Advice on buying a used 2013 iMac, please

Thanks babowa, as far as the Apple warranty, you are right. I will be the third owner, so I assume there are no warranties now, though.

The SSD install video seemed very "zen" like and easy to follow.

My question now is, can I install memory at the same time or is it soldered? I'm looking at links while I post these questions, to try and keep up. Thank you all. Every reply has helped. I'd like to max the memory at the same time I do the SSD drive.

Thank you. Those were perfect instructions. I could do it. I might need a full day so as to not destroy my nerves, but looks pretty doable. Just have to be tender handed and slow. At least I know it's possible. That's the key.

Thanks again. Can't get a 'helpful" to register on your posts...??? You were very helpful!

Thank you everyone. I'll be sure to use the kit to do it as clean as I can. I'll be driving up to the next town to pick it up in a few hours. If it's in as good a shape as the guy says it's a good buy. The display alone is worth it.

Hi everyone, I wanted to update you all on how things went on my purchase of the used iMac. I also wanted to give another big thanks to you all for giving me a very fast summary of getting up to speed on what to look for. I probably would have bought the computer anyway even if it had been a full stock 21.5". But, ........

I SCORED!!!

Well, I don't mind boasting just a little because I feel like I got a whopping deal. Better yet, I got what I needed. And, you all helped me do it.

It turned out that the iMac had been upgraded at the factory at the time of purchase. It is the late 2013, but, it has the 3.1 GHz Intel Core i7 instead of the 2.7GHz i5, and it came with the 500GB SSD and the NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 1GB graphics card.

Still only has 8 GB RAM.

It was a somewhat older couple that bought the computer used for the wife and she just couldn't get used to Apple after using PC all her life and she didn't want to try and learn. So, hubby buys her a PC and this one sat. The guy's son also somehow convinced his dad that since it didn't have the platter hard drive that it wasn't worthy!? That was the part I was worried about. He kept telling me on the phone it didn't have a hard drive inside but it would start up..? He kept telling me I would need to buy an external drive for it. I gambled that he was just confused, and that was the case.

The lady couldn't remember her old password she used to set it up so, I was able to call Apple Support and they walked me through getting it set up in my name. I wiped the drive, which had very little on it, and have installed the latest OS 10.13.1.

The computer is blazingly fast, especially after what I had been using. I am extremely happy.... and, very lucky.

Could any of you direct me to the best place to post a topic on setting the computer up for my upcoming project of digitizing a lot of b/w photo negatives? I have a new (refurb) scanner for the work. Or another good forum for this?

I need to figure out how to get my photos onto iMac and how to access them. Also, need to figure out how to get my camera photos to download to this computer. Apple has changed things in this regard, just enough for me to be a little lost compared to the older days.

So, any advice in this area is greatly appreciated. I'll have a lot of stupid questions. So, I'll definitely need to start a topic thread in the right place.

Well, just wanted to say a big THANKS to you all. I got this thing insanely cheap, and it's already got the things I would have cracked the case to add later. So happy!

And, it feels so good to be back.... to the light side!!

Cheers!

I did, man. I was a little woried because they were sending me photos from the internet on the specifications. I was afraid they were trying to scam me.

When I actually showed up to look at it, they had that same internet screen on when I waked in, showing the generic specs. So, still, I thought they were trying to hide something. I went right to "About This Mac" and the first thing I saw was 3.1GHz i7. I closed it up and said I'll take it! :-)

When I got home I couldn't get he passwords to work. So, then I was nervous about calling Apple for fear it was stolen, but that's what I did so I would know. I'm glad I did. They were so helpful and it gives me peace of mind knowing it is all legit and mine now. Thanks for your help Mike!

Is replacing the drive with SSD a DIY project or Apple tech? Can you use an external drive in it's place?