Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

Laminar · Jan 23, 2015, 02:34 AM

One thing I found working on a few iMacs - you can certainly pay iFixit $15 for those suction cups, but I found the exact same suction cups at a big box home improvement store for $1 each. I got a full screwdriver set including mini torx, hex, Phillips, and flatheads for like $6 on eBay. These were enough to pull apart any of the "thick" Intel iMacs.

ShortcutToMoncton · Jan 25, 2015, 01:36 PM

Originally Posted by Doc HM

These gen 27in iMacs are about my favourite macs of all time (fan idiocy aside). Still speedy, built like tanks, lovely screens, loads of RAM space, what's not to love.

Agreed - they are absolutely beautiful machines. I haven't played with the new (thinner) ones, but my 2010 i5 27" iMac had only one flaw: Apple's G-D insistence on sticking all ports on the back of the chassis, making USB near-impossible to plug in even for temporary use.

(Although the SD card was on the side I think, which was probably what I used most anyway.)

crowe · Jan 25, 2015, 04:18 PM

I read one of these posts that said the iMac comes on only one leg. Mine is now a week old! I guess I should order another one just in case? My Mac Pro is sitting on a shelf now and I am afraid to try that one as it's a 2007 model that has been on a shelf for one week also. Do I need to order another of those also? Just kidding of course. Great thread!

P · Jan 25, 2015, 04:40 PM

Originally Posted by ShortcutToMoncton

Agreed - they are absolutely beautiful machines. I haven't played with the new (thinner) ones, but my 2010 i5 27" iMac had only one flaw: Apple's G-D insistence on sticking all ports on the back of the chassis, making USB near-impossible to plug in even for temporary use.

(Although the SD card was on the side I think, which was probably what I used most anyway.)

If you open the box, you will see why it was so. Apple puts USB ports on the motherboard, and not like in most PC desktops on a separate circuit board, and the motherboard simply doesn't stretch across the box. Personally, I used the rear ports for things that stayed in all the time (so they were out of the way) and ports in the keyboard for USB sticks etc. Yes, I opted for the wired keyboard.

ShortcutToMoncton · Jan 26, 2015, 09:15 AM

Haha I eventually did the exact same thing - but I wasn't happy about it. The wireless keyboard and mouse is truly a beautiful invention.

The Final Dakar · Jan 26, 2015, 10:49 AM

I haven't gotten around to installing the RAM yet, but the iMac does seem slightly less sucky in the interim.

The Final Dakar · Jan 27, 2015, 01:17 PM

I forget, do applescripts still work in 10.8?

The Final Shortcut · Jan 28, 2015, 10:17 AM

I can't remember the difference in your model, but in the 2010 iMac installing new RAM took about 5 minutes IIRC. I had 12Gb in mine...something to do with 2 free RAM slots and available 4Gb RAM modules, I don't know perhaps someone here can explain it a little better

osiris · Jan 30, 2015, 12:05 PM

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar

I forget, do applescripts still work in 10.8?

They should. We still have Script Editor and Automator.

Laminar · Feb 9, 2015, 06:38 AM

Originally Posted by The Final Shortcut

I can't remember the difference in your model, but in the 2010 iMac installing new RAM took about 5 minutes IIRC. I had 12Gb in mine...something to do with 2 free RAM slots and available 4Gb RAM modules, I don't know perhaps someone here can explain it a little better

Not much else to it. My iMac had 4 slots and 2 2GB sticks installed, so I added 2 4GB sticks for a total of 12GB.

The Final Dakar · Feb 10, 2015, 03:36 PM

Originally Posted by osiris

They should. We still have Script Editor and Automator.

Apparently there are 'PPC' applescripts and the one I have needs to updated somehow. Being lazy again so I'll get to it eventually.

Finally added the RAM in this past weekend.

ShortcutToMoncton · Feb 15, 2015, 04:18 PM

Originally Posted by Laminar

Not much else to it. My iMac had 4 slots and 2 2GB sticks installed, so I added 2 4GB sticks for a total of 12GB.

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar

Finally added the RAM in this past weekend.

Notice a difference?

Chongo · Feb 15, 2015, 08:32 PM

Originally Posted by Chongo

My Mid 2007 20" started acting wierd and locking up. I also thought thought it was dying. It turns out all I need to do was take a can of commpress air and clean our the air events. Over heating was the culprit. I still upgraded to a late 2013 27" BTO refurb and donated the old one to my mom.

Update. I sent the 2007 to my mom's when her windows 7 home-brew started acting up. The iMac started over heating and locking up again. Can the fans be replaced?

P · Feb 16, 2015, 05:38 AM

Sure, iFixit sells them, but they're tricky to reach. Unless a fan is completely stopped (which you can see with a lot of hardware control software), I don't think that that is the issue, though. A fan that is worn will start making noises, but it shouldn't cool any less.

The Final Dakar · Feb 16, 2015, 10:21 AM

Originally Posted by ShortcutToMoncton

Notice a difference?

Not yet.

Laminar · Feb 16, 2015, 11:22 PM

Originally Posted by ShortcutToMoncton

Charles Martin · Feb 20, 2015, 01:53 AM

Let me jump in here with a couple of thoughts:

1. The symptoms you initially describe sound more to me like the hard drive has hit a bad sector. Assuming the whole thing isn't starting to go (which is also a possibility), a zeroing of the boot drive and clone back from your booted clone (because of course you have one) might fix that.

2. Regarding ad-blockers: as ads are what keep the lights on around here (and I do mean that entirely literally), we obviously encourage people to turn off or limit their adblocker for our sites (MacNN and Electronista), since we really don't want to have to charge a subscription or something like that. We really appreciate it when you allow ads on our site, and even more when you click the ones that might actually appeal (like OWC ads for example).

That said, I understand why some people might want to block any animated ads we may run (we get our ads from a service or Google and don't actually control which ads appear to whom). But please do whenever possible support our sponsors, since they are why we've been around for nigh on 20 years and we'd like to keep this thing going.

The Final Dakar · Feb 20, 2015, 02:44 PM

I have to say, between the upgrade killing my applescript and iTunes 11, podcasts on my ipod have been really ****ed up

ShortcutToMoncton · Feb 24, 2015, 09:57 AM

Yeah, kinda does sound like hard drive might be wonky if moving from 4 to 12Gb made little difference - that sucks, those are tough to replace. Assume you have done the basic repair tests?

If you want a nice little project, you can give it a go - but bite the bullet and use an SSD instead. Hell, even if it's a small, cheap one and you attach an external FW800 HDD for most of your data storage. Makes such a difference to have OS X + apps on SSD and you will get at least another couple years out of it.

The Final Dakar · Feb 24, 2015, 10:07 AM

It's fine guys. I don't use it enough to notice a big difference.

The Final Dakar · Apr 17, 2015, 01:27 PM

Definitely no more stuttering when I scroll. Handling browsing with multiple tabs fairly well. Thanks again.