Is it time to go shopping?

Question

Level 1

8 points

Is it time to go shopping?

iMac 2017 running Ventura recently stopped working, went into an endless loop of flicker/restart. Apple Store said it was something to do with the cooling system (which they fixed) and said everything else checked out fine. Optional next step was to erase and reinstall to make sure there wasn't garbage around. Ok, got it home, and it was as if it had never left. Same problems as before. So I got in restore mode, tried the erase bit in disk utilities.

Now it's worse. The erase process quit without finishing; now it's like there's no disk at all. Nothing shows in (select) startup disk. Nothing shows as destination in install new OS. Since I can't 'find' the disk any more I can't run first aid.

What can I do? Like I said, is it time to start shopping? I've been holding out because I really like the 27", but more important I want something that works.

iMac 27″ 5K, macOS 13.7

Posted on Oct 23, 2024 2:06 PM

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Answer 1

Oct 23, 2024 4:43 PM in response to bennetts

You can upgrade an iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2017) to Ventura – but no further.

Ventura is still one of "the most recent three." If Apple's recent macOS release schedule is any guide, Ventura will be one of the "most recent three" for about a year – until the release of Sequoia's unnamed successor. After that, you may see applications from the likes of Microsoft and Adobe dry up. Updates to Firefox, LibreOffice, etc. might continue to be available for Ventura for a few years.

Note that your Mac is an Intel-based Mac – and that going forward, there may be some features that are exclusive to Apple-Silicon-based Macs. Off the top of my head, these include

The Touch ID sensor on Magic Keyboards with Touch ID
The ability to run some iPhone and iPad apps (where app vendors allow it)
Apple Intelligence (which hasn't been released yet)

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Answer 2

rkaufmann87

Level 10

144,300 points

Oct 23, 2024 2:36 PM in response to bennetts

You can still get a 27 display, just buy yourself a Mac Mini and then add a 27" display to it. There are many many many available in various resolutions and price ranges. Your 2017 is obsolete in that it cannot run current versions of Mac OS and is considered vintage by Apple (meaning parts are not available) so IMHO shopping would be the smart thing to do.

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Answer 3

Oct 23, 2024 4:33 PM in response to bennetts

27" iMacs tended to be higher-end than 21.5" iMacs in terms of computing power. So their "headless" counterparts in the current Mac desktop line would be the M2 Pro Mac mini and M2 Max Mac Studio. Those desktops have more USB-C (Thunderbolt) expansion ports, and more display support, than the M2 Mac mini or 24" M3 iMac. (Macs that have plain M2 and M3 chips still would outrun that 2017 iMac in absolute terms.)

RAM is not expandable after purchase on any Apple Silicon Mac – so be sure to get what you need, even if you must custom-order a machine from Apple to get that configuration.

As for 27" displays, there are a lot of choices in good 27" 2.5K and 27" 4K displays, but there aren't many choices in terms of 27" 5K (5120x2880) ones (like the one on your 27" 5K Retina iMac). There's an Apple one, an LG one, and a Samsung one. Before you ask, you can't run a cable between a new Mac and your 27" 5K Retina iMac and use the iMac as if it were a hardware monitor.

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Answer 4

HWTech

Level 9

60,758 points

Oct 24, 2024 9:23 AM in response to bennetts

While booted into Internet Recovery Mode (Command + Option + R) you will need to launch Disk Utility again. Within Disk Utility click "View" and select "Show All Devices" so that the physical drive(s) appear on the left pane of Disk Utility. Select the physical drive (or the "Fusion Drive" item if using a Fusion Drive") and erase it as GUID partition and APFS (top option) assuming you are accessing the macOS Ventura installer.

If you do not see the physical internal drive on the left pane of Disk Utility, then the drive has failed. If the erase process fails, then it likely indicates a problem with the internal drive.

You can install macOS onto an external USB3 SSD (first erase the whole physical external SSD before selecting the "Install macOS") so you will end up booting to the external SSD to run this iMac.

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