Are used iMacs worth it?

[paperfist]

I see some of the 27" ones that are 2011 or slightly newer are fairly cheap, but more recent ones command nearly new pricing. Are iMacs of the 2011 age worth buying?

I'm not even sure if you can upgrade the RAM on these. Most I see are 8GB models which seems low if it were a PC.

 

[TheStu]

Yes, you can upgrade the RAM on the 27" (I think you could also easily upgrade the RAM on the older 21" models as well). The 2011 is too old to run Mojave officially, and it won't be Retina, but depending on your use case for it, it's not a terrible buy (depending on price).

 

[paperfist]

Yes, you can upgrade the RAM on the 27" (I think you could also easily upgrade the RAM on the older 21" models as well). The 2011 is too old to run Mojave officially, and it won't be Retina, but depending on your use case for it, it's not a terrible buy (depending on price).

Thanks, I'll do some more research.

I was just intending to learn Unity & programing and wanted to keep everything on a seperate system. Plus the Macs have some sick audio software from what I hear.

 

[Builder1977]

I think it is if you upgrade it. But a computer from 2011 wont have many years left, im afraid

 

[robvas]

2011’s are ticking time bombs because of the GPU

 

[THRiLL KiLL]

can someone explain why old macs cost so much $$?

 

[VirtualLarry]

can someone explain why old macs cost so much $$?

"Apple Tax". It's dat logo.

Same reason that Samsung SSDs are overpriced.

 

[ResonanceAud]

2011’s are ticking time bombs because of the GPU

What's the issue with the GPU?

 

[robvas]

Defective ATI chips

 

[Zaap]

"Apple Tax". It's dat logo.

Same reason that Samsung SSDs are overpriced.

I'd hardly say Samsung's SSDs are overpriced. Certain models might be, but it's more to do with paying a premium for bleeding edge tech. But plenty of the SSDs they make are priced more than competitively.

Also, that is pretty apples-to-oranges with OLD Apple hardware.

There's a lot of reasons Macs keep a high price. Mainly I'd say it has to do with supply/demand. Apple is just one company and they only make a small number of models, very little choice. A buyer has very little choice usually than to spend a pretty penny on a new Mac.

Therefore, trying to get an 'older' but still late enough model Mac to be usable- people can still charge a lot more for them, because the buyer won't have much choice.

Also the percieved value of Macs tend to be and stay higher for the owners. I have to say, it's justified a lot of times. There's not too many laptops of 2015 vintage I'd think much about, but I won't part with my 2015 15" Retina MacBook for anything less than the cost of an equivalent laptop today.

And that's going to be pretty pricey, as in 'not worth it' for either party. So even finding someone willing to part with their older Macs is often dificult, let alone going to be a steal.