Seeking refurbished 27"!

[ARH1956]

I'm looking to replace my 2009 27"iMac with 8G/1 TB with a refurb. 27" with 16G/1 TB minimum. It is used for web surfing, sermon preparation and occasional photo editing. What companies should I consider, or avoid, thanks. Looking to keep it at/under $2000!

 

[mdgm]

Is your current iMac still working?

Is this the iMac10,1 or iMac11,1? Go to the Command (Apple symbol) menu at the top left of the screen, go to About this Mac and click on System Report. It should show the Model Identifier.

If it is the 11,1 it can take up to 32GB (4x8GB) RAM. If it is the 10,1 then 8GB is the max.

The 2009 iMac is officially supported up to El Capitan. You can put a SSD inside it or boot off a FW800 drive with a SSD in it to speed the machine up. If the Mac is still working and don't need newer software that only runs on newer OS X that would be the cheapest option.

You can clone the hdd in the 2009 iMac onto the SSD using SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner.

Are you needing features from a newer OS?

Do you use Bootcamp?

How much do you care about being able to run the latest Mac OS?

At this point if getting a newer Mac you should preferably be looking to get a Mac with a SSD or at least a Fusion Drive (though I've read that Fusion Drives may not work well with Big Sur).

 

[marzfreerider]

I'm looking to replace my 2009 27"iMac with 8G/1 TB with a refurb. 27" with 16G/1 TB minimum. It is used for web surfing, sermon preparation and occasional photo editing. What companies should I consider, or avoid, thanks. Looking to keep it at/under $2000!

Have you looked at Apple's refurbished page at all? They usually have a good variety of stock and you can get AppleCare added.

 

[mdgm]

The 27" has user replaceable RAM. If you buy a refurb with 8GB, even if not comfortable doing the replacement yourself you could find a friend willing to help you out. 3rd party RAM can be obtained at much cheaper prices than what Apple charges.

In any case looks like e.g. https://www.apple.com/shop/product/...z-6-core-Intel-Core-i5-with-Retina-5K-display comes in just under your budget. Last year's model and has 16GB RAM and a 1TB SSD. It'll be much faster than your current machine, especially so if you are still using a hard drive.

If you want to try speeding up your existing 2009 Mac with a FW800 SSD drive there are limited options still available but you could e.g. get https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/MS8U3SSDT1.0/

Connect it via FW800 then use Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper to clone the internal hard drive onto the external and then change the Startup Disk in System Preferences to the external SSD.

I've connected an external SSD via FW800 to an early 2009 Mac Mini and seen a notable increase in performance.

FW800 (Firewire 800) is the fastest interface for external drives on pre-2011 Macs as they don't have USB3 or Thunderbolt.

 

[glenthompson]

Bunch of 5k iMacs on the Apple refurb store. They come with the full warranty and are eligible for AppleCare. You can add your own memory to the 27” iMacs so don’t let the amount of ram be a show stopper. Highly recommend getting a SSD or a 2 or 3 tb fusion. Avoid the 1tb fusion.

 

[0279317]

Here's another vote for Apple refurb. And, for adding less expensive RAM after; Crucial, for example. I have purchased several refurbs from Apple including a 27". No problems.

Many say to avoid fusion drives all together. I can't comment, I've never had one.

You take your chances with resellers. I had a less than +ve experience with OWC.

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

I'm looking to replace my 2009 27"iMac with 8G/1 TB with a refurb. 27" with 16G/1 TB minimum. It is used for web surfing, sermon preparation and occasional photo editing. What companies should I consider, or avoid, thanks. Looking to keep it at/under $2000!

Option 1: Upgrade current iMac:
Place: Take it to any repair shop near you, not the Apple store.
What: Add RAM + SSD
16GB DDR3 (2 x 8GB) = 60$
1TB SSD: $120 ~ 150$ (brand depending)
Labour cost: $25 (VN) ~ 250$ (developed countries)

Option 2: Apple brand new.
Go to Apple store, and ask for a 27" 2020 base model with SSD (256GB only) and 16GB RAM, with discount, it's about $2000 ~ $2500.
You can donate you iMac or list it for sales later. 150$~200$ will be more than a fair price for it.

If you insist on Apple trade in program, contact them and ask for their offer first.

 

[Fishrrman]

If you want a "refurbished", late-model iMac, there's really only ONE place from which to buy it:
The Apple online refurbished store.

But there are "rules" for buying there:
1. You have to decide what you want in advance -- it's easy to get confused when looking at the available choices.
2. You have to keep checking every day until the configuration you want appears. That means, morning, noon, evening, and night.
3. When you see the item you want, you must buy it then and there. It will probably be gone in a few hours...

 

[ARH1956]

Thanks folks, I went with a 2019 27" refurb from the Apple online store that will arrive tomorrow. Spent more than I'd hoped but chose one with 32 GB and a 1 TB SSD as opposed to the Fusion Drive. I appreciate the responses, and wish a Merry Christmas to all.