Install windows 7 on it, then it's still useful.

Warlord wrote on 2021-01-30, 05:10:

Install windows 7 on it, then it's still useful.

If Apple had remembered that "Form Follows Function" and put some screws on the stupid thing so I could get into it and install an SSD, I probably would.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHan1Ivc6fk

I really have no desire to pry the glass LCD panel off of this thing.

It has USB 3.0 ports. I wonder if I could boot from an external SSD... 🤣

It can probably boot from USB. Hold down the alt key while turning it on or rebooting to get into the boot menu. At least it works with macOS installs.

looks pretty easy compared to everything I've done. Probably take me about 30 minutes tops.

A few months back I actually picked up an early 2008 20" iMac (2.4GHz Core2Duo, 6GB RAM, 256GB SSD) on which I've forced High Sierra on and it's used every day. My main PC desk screen/kb/mouse are for working at home during the week (then used for main PC at evenings/weekends), but this iMac sits off to the side for personal stuff while working - email, eBay, Twitter and the like. It mostly streams YouTube for background music while I work. It works fine for web browsing - the latest Edge & Chrome work perfectly on it!

I'm using it instead of one of many other PCs/laptops I own as I was always on the PC side of PC v Mac for last however many decades and I wanted to finally experiment with MacOS and see if I missed out on anything due to my stubbornness! I don't think I did - I mean the hardware's nice and polished as is the OS, but it's all a bit restrictive and locked in and boring for my tastes! I totally get the appeal though. Works well for the job it does now.

If you can get a good price for it sounds like your better off selling it and using the money to get a mac laptop that will take less space or a Mac Pro tower that you can upgrade as you wish.

The main reason I got into Macs was to dual boot Windows and OSX.
I wanted a UNIX based computer along with Windows.

Also if you use an iPhone or iPad a Mac computer is useful to have.

I still have my mid-2012 MacBook Pro with dual core i5 CPU, 16gb. Ram and 500gb SSD.
I was fun for a while. I use to benchmark Windows and OSX and posts the results on Apple user forum because Windows actually benchmarked higher on the MacBook Pro than OSX. But they perform about the same now.

I still use this Macbook every now and then. It runs OSX fine but is not powerful enough for the Windows 10 hog.
I have a Newer MacBook Pro a 2013 with Quad core i7 that is my NEW go to Laptop. I have not set it up with dual boot yet but that is what I plan to do.

chinny22 wrote on 2021-02-01, 13:46:

If you can get a good price for it sounds like your better off selling it and using the money to get a mac laptop that will take less space or a Mac Pro tower that you can upgrade as you wish.

That's probably what I'll do. Hopefully someone locally will be interested in it. I don't want to try to ship this thing. It looks like it'd cut through any packaging that I could cobble together for it.

I do own an older iPad Pro 9.7", but I bought that as a demo unit from Wal-Mart for a hundred bucks a few years ago, and I bought it so I would at least have some idea of how to use iOS. I haven't needed a MacOS to do anything with it yet. This seems to be the only way I get Apple products... cheap or free. Even the three Apple II systems and monitors I got a few months back were given to me as a trade for fixing an Atari 2600. 😀

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2021-01-30, 05:48:

If Apple had remembered that "Form Follows Function" and put some screws on the stupid thing so I could get into it and install […]
Show full quote

Warlord wrote on 2021-01-30, 05:10:

Install windows 7 on it, then it's still useful.

If Apple had remembered that "Form Follows Function" and put some screws on the stupid thing so I could get into it and install an SSD, I probably would.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHan1Ivc6fk

I really have no desire to pry the glass LCD panel off of this thing.

It has USB 3.0 ports. I wonder if I could boot from an external SSD... 🤣

They really aren't that hard to get into, no need to pry anything just a few screws and few small cables for the camera and use a suction cup to pull the panel off. From there a few more screws and you can access the hard drive. It's a bit like working on a large laptop. But be careful of the exposed caps of the PSU.

Now don't get me wrong, it's a needlessly complicated design....and not really much worth it in the end.

FWIW you can totally run Windows 10 on this machine, the stupid Bootcamp drive list might not say that you can, but you totally can.

The possibilities are many.

1) You can still install newer (unsupported) macOS operating systems with a patch from DOSDUDE1. I wouldn't recommend Windows 10 given how bad it is; but it's a personal opinion.
2) As suggested by another forum member, you can install Windows 7 through BootCamp (There's also a technique to install without BootCamp, floating around the web).
3) You can also install any Linux distro, like Linux Mint or Ubuntu, and still have an environment quite similar to macOS. As always, there are tutorials floating around the web to learn how to do it.

I chose 1) for my 2009 iMac (C2D) and 2011 Mac Mini (i5). Both are running very, very well, both with upgraded RAM sticks, newer hard disks and SSDs, with an unsupported install of macOS Catalina 10.15. They are running like brand new.

Your 2012 iMac should not have issues with it and have a few more years to squeeze from it down the unsupported macOS install route before changing to another operating system for longer lifespan.

For the 2009 iMac, we booted the new install from an external SSD before opening it up and replacing the CD/DVD drive with an enclosure from OWC to hold the SSD in it so we could run the new HDD (for files) + SSD (for operating system and apps) configuration. It's blazing fast now. This is one thing I would definitely recommend for an old (now vintage, according to Apple) iMac. The 2011 Mac Mini has a new SSD and newer RAM sticks. It's the machine where my dad is doing his daily stuff, runs pretty well, no lags.

A few months ago I wanted one of those white or black 2006-2008 MacBooks, but its hard to find one in a good condition here in Brazil. And, I have other plans now. But I definitely recommend upgrading your iMac a bit and running any OS of your choice on it. It is still a very good machine for day to day usage and some errands.

Jasin Natael wrote on 2021-02-01, 19:40:

They really aren't that hard to get into, no need to pry anything just a few screws and few small cables for the camera and use […]
Show full quote

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2021-01-30, 05:48:

If Apple had remembered that "Form Follows Function" and put some screws on the stupid thing so I could get into it and install […]
Show full quote

Warlord wrote on 2021-01-30, 05:10:

Install windows 7 on it, then it's still useful.

If Apple had remembered that "Form Follows Function" and put some screws on the stupid thing so I could get into it and install an SSD, I probably would.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHan1Ivc6fk

I really have no desire to pry the glass LCD panel off of this thing.

It has USB 3.0 ports. I wonder if I could boot from an external SSD... 🤣

They really aren't that hard to get into, no need to pry anything just a few screws and few small cables for the camera and use a suction cup to pull the panel off. From there a few more screws and you can access the hard drive. It's a bit like working on a large laptop. But be careful of the exposed caps of the PSU.

Now don't get me wrong, it's a needlessly complicated design....and not really much worth it in the end.

FWIW you can totally run Windows 10 on this machine, the stupid Bootcamp drive list might not say that you can, but you totally can.

Actually the thinner "wedge" 2012's do require the removal of adhesive around the screen in order to remove it. Most adhesive replacement kits come with a little plastic "pizza cutter" that you run around the edge to slice through the existing adhesive. It was ~early 2012 and older iMacs that didn't use adhesive, aka the thicker-chassis ones.

And fwiw we had one of these machines at work with the exact same specs, and we sold it for $300 USD not too long ago. Just had a fresh install of OSX Catalina and a keyboard, mouse and power cable.

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2021-01-30, 03:28:

I know this isn't totally vintage, but its... "not new"... and I know you guys have experience with lots of different machines. […]
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I know this isn't totally vintage, but its... "not new"... and I know you guys have experience with lots of different machines. 😀

Someone gave me their old iMac last year when I built them a proper desktop. They were tired of the odd limitations and quirks of the Mac and wanted to go back to a PC.

I know very little about MacOS, so I thought maybe I'd use this to learn the ropes... but to be totally honest, I've had it almost a year now and haven't done anything but move it around constantly. It's a heavy, clunky thing with nasty sharp edges, and it needs to either find a purpose or a new home.

According to this site, the specs are:
i5 3330S
8GB DDR3
GT640M 512MB GDDR5 (half a gig in late 2012... seriously? Oh right, no one games on MacOS.)
21.5" 1080P screen
1TB hard drive

I have a slight interest in the Apple's music production software, because I've heard good things about it, but I haven't actually learned any music software yet (except Mario Paint, if that counts), so it feels more productive to simply learn a Windows based one when I have time.

I haven't regularly used a PC without an SSD since 2010, so I think it'd be noticeably slow for productivity purposes. It's still worth money now, so I think I would rather just sell it and do some kind of hackintosh thing if I ever really felt like I needed to learn MacOS. Honestly, this is only the second Mac I've come across in twenty years of working on PCs for people... partially due to the lack of any Apple stores within 100 miles of here, and the fact that they're apparently a bit harder to mess up, software-wise.

So, what do you guys think? Any good reason for a guy like me to keep around a 9 year old iMac with a spinning disc?

Oh yeah. No one plays games on a Mac.
No one. Hell, I defy you to find anyone who plays games on a Mac. Macs are only meant for serious business. SERIOUS BUSINESS. Hell, if you play games you do it professionally and call it a simulation.

Okay, but seriously, it's an Ivy Bridge 21 incher - it can officially only support up to MacOS Catalina, and to get to the hard drive (SATA 2.5" if I remember correctly) you'll pretty much have to cut your LCD out of the chassis. If you are feeling that brave, you'll might as well be going the whole hog and max it out (swap the CPU from an i5 to an i7, populate both RAM slots with 8GB DDR3 to yield 16GB of RAM, and tossing a 1-2TB drive in there). I have a maxed out 2014 (Haswell) 21" that was donated to me by my gig, and I'll probably need to repair the audio jack (since some fucktard broke the contact switch inside the jack)...which I am honestly not even going to bother. 56 steps just to get to the audio jack (https://www.ifixit.com/Device/iMac_Intel_21.5%22_EMC_2805) - it's not worth it. Mine dualboots Mojave and Win10 20H2 - its not like I am lacking in hardware whatsoever.

Otherwise, sell it (the prices on them are on the left side of ridiculous - probably due to collectors), and if you want to mess with older Macs to get a feel for them, either get a MacMini (2012 is the last one with RAM slots and SATA drive connectors, CPU is soldered, should be plenty dumped in the secondary market now thanks to the M1s and the 2018 Intel MacMinis being more prevalent) a 2012 Unibody (Ivy, RAM slots, SATA slots and discrete video options) or a 2013-15 Retina Powerbook Pro(16GB of RAM, those are soldered in, but the SSD is NVMe derivative and not too hard to work on).

Hmm you do ask a good question but think it best you sell it and get a real "vintage" MAC like a Power MAC 7200/7300/7500 and learn Mac from when they competed against late Soc 5 and early Socket 7 PC. Just my opinion 😀

Thanks guys!

I guess I should have worded my question as... what would someone NEED a 2012 Mac for if they already have faster PCs. It seems that almost everything I could do with it can be done with a PC that is worth a lot less and is easier to maintain... and, well... I already have Sandy\Ivy era i5 PCs coming out my ears since businesses have been sending them to be recycled over the past few years. I can install Windows 7 on any of those, or on my old 2500K system, which I plan to use for a dual boot XP\7 system whenever I upgrade the video card in my main system and can put the GTX 970 back in the old one. I wasn't sure if I was missing some really interesting thing that a Mac can do, aside from a couple of well designed multimedia suites.

And ragefury... running emulators and VMs to make a Mac do things that PCs and consoles did 25 years ago isn't what I had in mind. 😁

And yes, I know some people game on Macs, I was just being funny. 😁 Honestly though, this thread has kind of reinforced that there is zero reason to do so if a person has a Windows PC and is content with it... are there any features\benefits to gaming on a Mac? Emulators\VMs or exclusive games or enhancements?

Horun wrote on 2021-02-02, 04:23:

Hmm you do ask a good question but think it best you sell it and get a real "vintage" MAC like a Power MAC 7200/7300/7500 and learn Mac from when they competed against late Soc 5 and early Socket 7 PC. Just my opinion 😀

Ehhhh. Or you can look one year down the line at the machines produced in 1996, aka the time of the macOSs Clone wars, when the 603/604 chips came out and Apple got its asses handed to them by the likes of Starmax (Motorola’s clone Mac business, which used their PowerPC chips and variants of Apple logic boards...to compete against Apple), or the machines from PowerComputing, which made cheaper Macs using PC components and cut severely into Apple’s own sales. Chances are, some of those Starmax and PowerComputing machines would’ve been much more fun to mess with.

That was also the era when Macs were going up against Socket 6 and 7 machines - when 604e and Pentium Pros battle for supremacy.

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2021-02-02, 04:53:

Thanks guys! […]
Show full quote

Thanks guys!

I guess I should have worded my question as... what would someone NEED a 2012 Mac for if they already have faster PCs. It seems that almost everything I could do with it can be done with a PC that is worth a lot less and is easier to maintain... and, well... I already have Sandy\Ivy era i5 PCs coming out my ears since businesses have been sending them to be recycled over the past few years. I can install Windows 7 on any of those, or on my old 2500K system, which I plan to use for a dual boot XP\7 system whenever I upgrade the video card in my main system and can put the GTX 970 back in the old one. I wasn't sure if I was missing some really interesting thing that a Mac can do, aside from a couple of well designed multimedia suites.

And ragefury... running emulators and VMs to make a Mac do things that PCs and consoles did 25 years ago isn't what I had in mind. 😁

And yes, I know some people game on Macs, I was just being funny. 😁 Honestly though, this thread has kind of reinforced that there is zero reason to do so if a person has a Windows PC and is content with it... are there any features\benefits to gaming on a Mac? Emulators\VMs or exclusive games or enhancements?

What, are you expecting hardware running modern games on this forum? Are you just tempting the gods to strike you down with this sacrilege?

The screenshots are off a 2015 MacBook Air 11, it's only got a Broadwell i5 ULV and 8GB of RAM - not exactly going to run Cyberpunk 2077. The games on the screen (UT2004SE/DOSBox/OpenEmu/ppsspp/HaloMD) is literally what I play on the subway while commuting to work. It's already got enough on its plate.
I need it to join/conduct meetings via Zoom/Teams/WebEx, run Office 365 apps, do network diagrams off Lucidchart, prototype layouts using GIMP (used to be Adobe CC but I didn't want to pay that much) and who knows what else my gig throws my way - I cobbled up PBX voice menu using Audacity and did training videos on OBS. I tend to use my Mac like a linux machine and spend a good chunk of my time in the terminals writing and pushing ansible code to repos, except unlike a Linux machine, the machine passes Microsoft Intune policy compliance tests and Office 365 runs natively. In terms of a 11" laptop with a relatively resilient aluminum chassis and a good quality trackpad, this 350 dollar machine can't be beat. I only use my Thinkpad X1 Carbon if I need to use powershell to manage Office 365 admin stuff - specific powershell modules don't work outside windows 10.

As for why you'll need a 2012 iMac...I dunno, you want to mess with MacOS but don't want to invest the time and effort onto maintaining a Hackintosh? Otherwise, either you are invested in the ecosystem or your own Mac oriented workflow, or you are not, and in which case, a Mac is not that useful. For me, it pretty much can do anything, as long as homebrew has a port of it and I can RTFM my way through tasks. The MacOS UI is also less schizophrenic than the split personality classic-versus-modern Win10 setup. As for whether games / emulators run better on MacOS? Eeeh, maybe for the older MacOS with 32 bit/OpenGL support. For the newer (post Mojave) MavOS with 64 bit/Metal and security prompts? Eeeh, most of those games stopped working. Ppsspp haven't had a single working standalone MacOS build after 1.75. Most of the classic Intel MacOS games like HaloMD, UT2004SE and Bioshock Infinite simply does not work since 32 bit support was dropped (UT2004SE works just fine on Mojave...and I am not sure if Win10 will run UT2004SE on modern hardware).

Of course, DOSBox and mt32emu works great even with the new M1 macs. When Mac games work, they tend to work well.