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Is A Free Old iMac From 2009 Still Usable?

Psivewri

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I was given a tired, worn-out iMac from early 2009. This 20" Apple mac was going to be thrown out, which isn't all that surprising. So let's give it a clean out and see if it's still usable here in 2026 :) #ecoflow #EcoFlowDELTA3MaxPlus #powerstation

► Tutorial I followed: https://www.ifixit.com/Device/iMac_In...

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Nathan Sivewright
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Apple iMac early 2009 A1224 specifications:
Intel Core 2 Duo E8135 2.66GHz CPU
4GB DDR3 1066MHz Ram (Before upgrade)
320GB 7,200RPM HDD (Before upgrade)
Nvidia GeForce 9400M 256MB Integrated Graphics
20" 1680x1050 TFT display

20 Comments

@psivewri Creator 3 months ago Pinned

Save up to A$1500 on EcoFlow (sponsor) products this EOFY!
Early access to the latest releases.
🛒 Official Website: https://bit.ly/4eC6eBl
🛒 eBay AU: https://bit.ly/4gvf8TW
🛒 Amazon AU: https://bit.ly/4gvfbPC
➡ Extra 5% OFF on EcoFlow Official Website only with code: EFPSI5

@veenlaaa 3 months ago

I swear he has unlimited supply of Eucalyptus Oil😂

@ardas77 3 months ago

good thing I loaded all my old computers to the max with ram and decent ssd's while the prices were normal.

@alexanderfranklin2476 3 months ago

I went to a yard sale to check for anything that was Apple, and asked the gentleman if he had anything.
He brought out a Macintosh SE, SE FDHD, a complete IIGS setup, as well as a PowerBook 180 and iMac G3 in tangerine.
Asked a price, he said a good firm hand shake and to take them.

I ended up dropping off $20 in his mailbox the day after as I felt guilty for taking them for absolutely free.

@RichardLampard 3 months ago

Scored one of these in the UK for less than five pounds. Chucked Linux Mint on it, and even with the old HDD it runs fine (once you get past the two minute boot time). The screen is lovely.

@Aksaqa 3 months ago

Watching this while the temperature outside is at 38°C is such a vibe

@Codefunkin_inc 3 months ago

7:22 This is the 67 ha ha ha! I know. - Psivewri 2026.

@The_Hero_Is_Back 3 months ago

I still use my 2006 C2D iMac occasionally. It’s great for old DVDs, playing music, a bit of writing. I don’t go online with it, though. Still a beautiful machine and a pleasure to use.

@voneschenbachmusic 3 months ago

I hope people will get better at re-using old computers and doing minor upgrades versus buying the latest and greatest, especially if they don't need the bleeding edge of performance for that computer.

@haramaschabrasir8662 3 months ago

Double RAM price time is LOVE YOUR OLD COMPUTERS time! I will revive my 20 year old Macs. They are FULL of fun!

@SixSilverStones 3 months ago

The timing of this could not be more perfect since I just got one of these too

@OldRocker-9790 2 months ago

Use my 2010 to dump all my photos in to external 10 tb backup from my iPhones . Still working great offline.

@coldspring22 1 month ago (edited)

It is definitely worth it! (maybe not 2009 imac but newer 27" imac with 5K display from 2016 - I bought one for $70 USD). In age of ram apocalypses, DDR3 8GB sticks are still very reasonably priced. You can upgrade 27" imac to 32GB ram and have very nice computer for very small budget (less than $150 total) running windows or linux instead of outdated macos

@enginecomutersantec 3 months ago

My family uses one of these as a kitchen tv

@blakesooly2722 3 months ago

I use a 21.5” mid 2010 iMac as a secondary machine to run my iTunes library and convert VHS to digital. It also does well when I need to fill in a spreadsheet and even do some web browsing with the occasional YouTube. It’s very snappy as I’ve got the 3.6ghz i5, did new thermal paste, put in a 400gb SSD and 16gb of RAM in it. Still looks very premium.

@gettingstuffdoneright5332 2 months ago

The issue that never gets addressed in these upgrades is security, you're running an OS No longer getting updates, browsing the internet with one of these machines just seems risky, it's a shame because otherwise they're perfectly functional.

@LotoTheHero 3 months ago

It's nice that this thing was able to be saved. I'm surprised how dusty it was inside!

@flavorfulfern_08 3 months ago

4:42 he has RAM, get him! 🤣🤣🤣

@DengueBurger 3 months ago

I wish Apple released new logic boards you could put in these to get them working great again. Like if you could take a good logic board from an old iPad or m1 Mac and put it in here and have it work with all the IO and display, that’d be great.

@theyruinedyoutubeagain 3 months ago

The DVD drive makes this super useful actually, and you can run windows with bootcamp on it to play really old games like my beloved Birthright: The Gorgon's Alliance