I finally replaced my 2006 iMac with an i5 unit I bought on EBAY. I've found the best way to buy Apple computers is used and typically EBAY has the best selection and best price. People tend to care of their Mac computers and unlike PCs, Macs don't have to be refreshed every 2-3 yrs to make them work again. At least that's been my experience.
I've been wanting a new iMac for a couple years but couldn't justify the expense because my 2006 is still running good. But its a core duo and I need a core 2 duo or newer to run some of the latest software. I can't run Microchip's MPLAB X for developing PIC® code and my Davinci 3D printer software required OSX 10.8 and 64 bit processor which the core duo is not. I've also been using cloud type applications such as TinkerCad for creating 3D objects and MakerCase for 2D objects and they weren't running all that well on the core duo machine. So I went shopping.
I wanted to see if I could get an i3 version for under $600 but kept finding machines with issues or didn't have all the features I wanted. So I looked at the i5 machines to see how much more they would cost. That's when I saw my computer. An i5 running at 3.6 GHz. I would have preferred more RAM than 4 GB but other than that the machine looked perfect and at $649 with free shipping it was as close as I figured I was gonna get. The reseller had good ratings and I read some of the feedback and it was all good. I showed my son who is our local Mac expert and he said he would buy it if I didn't. So I'm writing this on my new iMac. I've installed MPLAB X and the XYZ Printing software for the Davinci 3D. MPLAB X is working great. I had problems with the XYZ software as it kept locking up but I contacted their tech support through email and they sent me a new version which is working fine.
The old iMac? No it's not going up for sale on EBAY. It's now in my lab as it has Parallels installed with Windows XP and I use that for creating circuit boards and writing Great Cow Basic and PICBASIC PRO code for PICs. And the Mac portion still runs many programs just fine. So it will live on in the lab.
The old iMac? No it's not going up for sale on EBAY. It's now in my lab as it has Parallels installed with Windows XP and I use that for creating circuit boards and writing Great Cow Basic and PICBASIC PRO code for PICs. And the Mac portion still runs many programs just fine. So it will live on in the lab.
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