Looks like you have the RAM... now you need to upgrade your storage to an SSD. You DIY w/ internal SSD upgrades or attach an external SSD via USB and boot off the external. There are many threads, blogs and YouTube videos covering SSD upgrades for iMacs in excruciating detail.. Google is your friend.I have perfectly working iMac 2014 model with 32 gb ram, 3 TB HD and 5K screen - how do I upgrade its hardware/motherboard in order to run the latest software.
I don't think there is any other expense, but the price of an external SSD, which is around $150 for 2TB?Keep in mind that even if you add an ssd, there's only so much you can get out of a now-10-year-old Mac.
So don't spend too much $$ on it -- you could end up disappointed.
Having done this I can vouch for the "much harder" part.If you have a Retina iMac, then it's much harder to do upgrade to SSD internally compared to non-Retina, but still possible.
I had a 2014 i7 iMac with 1 TB SSD (expensive at the time!) and I think it was pretty fast (CPU, not GPU). My 2020 i7 iMac is roughly twice as fast as my 2014 iMac, which is something, but is not as if it is 10 times as fast. I think the 2014 is not a slouch, even today. The Fusion drive is the biggest bottleneck. The base i5 model of the 2014 is slower, also.The SSD worked great, but at the end of the day it was still a 2014 iMac so it was really never very fast. Still, if you're budget constrained and the machine meets your needs, why not!
Yeah, mine was an i5 with a Fusion Drive -- which eventually started dying, hence the replacement. In my case it was the SSD part that wore out, not the HDD. Even after the fix, it was still pretty slow, being an i5.I had a 2014 i7 iMac with 1 TB SSD (expensive at the time!) and I think it was pretty fast (CPU, not GPU). My 2020 i7 iMac is roughly twice as fast as my 2014 iMac, which is something, but is not as if it is 10 times as fast. I think the 2014 is not a slouch, even today. The Fusion drive is the biggest bottleneck. The base i5 model of the 2014 is slower, also.
I had that image retention as well on my 2014. It got really really bad, to the point where I could see the ghosts of all kind of things on screen well after they were closed. Very fortunately it came up just at the tail end of my AppleCare so I was able to have a new panel put in for free. That replacement worked great and over the next few years I had it I didn't see the issue come back.The biggest issue, at least for me, was the increasingly bad image retention around the edges of the screen. Bring up Launchpad and see if you have a ghost of the menu bar at the top of the screen.
Looks like you have the RAM... now you need to upgrade your storage to an SSD. You DIY w/ internal SSD upgrades or attach an external SSD via USB and boot off the external. There are many threads, blogs and YouTube videos covering SSD upgrades for iMacs in excruciating detail.. Google is your friend.
Regarding "in order to run the latest software".. I'm assuming you are referring to latest macOS version? If so, your only option is Open Core configured w/ Open Core Legacy Patcher (OCLP). Again, many threads, blogs and YouTube videos covering OC/OCLP in excruciating detail.
1 TB of HD is a SSD drive. Can I select that to boot from?Looks like you have the RAM... now you need to upgrade your storage to an SSD. You DIY w/ internal SSD upgrades or attach an external SSD via USB and boot off the external. There are many threads, blogs and YouTube videos covering SSD upgrades for iMacs in excruciating detail.. Google is your friend.
Regarding "in order to run the latest software".. I'm assuming you are referring to latest macOS version? If so, your only option is Open Core configured w/ Open Core Legacy Patcher (OCLP). Again, many threads, blogs and YouTube videos covering OC/OCLP in excruciating detail.
Your internal storage would be a Fusion Drive (SSD + HDD combo). Yes, you can split the Fusion Drive into separate drives, install Mac OS on the SSD and use HDD as data storage. However, I’m pretty sure the SSD part of the Fusion Drive isn’t 1TB but 128GB. 1TB SSD in 2014 would have been prohibitively expensive and not wasted as Fusion Drive component. Post your iMacs exact hardware specs from System Report app.1 TB of HD is a SSD drive. Can I select that to boot from?
Your internal storage would be a Fusion Drive (SSD + HDD combo). Yes, you can split the Fusion Drive into separate drives, install Mac OS on the SSD and use HDD as data storage. However, I’m pretty sure the SSD part of the Fusion Drive isn’t 1TB but 128GB. 1TB SSD in 2014 would have been prohibitively expensive and not wasted as Fusion Drive component. Post your iMacs exact hardware specs from System Report app.
Do you have any more concerns remaining before going ahead with the OpenCore LP install of Sonoma?I have perfectly working iMac 2014 model with 32 gb ram, 3 TB HD w/1 TB SSD and 5K screen - how do I upgrade its hardware/motherboard in order to run the latest software. BTW...it sucks that this is needed!
thanks...I am on my way to the apple store to buy a new one....😝Yup… 128GB SSD. If your Fusion Drive is working w/out issues, you can use it, but beware, Fusion Drives of the age yours is are known to fail. Keep frequent backups of your data.