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upgrade 2006 iMac?
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Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Aug 2011
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Hi All, I am visiting a relative who has a 2 GHz Intel Core Duo iMac from 2006, 2 GB of RAM, not possible to add more RAM according to Crucial.com.
It is "slow"-whatever that means. I haven't used this machine much as I just visit occasionally, but it is maybe slow opening applications, and sometimes web page loading can stall.
It's possible to change to an SSD or hybrid drive, but I don't have time to do that while I'm here.
I'm wondering if an OS update is worthwhile as this is still at 10.6.8. Snow Leopard. Yosemite will not run on this hardware, so my questions come to:
- Which later versions will actually run on this hardware?
- Can any of those still be downloaded? Or not really?
- IIRC, update from Snow Leopard is not easy. I would want to backup and reformat the hard drive, and do a fresh install from scratch (i.e. I would need a complete installer, not an update install).
- IF the above two are possible, will they offer better memory management?
The advantage of this iMac is no glass on the screen, a big deal since there are windows all behind the computer (and no, the owner is not going to relocate it).
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Managing Editor
Join Date: Jul 2012
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The machine will address 3.3GB of RAM, so it IS possible to upgrade, it just won't see all 4GB. A SSD would give it speed, sure, but there comes a point in every piece's of hardware's life that it makes no sense to throw a triple-digit dollar upgrade into it.
Don't bother going to Lion, because you can't without hacks. Besides, I don't think its worth it for the non Core 2 machines, even with the hack.
Even OS X suffers from corruption and other things hampering a machine's speed over time. I think a SL reinstall would benefit the machine greatly.
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Moderator  Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: Gothenburg, Sweden
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Actually the Core Duo iMacs, being the first Intel iMacs, are firmware limited to 2GB. The Core 2 Duos are limited to 3GB, and it is supposedly possible to reflash with the newer firmware, but I have no personal experience with that.
Do not upgrade the OS - it will not be faster. Do however check the drive used - a full HDD will slow down the Machine in normal usage.
Note that the newest iMacs have anti-glare coating on the displays.
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The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
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Managing Editor
Join Date: Jul 2012
Status:
Offline
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Huh. I could have sworn the CD machines could take up to 3.3. My bad.
I blame all the lawsuit stories I have to write. They replace more important things to remember.
What I HAVE done is put a new processor in these machines. Don't believe the Wiki entry, it's doable, but not "easy."
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