Wife has a 27" iMac from '10. i7 2.93 running 10.10.4. Would like to make this last as long as possible but it is officially "Vintage" now. It is her work machine and was given to her after her company folded.
It has 8GB of RAM which needs to be upgraded and I'm looking at getting it to 16GB and eventually add an SSD.
Is it worth it to spend the dough on an old machine? It will run the latest OS according to Mactracker so it's still viable from that standpoint but who knows what Apple will decide tomorrow...

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What everybody here will tell you is that definitely do the SSD. that will give the machine the most noticeable, immediate boost in speed. It's probably fine at 8gb, unless she's using tons of RAM for photoshop or other RAM intensive apps.

clay is totally right here. SSD that baby, and it will 'pop'. RAM only if she needs it.

RAM will help and right now that's the easiest way to go-really easy to install RAM in that thing. But, again, will the machine be obsolete two weeks after I upgrade it?

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SSD

What is she using it for? Email, internet and Microsoft? Maybe not...

Adobe creative suite (whatever version you have) definitely. I would check out if your version of that will run on the latest OS or not. CS4 is a soft not but CS5 seems to be okay on Sierra. This is based on my work Macs experience.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/07/2017 08:48AM by Lizabeth.

Her heavy lifting is InDesign CS 6 and some Photoshop CS 6. Lots of email and lots of windows open all the time. Stickies, screen shots.

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I'd do the SSD first and then add RAM later. Opening these machines is a little intimidating, but not difficult if you're handy and take your time.

OK, I'm sorry, I guess I didn't express myself well. My question is: Is this old 2010 iMac going to be viable for a while yet so that it would make sense to upgrade with RAM and an SSD, or should I start looking for a new (or at least a newer) machine?

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4 memory slots, so likely 2GB in each.

My 2011 iMac came with 4GB, so I added 4GB for 8GB total.

if same as mine, you can pull 2 of those and add 16GB (via two 8GB SO-DIMMS) for a total of 20GB.

I'm experimenting with a SSD in an external USB 3.0 case, and though the iMac has USB 2 ports, it still works fine for everyday tasks.

And it's easier to move an external SSD to a newer iMac.

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DP
Wife has a 27" iMac from '10. i7 2.93 running 10.10.4. Would like to make this last as long as possible but it is officially "Vintage" now. It is her work machine and was given to her after her company folded.
It has 8GB of RAM which needs to be upgraded and I'm looking at getting it to 16GB and eventually add an SSD.
Is it worth it to spend the dough on an old machine? It will run the latest OS according to Mactracker so it's still viable from that standpoint but who knows what Apple will decide tomorrow...

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/07/2017 09:28AM by Bill in NC.

I wouldn't discourage you from upgrading the RAM, but why wait on the SSD? It will be a much more noticeable improvement. And if you just boot from it externally, you can move it to a future machine without having sunk money into the iMac.

I did this with a 2010 20" iMac that I have in my kitchen. It's just for general family use, so it doesn't get pushed very hard, but switching to SSD made a big difference. I put a 500GB SSD into an old FW800 enclosure that I was no longer using. Unfortunately, replacing the internal drive is very difficult with this particular model, and it has no USB 3.0 or TB. A possible advantage to the FW connection is that it is indistinguishable from the internal drive from a "set and forget" standpoint. Whereas, when booting via USB 3.0 on my laptop, I usually have to choose the drive manually at startup.

I've thought about upgrading the RAM from time to time, but I haven't felt the need. In fact, I just checked assuming it had 8GB, and it actually only has 4GB!

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DP
OK, I'm sorry, I guess I didn't express myself well. My question is: Is this old 2010 iMac going to be viable for a while yet so that it would make sense to upgrade with RAM and an SSD, or should I start looking for a new (or at least a newer) machine?

Since it is compatible with 10.12, there's no reason to think it will become obsolete when 10.13 and beyond are released. 10.12 should get at least another 2-3 years of updates, security patches, etc. I'd say do the SSD and RAM if you want to, along with the upgrade to 10.12, and you should easily be able to use it for another 2-3 years with no issues.

Ok. Didn't see your comments about ID and Photoshop. They will want more RAM, but I would still go the external SSD route first. You aren't really losing anything that way whether the computer remains viable or not.

"4 memory slots, so likely 2GB in each."

These usually shipped with 2 slots filled with 4 GB each if ordered with 8 GB of RAM, the base amount was 2 2 GB chips. Easy enough to check in System Information or About This Mac on later versions of OS X.

OK, thx all, for the help!

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I'd say it's worth the expense to upgrade it.

I'm still using my late 2008 MacBook Pro for almost everything.

For heavy duty photo-video work, I use a first-generation i7 PC built in 2009, with 18GB RAM and an SSD, and it's fast enough that I feel no desire to replace it. Upgrading to an SSD made a huge difference, upgrading from 6GB RAM made a bit of a difference.

I just retired the same mac a year ago, but honestly it felt as as fast amy "new" iMac, a 2104 27"

Its worth every penny to upgrade, its an excellnt mac with the quad core i7 chip and 1 GB of VRAM.

Im doing full Adobe suite on mine as well.

My advice: 256 GB (or 500, but not really necessary) SSD as a second drive internally (OWC has great turuorial on how to do it, easier than it looks) and I would to to 24 GB of ram.

There are 2 slots free, so add 8 + 8, 16 Gb for 24 total.

Use the SSD as sysstem/boot and keep the internal 1 TB drvie for all working files. I ran this same setup in my design studio for years, never let me down and still runs great. Paired wth a second 27" screen makes it even better,

Id say its got a ton of life left in it...

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Edited 999 time(s). Last edit at 12:08PM by jdc.

That's a fine machine, just give it an SSD (and maybe RAM) and it'll be good for years.

I have a slightly older i3 21.5" model (low-end i3), and it still feels quick and fast with SSD (connected via FW800) and 12GB RAM.

In the end, I added the SSD via an OWC bus-powered external case.

[eshop.macsales.com]

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jdc
I just retired the same mac a year ago, but honestly it felt as as fast my "new" iMac, a 2104 27"

Its worth every penny to upgrade, its an excellnt mac with the quad core i7 chip and 1 GB of VRAM.

Id say its got a ton of life left in it...

Dear God. Please tell me I haven't hopped into some kind of bizzaro time machine that has me wondering if Macs are any better than they were 87 years ago.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/07/2017 11:13PM by datbeme.

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datbeme
Dear God. Please tell me I haven't hopped into some kind of bizzaro time machine that has me wondering if Macs are any better than they were 87 years ago.

Its about intel and its chips, not vs Macs.

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Edited 999 time(s). Last edit at 12:08PM by jdc.