Generally an old iMac isn’t worth repairing.
If your hard disk goes that is OK because hard disks and SSD’s are freely available from third party dealers but other big ticket items like video cards, power supplies and mainboards all come from Mr Apple. The issue there, even if you decide that $300 wasn’t too much to get your – up till now – faultless iMac back to physical perfection, is that these parts are no longer available.
Recently Apple decided to drape the black cloth over a number of their products effectively condemning them to death. Among those being ushered into God’s waiting room are:
Mac notebooks
iBook G4 (12-inch, Mid 2005)
iBook G4 (14-inch, Mid 2005)
MacBook (13-inch, Late 2006)
MacBook (13-inch, Mid 2007)
MacBook (13-inch, Late 2007)
MacBook (13-inch, Early 2008)
MacBook Pro [original]
MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2.4/2.2GHz)
MacBook Pro (15-inch, Core 2 Duo)
MacBook Pro (15-inch, Early 2008)
MacBook Pro (17-inch, Core 2 Duo)
MacBook Pro (17-inch, 2.4GHz)
MacBook Pro (17-inch, Early 2008)
PowerBook G4 (12-inch, 1.5Ghz)
PowerBook G4 (15-inch, Double-Layer SD)
PowerBook G4 (17-inch, Double-Layer SD)
Mac desktops
eMac (2005)
iMac G5 (17-inch, iSight)
iMac (17-inch, Early 2006)
iMac (20-inch, Early 2006)
iMac (17-inch, Mid 2006 )
iMac (17-inch, Late 2006)
iMac (20-inch, Late 2006)
iMac (20-inch, Mid 2007)
iMac (24-inch)
iMac (24-inch, Mid 2007)
iMac G5 (20-inch, iSight)
Mac mini (Late 2005)
Mac mini (Early 2006)
Mac mini (Late 2006)
Mac Pro
Power Mac G5 (Early 2005)
Power Mac G5 (Late 2005)
Xserve (Late 2006)
Peripherals
AirPort Express Base Station
AirPort Extreme 802.11n (1st Gen)
Airport Extreme Base Station [original]
Apple Cinema Display (20-inch DVI, Late 2005)
Apple Cinema Display (23-inch DVI, Late 2005)
Apple Cinema Display (23-inch, DVI, Early 2007)
Apple Cinema Display (30-inch DVI)
Apple Cinema Display (30-inch DVI, Late 2005)
iSight
Time Capsule 802.11n (1st generation)
So what? I am sure you are already muttering to the screen.
Well the ‘what’, in this case is, are you going to do about the fact that you are sitting on the technological equivalent of a full stop?
Of course you can do nothing and wait for it to die or you could start looking to upgrade now and sell on your old Mac (believe me someone will buy it) to get at least a little something for it. Another advantage of this pre-emptive strike is that you have the time to address any software issues that might arise when moving to a new system. You will have time to sort out the printer and scanner issues that nearly always crop up and you can migrate your data calmly and over a cup of tea rather than screaming non-stop for three hours while you wonder if you’ll ever see your data again.
Food for thought.
