OT - computers - should I repair this iMac?

[AngryScientist]

everyone has their quirks, but computers are simple appliances to me.

i buy a new home computer every 5 years or so. i just (this week) got a new lenovo factory refurbished desktop from microcenter for $260 and it's head and shoulders above my last one that just died.

factory refurbished PCs are such an excellent deal it would seem nuts-O to me to spend 700 bucks on a 10 year old machine.

[dgauthier]

Any Mac over seven years old is considered "obsolete" by Apple standards, which means it won't run the latest operating systems and service and parts will be hard to find or non-existent:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201624

If it was working perfectly that would be one thing, but it's already failed multiple times. Let it go.

We're Apple fans at our house too, but if your son wants games you should get him a Windows machine, absolutely, positively. The gaming universe is orders of magnitude larger on Windows.

Windows compares quite well to MacOS these days. Windows 10 is really nice. Also, you can mitigate 93% of Windows 10 attacks by not giving regular users administrator privileges:

https://www.computerworld.com/articl...mitigated.html

Create an administrator account on the machine, and use it to control machine settings and install software. For normal use, add separate accounts for users such as your son and yourself that have no administrator privileges, and *use only those accounts* for normal day-to-day operations on the machine. (We have all our Macs set up this way too. *Every* computer, no matter the OS, should be set up this way.)

If your son wants games, it's Windows or nothing -- and he's *3D printing*?!?!? You gotta love this kid! Get him the most kickass computer you can!

[C40_guy]

Originally Posted by Spaghetti Legs

I’m leaning towards a 2014 Mac Mini right now. Lateral move or slight upgrade in processor.

Good call. My primary (desktop) computer is an older Retina Pro, and I'm looking for that same Mac Mini with an I7, 3GHz, 16GB of memory. I'll add a 1 TB SSD to the Mini, so I'm looking for one with a small or no HD...

On paper, it's the most cost effective upgrade for me. The alternate move is the 2018 Mac Mini, which brings much more power, but at 2-3X the cost...

[tylercheung]

A few thoughts:

1) if it is a 2011 iMac - I would just replace it with a new one. The expense is more, but the time and pain and headaches saved by going with a newer computer in the era of faster wifi, ethernet connectivity, SSDs, and better operating system support w/ less niggles is well worth it.

2) SPECIFICALLY: if it is a GPU from ~2007-2011 be aware that the replacement part will likely fail. I.e. if it is a ATI Radeon 4000 or 5000 series card or the rough nvidia equivalent, that was the 1st generation that made the move to some sort of low-lead content "environmentally friendly" solder for the ball grid array chip socket, by Nvidia and ATI, which eventually deteriorated over time. All replacement cards from that era (of which any remaining parts are likely sparse), will be of the same age and will also fail in short order.

[tylercheung]

Of note: the new Mac Mini (2019) is a substantial upgrade from the old one. I would not get the 2014 unless you are really pinching pennies. Especially as it will likely be obsoleted by Apple in a few years and lose OS support.

Originally Posted by C40_guy

Good call. My primary (desktop) computer is an older Retina Pro, and I'm looking for that same Mac Mini with an I7, 3GHz, 16GB of memory. I'll add a 1 TB SSD to the Mini, so I'm looking for one with a small or no HD...

On paper, it's the most cost effective upgrade for me. The alternate move is the 2018 Mac Mini, which brings much more power, but at 2-3X the cost...