notso bad Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 I have a 2009 iMac 27. It was replaced by a 5K iMac for my use and kept as backup and for family use. Besides routine internet and word processing, is used for garage band, editing on apple photos, Affinity photo or photoshop cs5, which my daughter is learning. The graphics card died. I was quoted $400 including labor to fix it, and another 200 to change the hard drive while they were at it (since I worry that could go soon, being several years old) Is it worth spending this much to keep an older machine going? I should mention that i upgraded the RAM years ago to 12 or 16. Alternatively she would use a 3 y old mac air with external drive (NAS, once I finish setting it up) Thanks, NB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howard_m Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 <p>definitely marginal but I wouldnt want to subject anyone to longterm PS on a MBA usage, esp for a beginner.<br> How 'mechanical' are you? They're not that hard to work on w/ tools and mind.<br> take a look at 2012-13 refurbs.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JosvanEekelen Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 <p>I am not a Mac user but these costs seem to be excessive. I assume they used 2009 prices for the components but there must be cheaper ways to keep it running.<br> Personally I'm in a similar position: 2009 PC standby for tst use: If it breaks I'll repair it with old components and when that's not possible it's a one way to the waste bin.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howard_m Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 <p>As you can imagine, iMac video cards arent commodity items so they tend to be fairly expensive parts. Still, scouting around online Mac parts dealers should give you an idea of the part.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jochen_S Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 <p>I'd call something else a wise investment.<br> My iMac knowledge ends at "not intended to be user serviceable, screen removal is critical." A spare parts price search result was 500 Euro + change & shipping for a "used & tested" card... So I guess the iMac interior is so odd shaped that ordinary bread and butter parts are unlikely to fit. <br> I am a PC user and 400 Euro should buy me 2 contemporary cards for moderate gaming allures or a modest Quadro work station card that would handle 10 bit color. <br> Is there a way to connect an external screen to the MBA? <br> If your daughter is old <em>& enthusiastic</em> enough to learn on her own, I'd get her a PC. - If she isn't any crummy laptop you can spare will do. AFAIK Adobe will exchange Mac product keys against Windows ones.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steven_clark Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 <p>400 for parts and labor on a nonstandard card sounds reasonable to me. 200 for a hard disk replacement may be high, unless they are imaging the old system onto the new disk, then there's a lot of waiting time with systems or people stuck on the task. You can probably get better results on that one by substituting your own labor. Otherwise, yes a Core 2 duo is a bit underpowered to be worth repair, in the PC world they've been practically giving them away as refurbs for years. That Macbook Air with an SSD in it would probably be more responsive than the iMac much of the time, and with a Thunderbolt port there should really be nothing preventing you from hooking up a bigger screen/kb/mouse to use as a desktop, which might be a better use of similar amounts of money.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uhooru Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 <p>200 sounds way high for a HD replacement. 400 sounds high but reasonable for the vid card but they will already have the back off and the Hd is a couple of screws and a plug. The video may be more difficult as I thought that stuff was all soldered on, but I could be wrong.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thirteenthumbs Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 <p>I'm a Windows user and did not switch to Apple due to poor to non existent upgrade ability and low 3rd party apps.<br> That said, hard drives of that era have built in SMART that if accessed by HD utilities will show if there is a probable failure pending or if a non fatal failure has occurred. </p> <p>Check Newegg.com https://www.newegg.com/ as they have a good selection of refurbished Macs in various screen sizes, some with i7 processors and prices from $350 to $2000.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BernardMiller Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 <p>If you're looking at around $600 to fix an eight year old iMac, I'd say no. It can't, so far as I know, run Sierra if you choose to (without a hack) and is likely pretty slow compared to newer machines. I just recently paid $990 for a high-spec 2013 27-inch model in superb condition on eBay from a reputable seller which, to me, would seem worth the extra few hundred bucks over refurbishing such an old model. Especially as it will almost certainly have a faster processor, better graphics card, better monitor, larger hard drive, etc.</p> <p>I mean, if you just wanted it for non-taxing use, you could probably buy a fairly mint one of the same vintage as the one you've got on the 'Bay for about what you're looking to pay to repair yours (or less), and you could almost surely sell yours for parts to one of the companies that supplies bits for older Macs. You'd not make a ton on it, certainly, but it would take the edge off what replacing it would cost you.</p> <p>My two cents. Good luck whichever way you go!</p> <p> </p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JosvanEekelen Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 <p>Perhaps iFixit: https://www.ifixit.com/ has a repair guide that can help but I wouldn't put too much effort in repairing a machine of that age. In general I'm opposed to replacing things too soon or too often but in case of computers an 8 year old machine is not worth the time and/or money. For USD 600 you can buy a better spec'd laptop.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johne37179 Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 <p>I just made the exact same decision you did. The mother board had failed on my 2009 iMac. It was a full house version with all the RAM slots filled. It has a much older graphics card and was struggling to work with larger images and newer graphics software. However, it was just fine for other purposes. We ordered a new motherboard and it is now used by a colleague of mine and is just fine.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notso bad Posted January 23, 2017 Author Share Posted January 23, 2017 Thanks for all the advice. I couldn't find the graphics card online for less than $385 so I don't think I will spend the money. I may try to use it as a second display, since that is driven by the connected computer. Most likely I will dismantle it to remove th hard drive and junk it. It is a quad core i5, so that is why I thought about squeezing a little more life out of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howard_m Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 <p>I dont think an iMac of that vintage is capable of acting as 'just a display' or via some external graphics card.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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