Giving my old 27" iMac some new life....

[ozziegn]

.... with a nice SSD hardware update. I bought my 27" iMac 3.06Ghz new in 2009 and it's served me very well over the years. As a matter of fact, this is the first computer I have ever owned longer than a year. Some people will say how overpriced Apple computers are but I will always say they're better machines that last a lot longer that your normal Windows machines.

However..... My iMac started to act weird a few weeks ago so I decided to take the plunge and open her up to replace the stock 7200rpm 1TB HDD with a modern day 256GB SSD unit that works great. I didn't need another 1TB drive because that's what I use my external drives for. I must admit taking the iMac apart made me pretty nervous but I got through it with complete success. I was going to upgrade to a newer iMac but this upgrade will probably do me just fine for another few years.

Here's a couple pics

 

[Travolta]

I upgraded a mid 2009 macbook pro with an ssd and ram after replacing the keyboard. I agree taking it apart made me nervous too, so many tiny screws and connectors. But i will say, the upgrade was well worth it, the macbook is like a new computer now.

 

[Vengance_01]

Most computers that have a modern day quad core and 8GB of ram can do wonders with a SSD upgrade.

 

[nry]

I upgraded my 2011 iMac from i5, 4GB ram and 1TB HDD to i7 2600, 24GB ram and 256GB Samsung Pro and OCZ Agility 240GB (use this for work logs and basically gets hammered so won't last long!)

Do agree with the longevity of apple products, friends get a new laptop every year or two. My iMac and MBP are still going strong and look like new after 3 years

 

[martinmsj]

Also going 3 years with my Early 2011 MBP 13. I recently replaced the 500GB stock drive since the machine has just been terribly sluggish. (Also felt kind of biggish with random stuff glitching or crashing.)

Running the Seagate 600 480 GB(219 + tax) and it's screaming again. I just couldn't justify buying another machine.

 

[tonyyy]

did you have any problems with your fan going full blast since you replaced the hard drive?

 

[ozziegn]

did you have any problems with your fan going full blast since you replaced the hard drive?

Yeah, that's a common issue due to the SSD not having any thermal temp reporting ports. You can get a program called HDD fan control that fixes the issue.

 

[Archer1212]

Yeah, that's a common issue due to the SSD not having any thermal temp reporting ports. You can get a program called HDD fan control that fixes the issue.

If you're careful sometimes you can reuse the original temp sensor (or just order a new one online). Sometimes that works

 

[C_A_S]

I used the original temp sensor, I've had no unusual fan behaviour.

I pulled the optical drive on mine, put a boot Samsung SSD in there, then replaced the original HD with a 3 terabyte bulk storage disk. Our 2009 iMac is zippy and doesn't feel its age at all.

 

[ozziegn]

If you're careful sometimes you can reuse the original temp sensor (or just order a new one online). Sometimes that works

Just curious as to how could you reuse the temp sensor when it's part of the original drive?

 

[Archer1212]

Just curious as to how could you reuse the temp sensor when it's part of the original drive?

Some iMacs the temp sensor is a cable that is attached to the underside of the drive IIRC

 

[runs2far]

Congrats on the successful upgrade.

Not to rain on your parade, but a SSD and possibly memory upgrade to any somewhat modern computer can bring it to life again

It's not a Apple product, but...
My GF is using an old cheap HP from 2006, or that's the best age estimate I can get. I threw in a SSD, installed a spare pair of memory dimms and updated the OS. Now boots fast enough and it does everything she needs it to without any slowdowns.

I don't know if we should be happy or sad that CPU development and requirements have stalled for such a long time.

 

[BigTroll]

My 2008 MacBook pro 15 inch was easy to upgrade, I put a 160GB Intel X-25M been using it for over a year and no problems, just have to every once in a while slide the TRIM ENABLER switch back on after a few updates.

 

[ozziegn]

^ the point of my thread is this. I was on the verge of spending another $1800 on a new iMac just because my five year old iMac started to show some signs of aging. Instead, I spent maybe $300 and the end result was a five year old iMac that runs like a 5 day old iMac. This kind of bumbed me out because I was really looking forward to buying a new iMac. But I just couldn't justify spending the money considering my original iMac still runs great with a somewhat easy to install hardware upgrades.

It use to be a lot easier to make upgrading decisions when I was running with PCs. Of course that was then and this is now. Thank goodness I will never go back in time and play with PCs again. I love my Apple product(s) too much.

 

[ozziegn]

My 2008 MacBook pro 15 inch was easy to upgrade, I put a 160GB Intel X-25M been using it for over a year and no problems, just have to every once in a while slide the TRIM ENABLER switch back on after a few updates.

why don't you have TRIM enabled fulltime?

 

[BigTroll]

Oh I do however going from 10.9.2 to 10.9.3 it turned my trim off so i have to open up the trim enabler program then restart and its back.

 

[C_A_S]

^ the point of my thread is this. I was on the verge of spending another $1800 on a new iMac just because my five year old iMac started to show some signs of aging. Instead, I spent maybe $300 and the end result was a five year old iMac that runs like a 5 day old iMac. This kind of bumbed me out because I was really looking forward to buying a new iMac. But I just couldn't justify spending the money considering my original iMac still runs great with a somewhat easy to install hardware upgrades.

It use to be a lot easier to make upgrading decisions when I was running with PCs. Of course that was then and this is now. Thank goodness I will never go back in time and play with PCs again. I love my Apple product(s) too much.

Yes, and Yes. I'm running an upgraded 2009 iMac as a general second family computer. For work, I used to upgrade my MacBook Pros every 2 years, selling them on, but I've stuck with my 2011 MBP17" as its a quad core with thunderbolt, no obvious need to move on.

Now, I've gone so far as to buy a 2009 Mac Pro, which can be upgraded and specced to equal the most expensive New Mac Pro in power and geekbench scores, for about a third of the price. Its pretty incredible how we've hit a slowdown in the need to stay on the new hardware treadmill.

 

[thedynamics]

Congrats on the successful upgrade.

Not to rain on your parade, but a SSD and possibly memory upgrade to any somewhat modern computer can bring it to life again

It's not a Apple product, but...
My GF is using an old cheap HP from 2006, or that's the best age estimate I can get. I threw in a SSD, installed a spare pair of memory dimms and updated the OS. Now boots fast enough and it does everything she needs it to without any slowdowns.

I don't know if we should be happy or sad that CPU development and requirements have stalled for such a long time.

Did the same with an acer laptop from 2009

Thing boots in 20 seconds