PC guy needing some advice on an iMac for my kid

[Andy22]

My daughter is really wanting an older iMac A8. Something like this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Apple-iMac-...ed9ab&pid=100338&rk=11&rkt=26&sd=162259492882

Is this going to be a decent computer for general web browsing, Youtube and very light gaming use? I know it's old but she really wants an iMac versus a Windows laptop or all in one.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Zaap]

Gaming use is the only thing I might have a question on, but since you say 'light gaming' I think it'll be fine. Web browsing and YouTube etc, no problem.

I don't know much about taking apart old iMacs (I think it's an absolute nightmare) but if there were some way to put an SSD in that instead of a hard drive I'd do it if my kid had to have one. (Hopefully I can convince my kids on PC's by the time they want their own computers!)

 

[Eug]

1. What is A8?
2. That Core i5 CPU is more than fine, and will last a long time for that type of usage.
3. That 4 GB memory is tolerable, but not ideal. Luckily, it would easy to add more memory, and all she'd need is a total of 8 GB (although it supports up to 32 GB). That said, I'm running a 4 GB Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro and it's OK.
4. The hard drive will be the bottleneck. That will make bootup and OS navigation a bit laggy. And it's a real PITA to put an SSD in there. However, if in the future you want to upgrade to SSD, you could add a Thunderbolt SSD to use as the boot drive. Expensive though.
5. That listing only comes with 10.10 on it, but it runs 10.12 (which is the latest). Upgrades to 10.12 are free.
6. How old is your daughter? Why specifically an iMac and not a MacBook? I'm wondering because if she's a high school student or nearing university then a laptop might make sense.

 

[Andy22]

Thanks Zaap!

Eug...Is there an equivalent MacBook to those specs? She's just 12 but the mobility of a laptop might be nice.

 

[Eug]

Thanks Zaap!

Eug...Is there an equivalent MacBook to those specs? She's just 12 but the mobility of a laptop might be nice.

A used Mac laptop will cost you more, and the lower cost ones are all dual-core. But a dual-core i5 would be fine.

Whatever you do, don't get the 11.6" MacBook Air. The 13.3" might be OK for her usage. Not a Retina screen, but better quality than the 11.6". The 12" MacBook is gorgeous but pricey, and the CPU is slow (Intel Y).

Personally, I'm buying a 12" MacBook if/when it gets updated to Kaby Lake next year but it will suck at gaming, and it's way too much money if you're looking at a budget of 5 year-old iMacs.

If you do decide to splurge on a more recent model Mac, check out Apple's refurb store. The prices are typically about 10-15% off new pricing. But if you're going used, the iMac 21.5" from 2011 and later is probably the best bang for the buck. I have an iMac 2010 Core i7, and while its CPU performance is more than fine, it's missing Thunderbolt, which is a big downer.

 

[dclive]

Thanks Zaap!

Eug...Is there an equivalent MacBook to those specs? She's just 12 but the mobility of a laptop might be nice.

At just 12, a used white MacBook C2D MY2010 would be OK. She'd use it for a year or two and then you'd know if she'd need or want something better. I bought one about a year ago for $200 from Craigslist; now they should be less. I added a 128GB SSD (trivial... takes a screwdriver and 15 minutes) and 9GB of RAM (about $100) and it was able to network-boot to the internet, download the right OS, and install and upgrade itself appropriately to the very latest and greatest.

Without the SSD, the process would've been painful. With it, it was fine.

Of course, if you can, getting an i3 or i5 CPU is a far faster and far better base machine. It's worthwhile to do so also due to the longer supported lifespan - new OSs will soon drop support for anything before the i3/i5.

I have an 11 year old (with the 2009 Macbook with 4GB and 128GB SSD) and a 17 year old (with the 2010 Macbook with 9GB and 128GB SSD) and they're both happy with the machines they have. Sure, they'd love a shiny silver something to show off at the local Starbucks (well, the 17 year old; the 11 year old couldn't care less) but both machines are perfectly functional. Note that the main use for the 17 year old is chatting in iMessages with her friends, and for the 11 year old, watching YouTube videos he doesn't want the adults to see and watching video files he gets from friends.