Q: Mavericks vs older iMacs

If I were you ( and I am not), I would browse the on - line Apple store refurbished section. Be VERY careful if you buy a used Mac from some on-line source. There are licensing issues with software (what can be legally transferred to a purchaser).

Barry

Not knowing where you are from, you can do a search for Apple authorized resellers that sell used, older Apple,hardware.

The one I use frequently is PowerMax.

They have a great staff of knowledgable personnel and great quality inspection of older Apple hardware.

They have the best warranty for older, used Macs. A one year paid warranty.

Their prices are very reasonable for older model Macs and they have good quality control on the hardware they get traded in.

Also, FYI,

No older Mac model will come installed with OS X 10,9 Mavericks.

Mavericks is a digital download only and has to be downloaded using your own unique Apple ID.

Older Macs will come with their original OS X version installed on them and, most likely, won't come with any restore discs.

If your looking for a used, older iMac that will run OS X Mavericks, I wouldn't look any earlier than early to mid 2009 model Macs as these model years usually can install, at least, 8 GBs of RAM.

New Macs come with 8 GBs installed as their base RAM, now, for running OS X 10.9 Mavericks.

Good Luck!

Kacey,

New Macs come with Mavericks installled, by default, as their base OS X versions. So no issues there for these brand new Macs.

If sellers on eBay are installing Mavericks on the older Mac systems they are selling, they should not be doing this as the OS needs to be tied to an Apple ID. Sellers should be erasing the OS X Mavericks off of these Macs and restoring their orignal operating system from either a retail install disc or the orignal restore discs that came with older Macs.

What these sellers are doing is, basically, illegal and against Apple's Terms of Use of their software.

If you ever need to restore an older Mac that has Mavericks pre-installed on it, you will need to redownload Mavericks, again, under your own Apple ID, to reinstall it!

Older Macs from say, early 2009 to early/mid 2011, will have, more than likely, OS X 10.6.8 Snow Leopard installed on them as this version allows access to the Mac App Store for downloading apps and system upgrades and updates.

Once you set up your own Apple ID, you can, certainly, upgrade, yourself, to OS X 10.9 Mavericks from OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard.

No Problem.

FYI,

iMacs from mid 2007 model year and upward can install and run OS X Mavericks.

I recommended not getting any iMac older than early 2009 and later because you can install more RAM from 8 GBs of RAM all they way to 32 GBs of RAM with some later year and model iMacs.

The 2007-2008 iMac models can only take 6 GBs of RAM max.

Kacey04, I'm typing this on a five year old MacBook I bought from MacOfAllTrades.com for $400.  

I've bought 5-6 machines from them, and other than a minor quibble, it's worked out well.  Their used Macs come with a warranty.  It's 90 days I think, expandable to a year for an extra fee.  (I'm not positive of those numbers, check their site to make sure.)

Wanting the latest greatest everything on an old Mac might be asking for trouble.  As example, I tried upgrading my Mac to Mavericks, and it didn't work out that well, at least in part because this older machine just doesn't have enough RAM to make Mavericks happy.

If your budget requires an older Mac, Snow Leopard (OSX 10.6.8) might be a better choice for you.

Good luck!

Just so you know and we know we are all on the same page.

Even if you want to use the new OS X Mavericks, to use the Airplay and mirroring features, you need a very recent iDevice ruuning iOS 7 and/or an AppleTV box.

For example, iPad2 or iPad3 have no Airplay features available in iOS 7 to take advantage of a Mac running Airplay.

So, if you own one of these iDevices, you are out of luck.

Older iPhones or iPod Touches may not have the Airplay or mirroring over WifI features, either.

In that case, you need to purchase/use an AppleTV box to take advantage of this feature on a Mac.

You will need a mid 2011 iMac for Airplay.

AirPlay Mirroring - About

This is a good and capable Mac.

It is one of the older 21 inch screen model iMacs that you can still install more RAM into, yourself.

This iMac can have a max. RAM amount of 32 GBs. This is a large amount of RAM.

The i5 designation indictes a quad core CPU iMac. That is very good.

This is a very good price.

I paid more than this (almost 2 years ago) for a 2010 core2duo (only a dual core iMac) with 8 GBs of RAM installed.

Kacey04 wrote:

MC309LL/a Mid 2011

4GB RAM

500GB HD

Intel, Quad Core

2.5 7200RPM HD

6750M Graphics Card with 512MB VRAM (? what is that)

AMD Radeon HD (? what is that)

 

 

This is the installed Graphics Chip and its dedicated VideoRAM of 512 MBs.

Having a dedicated GPU with its own bulit-in RAM means that the graphics engine in a Mac does not use any of the other physical RAM installed. The GPU has its own RAM to work with.

 

 

Dual Layer Superdrive

AppleCare until June of this year I have serial#

 

If you you can find out if there is the possibility of getting and paying for ANY extended warranty the seller may have, please look into this.

Any used conputer is a risk and any type of extended warranty that will cover repairs and component replacement is a really good thing.

It can be really expensive to get a Mac repaired through Apple or Apple authorized repair center and having some protection from premature hardware failure will save you high repair costs if you can get, at least, a six month warranty or better.

A 2011 iMac is going on 3 years old and if something goes bad after AppleCare ends, you will be in for a very expensive surprise if the GPU, Logic Board or Power Supply goes bad.

You need to budget for an extended warranty period.

The previous owner had paid for Apple's extended AppleCare and decided to get rid of this Mac just short of AppleCare ending.

 

 

$775.00