Author Topic: EEVblog2 - Dumpster Diving - 27" Apple iMac WOW! (Read 12666 times)

Halcyon · « **on:** March 03, 2018, 05:53:54 am »

To be honest Dave, you should have just left that steaming pile of crap in the dumpster ;-)

I had to suffer through using one of those at work for a week. There was nothing that great about it and some of the design decisions must have been made when they were all high on something.

EEVblog · « **Reply #1 on:** March 03, 2018, 05:56:28 am »

EEVblog · « **Reply #2 on:** March 03, 2018, 05:57:26 am »

Installing the new High Sierra update now from the Apple store.

Will that nuke everything in the process? (hoping so, I want a fresh install)

PartialDischarge · « **Reply #3 on:** March 03, 2018, 06:03:49 am »

Amazing computer to work with. Imac has been my main home computer for 10 years now, clone the HDD and install an SSD, itll go much faster

An OS reinstall cleans up everything
https://www.imore.com/how-to-prepare-mac-for-sale

EEVblog · « **Reply #4 on:** March 03, 2018, 07:45:11 am »

Quote from: MasterTech on March 03, 2018, 06:03:49 am

Amazing computer to work with. Imac has been my main home computer for 10 years now, clone the HDD and install an SSD, itll go much faster

An OS reinstall cleans up everything
https://www.imore.com/how-to-prepare-mac-for-sale

Will try that, thanks. Hope it works, because the verification didn't work as I said above with the Apple store login.

frozenfrogz · « **Reply #5 on:** March 03, 2018, 08:20:10 am »

You should absolutely consider dropping in an SSD!
This will give you a quick machine that is quite on par with the newer models since the hard drive is the bottle neck on these machines.

hans · « **Reply #6 on:** March 03, 2018, 08:35:57 am »

Performance wise, this shouldn't be half a bad machine:

http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i5-760-vs-Intel-Pentium-G4560/m717vs3892

Sure you wouldn't buy a Pentium today to do heavy development work on it, but if you're just testing out an application (I suppose software for one of your [future] instruments!) and fixing porting issues, I think this machine will be fine.

However you may want to check if this machine still gets support for up to the latest Mac OS versions. This could have been a good reason (apart from high-speed data connectivity on such an old machine) to upgrade for someone. But if these machines are still selling for 500$+ on Ebay, chances are it's still good (and/or 'refurbished Apple products' are overpriced)

PartialDischarge · « **Reply #7 on:** March 03, 2018, 09:07:50 am »

That computer is clearly bloated with software installed by previous owners. If you can't get to reinstall, you'll have to get someone acquainted with macos and unix shell commands to do a thorough clean up of some things under /Users, /Applications, /private, /var, /Library/StartupItems, /Library/LaunchDaemons, /System/Library/StartupItems, etc, etc...

nctnico · « **Reply #8 on:** March 03, 2018, 02:47:57 pm »

Before cleaning the HD check for cryptocoins!

eNBeWe · « **Reply #9 on:** March 03, 2018, 03:21:14 pm »

Hi,

some traps for young mac players

(I am no pro mac user but I have to service some at work):

a) If you want to swap the disk for an SSD, make sure you create some USB install stick first. You can usually recover macOS/OS X from some recovery partition, but for fresh drives that won't work. To get the stick you can follow this guide: https://www.macworld.com/article/3204672/macs/how-to-create-a-bootable-macos-high-sierra-installer-drive.html
b) Some macs are quite specific about the USB port for the keyboard during recovery. If you run into problems you can check the first or last USB for your keyboard.
c) To boot from USB you need to press left alt at power up until you get the boot menu. You can also use that to boot some linux stick.
d) If you open it up, you might want to replace the thermal paste on the main components. I recently bought a Mac mini about that age and faced constant overheating and throttling.

Regards,
eNBeWe

k2teknik · « **Reply #10 on:** March 03, 2018, 05:45:43 pm »

But how to open a Mac to change the Harddrive?

firewalker · « **Reply #11 on:** March 03, 2018, 06:01:25 pm »

The screen is magnetically held in place. It can be lifted with a suction cup.

Alexander.

Cerebus · « **Reply #12 on:** March 03, 2018, 06:50:12 pm »

Quote from: firewalker on March 03, 2018, 06:01:25 pm

The screen is magnetically held in place. It can be lifted with a suction cup.

Alexander.

Use two - the type with a handle and an activating lever that are sold either for fitting sheets of glass or pulling dents out of car bodywork. There are locating pins - only pull vertically. ifixit.com is the place for photo references on how to do this.

Halcyon · « **Reply #13 on:** March 03, 2018, 11:31:21 pm »

Quote from: k2teknik on March 03, 2018, 05:45:43 pm

But how to open a Mac to change the Harddrive?

Modern ones are a pain, I'm not sure about this particular model (others have pointed out that magnets are used) but newer ones use glue/double-sided tape just like smart phones. They are an absolute punish to repair or upgrade. Also, they have started soldering SSD drives to the motherboard. Apple have no interest in making it easy for users to upgrade their older machines.

EEVblog · « **Reply #14 on:** March 03, 2018, 11:34:56 pm »

FYI the hard drive has been nuked and a new install of High Sierra installed.
It's got 20GB of RAM and a 7200RPM drive.

Mr. Scram · « **Reply #15 on:** March 03, 2018, 11:58:21 pm »

Quote from: EEVblog on March 03, 2018, 11:34:56 pm

FYI the hard drive has been nuked and a new install of High Sierra installed.
It's got 20GB of RAM and a 7200RPM drive.

The 20 GB or RAM suggests it was used for more than just mundane tasks. An SSD should be a nice upgrade. Even though it's not the newest processor, it was very good at the time. Combined with the fact that the market has mostly moved at a glacial pace, it should still be a reasonable computer. Plenty good for day to day tasks and certainly good enough for compatibility testing.

frozenfrogz · « **Reply #16 on:** March 04, 2018, 09:14:55 am »

Quote from: Mr. Scram on March 03, 2018, 11:58:21 pm

An SSD should be a nice upgrade.

Can’t tell you why, but the performance boost you get from an SSD upgrade in these machines is stellar compared to regular PCs.
I am still running an early 2008 Mac Pro dual Xeon with 32Gb RAM as my main machine and a mid 2009 i7 Macbook Pro 13'' with 16Gb RAM for taking to customers and even 3D visualization while traveling.
Both where to be considered EOL with the old hard drives, but dropping in an SSD gave them an incredible boost. Did not even consider getting something newer in the past couple of years!

hans · « **Reply #17 on:** March 04, 2018, 10:20:22 am »

I remember fellow electronics vlog Gerry Sweeney doing a SSD upgrade some time ago on his 27" iMac:

As you can see it's quite well documented, but also a lengthy process as it requires careful removal and storage of the front (glass) display panel

GeorgeOfTheJungle · « **Reply #18 on:** March 04, 2018, 11:16:18 am »

Lol that takes ages to boot... SSD badly needed!

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Inch-Internal-MZ-76E2T0B-AM/dp/B0786QNSBD/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1520162079&sr=8-2&keywords=samsung+2tb+ssd

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Inch-Internal-MZ-76E2T0B-AM/dp/B07864XY8B/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1520162079&sr=8-2&keywords=samsung%2B2tb%2Bssd&th=1

Edit: it takes ~10s to boot from an SSD, look:

GeorgeOfTheJungle · « **Reply #19 on:** March 04, 2018, 11:21:28 am »

You don't need a "fruity" keyboard, any PC keyboard will do. The windows key is the cmd key, and the alt key is the option key. It just works.

Electro Detective · « **Reply #20 on:** March 04, 2018, 11:23:40 pm »

Quote from: GeorgeOfTheJungle on March 04, 2018, 11:21:28 am

You don't need a "fruity" keyboard, any PC keyboard will do. The windows key is the cmd key, and the alt key is the option key. It just works.

Anything USB will work,
and -BONUS- you get the Right Click function using a Windows mouse,
not the usual two handed acrobatics -hold down Cntr key and click mouse- MacCircus

The Mac may/will ask to identify the non-Mac keyboard, just follow the on screen directions, press a couple of indicated keys, job done.

My bet is that sluggish Mac needs a hard drive erase and one pass total wipe with Mac Disk Utility, then a fresh install, and should be up to the task OP needs it for

without blowing money on an SSD and the pain and time wasted taking one of those glossy Macmoneypits apart

EDIT: have you tried booting the Mac, wait for the chime (DONG...) and immediately hold down the Alt key and see what boot and recovery options there are

drussell · « **Reply #21 on:** March 05, 2018, 01:40:45 am »

Quote from: Electro Detective on March 04, 2018, 11:23:40 pm

...
without blowing money on an SSD and the pain and time wasted taking one of those glossy Macmoneypits apart

The first thing I would do is install smartmontools on it and use smartctl to see how many power on hours are on the disk. If the machine was used heavily and on all the time the drive is probably close to the end of its useful, reliable lifetime anyway. I would certainly replace it if it has failing SMART attributes or if it is showing errors in the log, large numbers of re-allocations, etc.

That, combined with the speed increase with even an inexpensive SSD, it is probably well worth the effort.

Mr. Scram · « **Reply #22 on:** March 05, 2018, 01:52:01 am »

If you put any value on your time, I don't see any reason not to go for an SSD any more. They're not the exclusive, expensive hardware they used to be any longer. At this point, you need a reason not to go for them.

Fungus · « **Reply #23 on:** March 05, 2018, 05:13:05 am »

The magnets around the edge of the screen are what holds it together.

No, really. That's how allergic they are to visible screws.

I've got no idea where to pull to get one apart but that's a clue.

(don't take your degausser near it when it's in a vertical position...)

GeorgeOfTheJungle · « **Reply #24 on:** March 05, 2018, 10:58:51 am »

You can make the app with phonegap/cordoba, so that you write it once and runs everywhere, ios and android.


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Author Topic: EEVblog2 - Dumpster Diving - 27" Apple iMac WOW! (Read 12666 times)

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