Is the 2009 iMac STILL a Decent Computer? (Review)
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- čas přidán 27. 07. 2024
- Let's take a look at the 2009 iMac and find out if this thing is still a decent computer today. In this video we test games at the 4gb, 8gb, and 12gb of RAM to see how much of an improvement can be made on a budget, as this machine is definitely a budget machine in the current market - selling for between cheap and free.
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The Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz and up often surprise even today. With an SSD and max RAM these things are still very usable. El Cap is as far as I’d take em though.
El Capitan is already starting to lack support. This one is a 3.06ghz and a solid machine but I did upgrade it to high Sierra for the purposes of this video and frankly I didn't find it struggling much to do normal daily tasks with 12gb of ram on high sierra but boy did it chug with only 4gb.
Really came alive at 8gb but 12 was made it a little nicer. Honestly I wouldn't bother going to 16gb.
I also tried installing windows 10 but the GeForce 9400 has no Windows 10 driver support and the system would crash as soon as windows update tried to install display drivers. It would refuse to boot until they were removed. Too bad, really, it would be totally usable on Windows 10 if it had display drivers.
@@CanadianComputerCollector I was actually able to get windows 10 to Ron this model. The only thing is that performance is a lot slower compared to MacOS.
@@CanadianComputerCollector you can also patch MacOS Catalina to run on these 2009 models.
@@CanadianComputerCollector yeah mine is 3,06 GHZ too
I love the cheeky laugh after saying the peripherals were worth it but "came with a computer"
Haha
My late 2009 27" iMac runs like a charm. I´ve got 12Gb or SDRAM installed, plus the Radeon 6970M GPU with 1Gb and two hard drives, the primary a 480Gb SSD. I use it mainly for graphic design and Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop run with no issues whatsoever.
Beautiful! Your use cases make a ton of sense for these machines. With upgrades, they can run quite nicely in some areas.
Hey, great video.
The NVIDIA GeForce 9400 256Mb GPU is the lowest of low in these iMacs, as it is shared with the main memory, thus being slow. The 256Mb 4670 is a much better upgrade, as too are the 256Mb 4670 and 512Mb 4850 in the 27" model. You can also install the 1Gb 6970M from the iMac 27" 2011 into the iMac 27" 2009, and even the 2Gb 6970M, if you can find one.
Your iMac 21.5" can upgrade to a max RAM of 16Gb (4x 4Gb 1066/1333 SO-DIMMs) due to it being a Core 2 Duo, but in the iMac 27" with an i5 or i7 the max RAM is 32Gb (4x 8Gb 1066/1333 SO-DIMMs.)
Agreed, it's a very limiting factor to an otherwise decent computer
You are awesome, I had the upscaled version eversince it came out back in Steves times, still runs fine to this day. For gaming I would just reccomend people using a LAN connected internet with Nvidia GeForce Now, worked very well for me back in the day. Also consider that the machine is no longer supported by Apple, meaning there will be security flaws in the system so using a VPN and a well protected browser is something I'd highly recommend as well!
Thank you and yes - these are both solid things to do for anyone still using these machines. It's unfortunate that they're becoming too out of date and we still can't use them just for the monitor. The display is so good.
I have one of those. Got it for free. I put an SSD in there. Didn’t do the RAM, so I have been waiting to see if more is worth it. Thanks!!
If budget is a concern, you can easily find 2x2gb for $10 or even free, since many people will be swapping out for 4x4gb. Personally, I'd go with adding 2x4gb and get to 12gb, it is noticeably better than 8gb but 8gb is when it truly comes alive and would be the minimum I'd go for. I don't think 16gb will be worth it imo
@@CanadianComputerCollector t
Sounds good. Time to start looking for some SODIMMs then!
Good comparison iMac still A good machine for applications good score Dan
Thanks Dave! It's not a bad machine eh.
I have mine with 16gb of ram and SSD yet CZcams stutters even at 720p, could it be the graphics card is needing an upgrade? If so, what do you recommend?
That actually sounds like a component is failing. Try a bootable Linux usb or a windows install and see if you have the same issue. If you don't then it's software and you need to format and do a clean install of MacOS. If you do have the issue, you may need a new gpu but not necessarily an "upgrade". Google your model number for gpu compatibility before you start searching for one. Hope this helps!
dope video ! i was wondering if its possible to hookup a hdmi adapter so i can play game consoles via hdmi connection. i have the late 2009 imac and it has one of those mini dvi ports
This one does not have the ability to be used natively as a monitor. You would need a capture card and the latency wouldn't make for a great experience.
@@CanadianComputerCollector i have a capture card ! it took me a lot of research lol but i think i should be able to play games on it … i bought this div to hdmi adapter ima definitely try it out 🔥 i also recently found out that a lot of ppl back in the day used this device called “ kanex XD “ for the imac and it runs perfectly with ps3/360 connection
so if my method doesn’t work ima try the kanex XD route next
if i get it to work i gotta make a video on this for sure lol
Should have tried web browsing in general, many websites are extremely cpu heavy (try with and without ad blocker). Also try some old school shooters that can still be great fun, ie. Quake, quake 2, unreal etc. (Stupid me these Will require Windows 10 ..:( )
I like this idea. Can you recommend some CPU heavy websites you'd like to see tested?
They are fine as long as you run software thats compatible with them. To me a lot of the older software works better than the newer stuff.
Which makes sense when you think about it, older software was written with dual core machines in mind.
I wouldn't touch a core 2 duo today, though they were quite a revolution over pentium 4. I'm currently looking at a mid-2010 i7 imac. It's a step backward from my i7 2600, but I do get a 27-inch screen.
Yeah they're getting a little long in the tooth these days but in fairness, this review is too!
I got my hands on a Imac late 2009 27inch for 40 bucks. And honestly happy I just blew in 7 win on it to be able to run some older win XP games or so. Like Heroes of might and magic 3, Warcraft 2 and such. I mean for old school games the mac is nice I mean shit seeing how damn crisp the screen still is after 14 years is mind blowing.
I mean I got an old Asus screen from 2013 that has just started to get washed out in color and get some screen burn where it just look sad.
The only screen I have that is as crisp as the Imac is a HP screen I got this year for 300 bucks and it also has 2560 x 1440 resolution.
So 40bucks to get a computer witch such a damn nice screen to use for old school games and maybe movie watching and youtube. I call that a nice deal.
Also with Geforce now you can still play modern game only catch is having to pay a monthly 20 dollar fee to be able to strean the games in 2560 X 1440. If you get the 10 dollar plan you only get 1920 X 1080 resolution.
If you like Heroes 3 stay tuned - I'm currently working on a HoMM3 themed build. Subscribe so don't miss it!
Wayno vs Compulord video pls
I know right? Perhaps Stac and I can orchestrate something.
Likely there are thermal throttling issues with the things lagging. Macs made in this era and after were severely crippled by Apple's thermal solutions. To really crush that iMac, try running a 4k CZcams 60fps video.
Since this display can't show 4k I didn't bother but I may just do that for the lolz. It's true though, I have noticed these iMacs get very hot. Good for heating my apartment in the winter at least!
@@CanadianComputerCollector I run 4k videos on the computer on my 720p living room TV. The OS/browser just downscales it.
What was the original MSRP?
I just looked it up - $1699
Dang!
I sold one of these to a guy who wanted to use it for photoshop. Poor guy.
I bet this thing would run Photoshop 7 no sweat
Commentary clutch
Go on
Its a shame there isnt a site called "good old games" that would allow you to play 2009 games on a 2009 computer. If only computer games had been invented earlier than 4 years ago then we could be playing classics like Broken Sword, Shadow of the Templar, Farcry 2, Prince of Persia, Tomb Raider Underworld, X3 ... sigh.. Mount and Blade...
Hahaha. Well I think we are definitely due for a Windows review of some of these old Intel machines. I agree with you there.