What can I do with a Late 2006 iMac

I wouldn't spend any money on upgrading a white 2006 iMac as they were known to have LCD Panel issues and capacitor issues with the Logic Board and power supply. If the computer is working, then @padams35's suggestion for installing Linux is a very good way to extend the life of this computer.

Kubuntu, Ubuntu-Mate, or Linux Mint are three very good options as they will install very easily and should just work on the Mac. These are all based on Ubuntu Linux. I don't recommend the default Ubuntu because the Gnome desktop environment requires a powerful system with lots of memory. The ones I suggested will work well with 4GB of RAM. You can use the latest versions of the common web browsers Firefox, Google Chrome, and Vivaldi (others are also possible, but may require more work to install). If nothing else this would make a good computer for the kids as there are many free open source games and apps available.

You may want to check the health of the hard drive by running DriveDX. Any "Failure" or "Warnings" means the drive is either bad or worn out respectively. Feel free to post the DriveDX report here using the "Additional Text" icon which looks like a piece of paper.

Are you into retro mac computing? If you have Snow Leopard install disks you could roll back and run classic PowerPC software in Rosetta.

Or if you want internet you could install Linux. Burn a live DVD of a distro you want to try and see how that runs.

Or you could do something artistic. Maybe replace the screen with a mirror.

HWTech wisely mentions the video and capacitor issues. The video issues--bad displays installed by the factory that affects a high percentage of total production--started with the G5 iMacs and continues into the early Intel iMacs like yours. They are easy to spot as a) they all came from the same factory, and b) the computer's serial number starts with a "factory code."

Units from the factory that had so many issues will have serial numbers starting with "W8." If yours has that, I would not spent a dime on it.

I do not have a code for units that were affected by the bulging capacitor issue but you may be able to see some of them thought the RAM door:

Look at the images here for examples of what to look for:

Imac Bad Capacitors - Image Results

If there are not video defects, the serial # is not a W8 series, and the computer still has iTunes, you can take the approach that a friend did: Burned his CD collection to iTunes, got a $20 pair of external speakers, and used it as a jukebox. He turned on the iTunes visualizer to enhnace the coolness.

That's about the limit of it's usefulness these days. :(

It is already maxed out and you have pretty much already figured out all of the answers to any questions.

IMHO about the only thing that might help, is to replace the old original hard drive with a larger fresh hard drive and then perhaps only update it up to 10.6 Snow Leopard.

Hello, Timothy.

In my opinion there is very little you can do with that iMac.

As you stated, it's stuck with Mac OS X Lion and no way to update.

I don't believe there's a way to access the App Store securely, if at all.

What little support there is for a web browser is evaporating more every year.

If you have a young person who might like to tinker with it as a hobby/learning machine that's probably the best you can do.

It's too bad, but inevitable. Those old iMacs had a charm. I have one myself, a hobby machine.

As a computer it’s too old to even surf the net, have you considered using it as a fish tank?

I have the same iMac packed up. I use it to clutter up my basement. It does work however.

🤣