Suddenly a (sort of) Mac Guy

[mraikes]

Last night one of my customers gave me a pile of stuff that included two identical iMac AIO's. I've never owned a Mac before.

I powered them both up with regular PC keyboards and mice (they didn't include the original Apple accessories). They both seem to be working fine and are in like new physical condition.

The display portion of the screens measure about 24" diagonally, the OS is Mac OS X v.10.75, Intel Core 2 Duo 2.8ghz, 4gb ram. Are these "good" Macs? Can/should they be upgraded to whatever is the newest Mac OS? Any guesses how old they might be?

ATM I'm enjoying just having one to use at leisure, explore and learn more about the Mac OS. But I'd like to turn it into an opportunity to offer Mac support as part of my business. I'd appreciate suggestions on how a PC guy can make the most of this gift.

 

[jkurgeek]

Ballpark around 2008. Click the Apple icon and check the system info.

The latest version of OSX is 10.9.x "Mavericks" and on newer Macs (Core i5 and i7) I haven't had much issue, but a lot of customers with Core 2 Duos experience decreased performance. Lion and Mountain Lion will run fine on it, but I'd give Mavericks a little more time before making the jump.

 

[anonymous Mac Tech]

Ballpark around 2008. Click the Apple icon and check the system info.

The latest version of OSX is 10.9.x "Mavericks" and on newer Macs (Core i5 and i7) I haven't had much issue, but a lot of customers with Core 2 Duos experience decreased performance. Lion and Mountain Lion will run fine on it, but I'd give Mavericks a little more time before making the jump.

Considering Mountain Lion is what Lion was supposed to be and Mavericks is a more all encompassing entity of icloud integration, there really is not a difference in performance. Mavericks should run as good if not better than Lion on that platform. Just be sure you aren't doing anything crazy like photostreaming in iphoto and maybe turn notifications off if its running a little doggish. If you are looking for performance on that machine, 10.6.8 a.k.a Snow Leopard would be optimal. But , otherwise just to be familiar with were OSX is heading go with Mavericks.

But those machines even though vintage are still relevant. See plenty of them that people are willing to upgrade, fix and keep rather than buying new. Good solid machines for the most part.

 

[Markverhyden]

Specs for OS X 10.9

https://www.apple.com/osx/specs/

You can get your serial by going to the Apple in the upper right corner. Then go to http://www.powerbookmedic.com/identify-mac-serial.php paste the serial and you will get a list of spec's etc at the bottom of the page. Off the top of my head I think your RAM may be maxed.

Before you rush out and upgrade you might want to give some thought to what you do. Apple has a habit of pushing firmware updates which have a little documented feature of not allowing you to go back to a earlier OS. Right now I'm pretty certain you can not go back to 10.6. I found this out the hard way on my two MacMini servers as well as my MBP. Went onto 10.7 doing all of the updates, including firmware. Had a situation where I needed to get an instance of 10.6 up and running. When I went to load it onto USB stick I had plugged in it said it could not be installed.

Depending on how you use a computer you may find yourself quickly gravitating towards the Mac. It's not for everyone but many users who are not "fixated" on a particular computer setup like them.

If you have any interest in server level stuff you can buy the Apple server for $20. Has everything. Personally I use mine for hosting my iCal, Address Book, and ownCloud. I have a several domains but they just just point to a under construction page at this point.

 

[mraikes]

OK, all very interesting.

So I currently have OS X v10.75 - that's "Lion".

I could possibly upgrade to 10.8 "Mountain Lion" or 10.9 "Mavericks".

And if I had Mavericks on at least one of these, I could apply the OS X Server add-on for $19.99.

And it appears that Lion is compatible for the free upgrade to Mavericks.

Is Maverick's the most recent OS? Or is it just the most recent that's compatible with an older iMac?

 

[jkurgeek]

Considering Mountain Lion is what Lion was supposed to be and Mavericks is a more all encompassing entity of icloud integration, there really is not a difference in performance. Mavericks should run as good if not better than Lion on that platform. Just be sure you aren't doing anything crazy like photostreaming in iphoto and maybe turn notifications off if its running a little doggish. If you are looking for performance on that machine, 10.6.8 a.k.a Snow Leopard would be optimal. But , otherwise just to be familiar with were OSX is heading go with Mavericks.

The last client that had problems was on a fresh install of 10.9, and everything just ran a little slower. Making a mental note on the notifications for a little performance help. I've read a few things regarding Mavericks glitches, but performance is the only thing I've actually witnessed, and only on Core 2 systems.

@mraikes: Mavericks is the latest release.

 

[TechLady]

OK, all very interesting.

So I currently have OS X v10.75 - that's "Lion".

I could possibly upgrade to 10.8 "Mountain Lion" or 10.9 "Mavericks".

And if I had Mavericks on at least one of these, I could apply the OS X Server add-on for $19.99.

And it appears that Lion is compatible for the free upgrade to Mavericks.

Is Maverick's the most recent OS? Or is it just the most recent that's compatible with an older iMac?

Mavericks is the most recent. Personally I have stuck with Mountain Lion. Since you have two, it might be fun to do Mountain Lion on one and Mavericks on the other, and compare the two. It's an ideal situation, really.

 

[TechLady]

Apple has a habit of pushing firmware updates which have a little documented feature of [not?] allowing you to go back to a earlier OS...

? Thanks for that nugget, by the way. A delightful surprise, oy!

 

[Markverhyden]

? Thanks for that nugget, by the way. A delightful surprise, oy!

LOL!!! Thanks Mom for pointing out my grammar error!!!!

 

[Bruce Corson]

@mraikes Your post was over a year ago, but try some of these things, which will also help you with customers:

See if you can replace RAM. Pretty easy. Check out what you have under Apple Menu, About this Mac. Grab the serial number, and put that into http://www.appleserialnumberinfo.com/Desktop/index.php. It will tell you how much your Mac will actually allow you to put in, as well as what kind, (and a whole lot of other information to boot).

Learn to reset PRAM. Learn to rest SMC. Learn proper way to delete Caches (not Cache). In the right moment, these things can perform miracles for certain clients.

Then, get to know your Apple Business Team...let them know you are serving a lot of Mac customers and see what kind of help you can get--even referrals.