amber hue. The repairer has a replacement LCD which he can test to ensure that it doesn't have the discolouration and if this is the case he has offered to sell and fit it for me for £100.
This would very much be a machine just to stay in my collection and be used very occasionally so although I appreciate that even if the panel is good, it would be likely to discolour at some point in the future but given very light use, this would hopefully be many years down the line.
For the sake of £100 I am very much tempted to go with this but, again, advice, opinions, insight etc would be much welcomed.
Many thanks
Rich
I have a local repairer with a good reputation and who I have used before, so I have no concerns in that regard.
I have two iMac as per subject heading that are far from being primary use machines, and although I appreciate that MR forums is not a place to come and get your head examined, for the sake of context and in the interest of getting some honest opinion, advice and feedback, I will have to confess that I do have a bit of a "thing" with regard to the Apple II, Macintosh, iMac range and somewhat of an "extensive" collection of same.
I also have a bit of a hoarders mentality and hate to see serviceable computers lay in a state of disrepair and I do have a tendency to look after my belongings and they become somewhat treasured.
There, I've fessed up and please don't judge me too harshly for it.
So, onto the questions:-
I have a Mid '11 iMac 27" i5, 1TB spinner on board, RAM upgraded by me which is about the limit of my DIY skills. It used to be my primary machine and then I passed it to my daughter a couple of year ago. I used it regularly but relatively lightly, my daughter used it for 2 years a bit more intensively but not overly so. She uses the Adobe CC apps primarily. Apart from so many finger prints on the screen (why do they do that!) and a bit of dust, it will be in aesthetically mint condition after I clean it up.
I recently retired the iMac from her use as I got a great deal on a refurbed Late 27" for her as she is in the middle of her A levels and will be off to Uni later this year.
We retired it because it had displaying the "black screen of death"? from time to time a few weeks back, sometimes only being stable for 30 seconds or so but sometimes being perfectly stable for several hours of use.
I've read up on MR and understand that the AMD Radeon 6770M 512GB is known and prone to fail and the repair shop spends a lot of time sorting these.
Although the most expensive solution, their recommendation which I tend to agree with is, is that they replace the chip element with a brand new one.
Their quote for the part and fitting is £279.
My thoughts are that if I go down this route then I will be giving myself the best odds of a repair that will last the longest but at some point down the road, the new chip will fail, but that this will hopefully be 5+ years down the line.
If I go ahead with the repair, although the 1TB spinner has not shown any signs of failure or any issues as all, I know that replacing it with an internal SSD will breathe new life into it and would intend to give the iMac to my youngest daughter who is 12.5 years of age.
The repairer has suggested that although the caddy replacing the superdrive option is do-able, his own personal preference is to leave the superdrive in replace, remove the spinner and replace directly with a Crucial internal SSD (although he is perfectly happy to use Samsung internal SSD units as well).
I tend to agree with his recommendation. He can supply and fit a Crucial 525GB SSD for £200 or a 1TB for £325.
So, if I replace the graphics chip and go for the 525GB it will cost me £479 in all or if I go 1TB then £604.
Please remember that the computer itself is mint and has all fully working accessories, but please advise if I am insane for contemplating spending on either of these options. If you would do it, which SSD size would you go for given that it will be used by a young girl, so not heavily, and I appreciate that we could add spinner based external storage in addition to an internal SSD relatively cheaply.
With regard to the 2009 24", I purchased this second hand and complete and it is mint other than a damaged LCD which has the orange/amber hue. The repairer has a replacement LCD which he can test to ensure that it doesn't have the discolouration and if this is the case he has offered to sell and fit it for me for £100.
This would very much be a machine just to stay in my collection and be used very occasionally so although I appreciate that even if the panel is good, it would be likely to discolour at some point in the future but given very light use, this would hopefully be many years down the line.
For the sake of £100 I am very much tempted to go with this but, again, advice, opinions, insight etc would be much welcomed.
Many thanks
Rich
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