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hkeely

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 14, 2007
45
38
I want to set up a 2009-era iMac as an always-on calendar display in our kitchen. It would sleep at night but otherwise stay on with no screensaver to be easily visible. I'm curious whether I should be concerned about burn-in on the monitor, how quickly burn-in would occur, and how permanent it might be. Is this sort of endeavor worth trying or is the risk to the monitor too great that it won't be useable after a number of weeks or months? Thanks for any help.
 
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Mark.g4

macrumors 6502
Mar 13, 2023
343
349
I don't know burn-in but a lot of power needed.
Old iMac aren't efficient.
 

hkeely

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 14, 2007
45
38
Good point. Yeah, it looks like it would cost around $73 a year to keep on all the time. Thanks!
 

Nguyen Duc Hieu

macrumors 68040
Jul 5, 2020
3,004
996
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Another alternative is one thin LED box and 12 leaves of positive (backlit) films for 12 months. The LED can be equipped with a light sensor to turn on when its surrounding is dark. This kind of LED boxes are usually used in advertisements.

 

BrianBaughn

macrumors G3
Feb 13, 2011
9,822
2,494
Baltimore, Maryland
I don't know about your particular iMac but I'm still occasionally using a 2008 MacBook (MacBook5,1) running Ventura via OCLP. Not the fastest thing in the world but handy to have around.

If you don't need it perhaps someone else could make use of it?
 
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MultiFinder17

macrumors 68030
Jan 8, 2008
2,739
2,084
Tampa, Florida
I have something similar set up in my home, though I use an old iPad for the purpose. As mentioned before, an old iMac like that will suck down a lot of power and pump out a fair bit of heat. An old iPad would do largely the same job while consuming a fraction of the juice.
 
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hkeely

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 14, 2007
45
38
I have something similar set up in my home, though I use an old iPad for the purpose. As mentioned before, an old iMac like that will suck down a lot of power and pump out a fair bit of heat. An old iPad would do largely the same job while consuming a fraction of the juice.
Great idea. Thank you!
 
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