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What to do with iMac 5K after getting MacBook Pro? Don't want to waste screen

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BluAffiliate

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 16, 2010
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Anyone know what to do with your old iMac 5K after upgrading?
Basically I have an aging Late 2015 iMac 5K that I am replacing with one of the new Macbooks as my main work computer.
Sadly, it's too old to continue using as it's gotten quite slow, and also its probably worth practically nothing at resale at this point.

It's a shame to waste such a beautiful screen, so I am wondering if anyone has found a good use for these machines instead of getting rid of it or selling it for basically nothing?

Best,
 
Did the 2015 iMac have a fusion drive inside?

If so, it might be possible to "speed it up" again by connecting a USB3 SSD and setting that up to become an EXTERNAL boot drive...
 
Yeah, I am feeling like retiring for computing purposes but the screen is still amazing.
 
BluAffiliate said:
Anyone know what to do with your old iMac 5K after upgrading?
Basically I have an aging Late 2015 iMac 5K that I am replacing with one of the new Macbooks as my main work computer.
Sadly, it's too old to continue using as it's gotten quite slow, and also its probably worth practically nothing at resale at this point.

It's a shame to waste such a beautiful screen, so I am wondering if anyone has found a good use for these machines instead of getting rid of it or selling it for basically nothing?

Best,
Click to expand...
A late 2015 iMac17,1 "worth practically nothing at resale at this point" o_O Whatever gives you that notion?
Depending on your location, in some places these are highly sought after at the right price. I was amazed at the high price my mid 2010 27" iMac fetched 6 months ago - the only changes I'd made were changing the 1TB HD for a 500GB SSD. In fact I could have sold it 4 times over.
A quick look on a local site here shows that asking prices for a late 2015 iMac17,1 range from 540€ to 1600€ with an average of 998€/$US1162 over 5 ads. Without doubt the 1600€/US$1800 asking price is nonsense, but if a good functioning example can be found for approx 800€/US$900 (or less) imho that's a reasonable price, especially as these can run the latest OS11 'Big Sur' and be upgraded in minutes to 64GB RAM - don't try that at home with the latest 2021 M1 iMac as it's limited to 16GB RAM........!;)
Knowing the iMac range well and having worked on many, the 2015 5K model still has a long life ahead of it, especially as most components are upgradeable - including the CPU. Oh, and that fusion drive was not a good idea and really needs to be replaced by a Crucial or Samsung SSD.
 
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BluAffiliate said:
Anyone know what to do with your old iMac 5K after upgrading?
Basically I have an aging Late 2015 iMac 5K that I am replacing with one of the new Macbooks as my main work computer.
Sadly, it's too old to continue using as it's gotten quite slow, and also its probably worth practically nothing at resale at this point.

It's a shame to waste such a beautiful screen, so I am wondering if anyone has found a good use for these machines instead of getting rid of it or selling it for basically nothing?

Best,
Click to expand...
Newbie here. Would it take add' hardware in the notch for Face ID. Or could a\Apple just possibly turn it on t some point?
 
BluAffiliate said:
Anyone know what to do with your old iMac 5K after upgrading?
Basically I have an aging Late 2015 iMac 5K that I am replacing with one of the new Macbooks as my main work computer.
Sadly, it's too old to continue using as it's gotten quite slow, and also its probably worth practically nothing at resale at this point.

It's a shame to waste such a beautiful screen, so I am wondering if anyone has found a good use for these machines instead of getting rid of it or selling it for basically nothing?

Best,
Click to expand...
@Fishrrman’s advice is good if your iMac has a Fusion drive. I have the same generation of iMac but with only an SSD inside (not a Fusion drive) and it doesn’t feel very slow to use. In fact I still prefer it over my newer MacBook Pro when at home because of the 5K display.
 
BluAffiliate said:
Anyone know what to do with your old iMac 5K after upgrading?
Basically I have an aging Late 2015 iMac 5K that I am replacing with one of the new Macbooks as my main work computer.
Sadly, it's too old to continue using as it's gotten quite slow, and also its probably worth practically nothing at resale at this point.

It's a shame to waste such a beautiful screen, so I am wondering if anyone has found a good use for these machines instead of getting rid of it or selling it for basically nothing?

Best,
Click to expand...
I got $530 trade-in from Apple for my 2014 5k iMac, which is a year older than yours. $530 is not a lot, but I consider it more than "basically nothing." Selling privately, I probably could have got much more than that.

Screen Shot 2021-10-24 at 10.44.21 AM.pngScreen Shot 2021-10-24 at 10.51.52 AM.png
 
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BluAffiliate said:
Anyone know what to do with your old iMac 5K after upgrading?
Basically I have an aging Late 2015 iMac 5K that I am replacing with one of the new Macbooks as my main work computer.
Sadly, it's too old to continue using as it's gotten quite slow, and also its probably worth practically nothing at resale at this point.

It's a shame to waste such a beautiful screen, so I am wondering if anyone has found a good use for these machines instead of getting rid of it or selling it for basically nothing?

Best,
Click to expand...
I have a late 2015 iMac 5K as well and I'm surprised to hear you say it's "gotten quite slow", because mine still feels like a rocket on Monterey (RC version) and I haven't had any performance issues with it.

Maybe you need a fresh OS install? Or is yours lower end? I have the 4GHz Quad Core i7 with 32GB of RAM and 1TB SSD. I swear this thing has been amazing and will probably be good for another year or two until an M1*-based larger-screen iMac comes out.

The only problem that it HAS developed is a bit of image persistence, strangely around the edges of the screen. But it's not bad enough to severely impact usage.
 
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zorinlynx said:
I have a late 2015 iMac 5K as well and I'm surprised to hear you say it's "gotten quite slow", because mine still feels like a rocket on Monterey (RC version) and I haven't had any issues with it.

Maybe you need a fresh OS install? Or is yours lower end? I have the 4GHz Quad Core i7 with 32GB of RAM and 1TB SSD. I swear this thing has been amazing and will probably be good for another year or two until an M1*-based larger-screen iMac comes out.

The only problem that it HAS developed is a bit of image persistence, strangely around the edges of the screen. But it's not bad enough to severely impact usage.
Click to expand...
I agree, I had no complaints about the speed of my 2014 iMac with 1TB SSD, the only annoyance was the image persistence at the edges. The 2015 5k iMacs also tend to get pink edges.
I replaced my 2014 5k iMac with a 2020 5k iMac, and for day-to-day usage it feels only slightly faster.

I think the big difference is SSD vs Fusion drive. Almost universally, those with complaints about the iMac being slow have a Fusion drive. Fusion drives are terrible: slow and prone to sudden failure.
Easily remedied by an external SSD.
 
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redheeler said:
@Fishrrman’s advice is good if your iMac has a Fusion drive. I have the same generation of iMac but with only an SSD inside (not a Fusion drive) and it doesn’t feel very slow to use. In fact I still prefer it over my newer MacBook Pro when at home because of the 5K display.
Click to expand...
wilberforce said:
I agree, I had no complaints about the speed of my 2014 iMac with 1TB SSD, the only annoyance was the image persistence at the edges. The 2015 5k iMacs also tend to get pink edges.
I replaced my 2014 5k iMac with a 2020 5k iMac, and for day-to-day usage it feels only slightly faster.

I think the big difference is SSD vs Fusion drive. Almost universally, those with complaints about the iMac being slow have a Fusion drive. Fusion drives are terrible: slow and prone to sudden failure.
Easily remedied by an external SSD.
Click to expand...
100%. I have 2014 with SSD and have 32GB RAM. Graphics card not great and webcam terrible but otherwise most things are instantaneous in day to day use. And that screen - 7 years later and it is perfect and still better than everything besides an XDR.
 
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wilberforce said:
I think the big difference is SSD vs Fusion drive. Almost universally, those with complaints about the iMac being slow have a Fusion drive. Fusion drives are terrible: slow and prone to sudden failure.
Easily remedied by an external SSD.
Click to expand...
Yeah, Fusion drives are crap. One of my rules for buying an iMac is that it must have an SSD, because the last thing I need is a prone-to-failure mechanical part in a machine that's such a pain in the ass to service.

The machine was expensive, though, so I want to get at least another couple years out of it!
 
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zorinlynx said:
I have a late 2015 iMac 5K as well and I'm surprised to hear you say it's "gotten quite slow", because mine still feels like a rocket on Monterey (RC version) and I haven't had any performance issues with it.

Maybe you need a fresh OS install? Or is yours lower end? I have the 4GHz Quad Core i7 with 32GB of RAM and 1TB SSD. I swear this thing has been amazing and will probably be good for another year or two until an M1*-based larger-screen iMac comes out.

The only problem that it HAS developed is a bit of image persistence, strangely around the edges of the screen. But it's not bad enough to severely impact usage.
Click to expand...
The image persistence around the edges, are stabilizing or are getting worse?
 
jungleghost said:
The image persistence around the edges, are stabilizing or are getting worse?
Click to expand...
It's mostly stabilized. There's a slight discoloration on the borders too, towards the red side of the spectrum, but it's subtle and you don't notice unless you're looking for it or displaying something very uniform full screen.

If it does get much worse I'm going to seek out a replacement panel, but so far it's tolerable. I really just want the machine to get me through the wait until Apple releases M1-based iMacs with larger screens.
 
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