Should You Buy An Old Mac in 2023?

I just got a refurbished 2019 imac, 16gb, 1tb, 4gb graphic card. Perfect for lightroom and photoshop and saves time. Before this I had a lenovo... never again. I've got my life back!

Nice video do you think that the 2018 iMac would be a good choice?

Paldies, man ļoti palīdzēja jūsu video. Izvēloties datoru, par drošību nebiju iedomājies. Thank you!

Hi Craig which computer is that on the desk is that a iMac??

As a user of a 2020 27" 5k iMac that's pretty nicely specced for it's time (8-Core i7, Radeon Pro 5700 XT with 16 GB video ram, 1 TB internal HDD, and user upgraded 72 GB 2667 MHz ram) I'm curious when systems like mine make sense to get replaced and what their current day equivalent would be. I would assume for mine it would be a Mac Studio w/ Studio Display, since there still isn't an iMac equivalent for the 27" 5k iMac (I don't consider the 24" iMac it's equal or replacement due to the downgraded display). Would love to see benchmarks of this platform vs today's closest equivalents.

Cool. I like your videos. Straight to the point. No bullshit. ❤

Depends how old. But obviously yes.

Using one iMac of 13 years old and one of 10 years old and having no problems at all, both have SSDs, sufficient memory and more than enough well working apps and programs …. I appreciate your video a lot.

Thanks for the sound advice.

I appreciate your opinion Craig, I just don't agree. First off I have a Macbook Pro "2008", running Sonoma, hmmm?. Slow, oh yea, but security is all there. I have a 2012 and a 2015 imac, all running intel chips, older quadcore i5' and i7. Both running a 16 or 32 memory. The biggest disadvantage of the M series chips, not only overpriced and over rated, but no longer offer Boot camp.

I have a 2017 iMac and its fast, realiable and i can do everything i need to do including 4k editing etc. I simply do not understand all this M1, M2 etc etc… i feel its just marketing, hype. I love my 5K 27”, and will not pay for 24inch and £2000 pound screens😮

Looking alot into buying a iMac for home purposes. Looking into the 2017 27" 5k ones with i5/i7. I have the MacBook Pro M1 16GB ram for traveling but I wonder if I might be unhappy with that iMac? Can it run Premiere Pro? Or will it bug out?

I’m using an early 2011 MacBook Pro for music production only, with Logic Pro X. I actually bought it 2nd hand from owner about 5 years ago. He upgraded to 256 SSD and upgraded it to 8 gigs. It runs Logic flawlessly. I still love the fact that I can unscrew the bottom and actually upgraded everything even more at anytime. Apple scams everyone nowadays with their BS, “ Your stuck with whatever you bought, forever “ way of doing things. I can even take the CD drive out and add even more stuff. It isn’t slow or lagging at anything. Immediately responds to everything I do. I wouldn’t mind having a bra new MacBook Pro but. For what I’d want the prices are just ridiculous. And not being able to ever upgrade it, is absolutely insane to me. I love my old Mac and hope it continues to serve me well forever.

If someone wants to buy an older macbook theyre not buying it cause they like it theyre buying it cause theyre low on cash 😅 so all these comments are not helpful and the video is pointless if i had the money id buy the newest for 899 at best buy 😂 but thank you for telling us not to buy an old macbook i guess..i could barely tell your an apple fanboy.

Just bought a 2015 macbook pro from isellimac and the experience was great I paid $219 for grade c but came with one scratch on the back and everything works great.

A 2017 macbook pro is the cheapest/highest quality MacBook you can buy right now that runs ventura natively

So what's the best "older" MacBook pro to buy? 2014-2015?

Thank You for this vid!! I am a college freshmen, and want a imac just to use at home for assignments or zoom classes. I found this deal on BackMarket, it is a "iMac 21.5-inch Retina (Early 2019) Core i5 3GHz - HDD 1TB- 8GB" in excellent condition all for $636.13, should I get this?

One use case would be if you are running Docker and need to run Intel (AMD64) containers.
A 2018-2020 Mac Mini with an Intel chip will run the containers natively and you can bump the RAM up to 32 or 64 gig. These machines typically have Thunderbolt and USB 3.2 interfaces so one can run the external SSD drives you feature on this channel. The new OS out in Sept (Sonoma) may help with some of the Docker issues so make sure the machine is 2018 or newer (eligible for Sonoma).

Where can I see someone making an SSD drive EXTERNAL....and also how to upload it and what to do? I ordered everything and its coming soon but I need to be sure I dont screw this up because my computer is my lifeline. So is this risky to do. Or no?

What do you think about open core legacy patcher. I am switching off Microsoft and Chromebooks. I am going with Macbooks and Linux machines only.

I would rather virtual Mac OS on PC than by an expensive macbook pro M1 with only 8gb RAM that can't be upgraded. I run Mac OS VENTURA ON a PC

Agree, just get the M1 Macbook Air or M1 Mac Mini. One thing that people advocating older machines are not mentioning is that older machines used to have still functioning versions of Adobe or other expensive software.

I have a late 2012 27” IMac with 16gb 2x8 ram, did an update the other day and it crash my computer. I took it to get it checked and they told me one of my 8gb RAM went bad and I am thinking if I should replace or if it’s really worth it. I understand the security risk so I won’t be doing any banking or anything like that.

I'm here because the 27" 2011 imac which I had maxed out finally bit the dust. Probably going for the M1 MacBook Air when I find a good sale. Thanks for this video.

As usual, great video. I have an M1 MacBook Air & a Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Ultra as my newer devices. However, I love the older Intel MacBooks as my projects. The older Intel MacBooks are good depending on your use case. The new systems are better, but the older Macs aren't that bad

Old Mac ??? Maybe...However, in a few months (especially after WWDC 2023) the OG M1 MacBook Air will start to drop further in price, making it a great value.....get over your nostalgia and stick with Apple Silicon

i'm planning to buy one, i want to own it as a piece of art.

I’m looking to get something used as a desktop to do my bachelors degree online. I was thinking of getting a 2014 Mac Mini and a 29-inch ultrawide monitor. You can get an i7, 16 gb ram, and a SSD in a 2014 for half the price of a new M2 base model.

Would cost me around $450 for both, which sounds pretty good.. but I’m worried even with a SSD and Catalina OS it will have issues doing school tasks. Any tips?

Craig Neidel ThanksMuch!

Difference between a 2019 Imac 27" and a 2020 iMac 27" is 2019 you can install a 12 to 16 pin SSD 2280 to help storage and 2020 is just the hard drive. so for Me 2019 is my choice. Great Video and Thank You

Hi Craig,

I have a question for you: I found a great deal on a second-hand Mac Mini M1 with 16GB RAM and a 1TB SSD for $600. I plan to use it for music production on logic pro x and smaller projects, as well as an all-around desktop PC. Do you think this is a good choice for my needs,

Also, do you think it will be future-proof for at least the next 5 years? Would it be worth getting the M2 chip, or even the Mac mini M2 pro, or do you think the M1 is still sufficient for my needs?

Also, I wanted to add that I'm a big fan of your work and really appreciate your expertise in the tech and music space.

Thank you!

quick answer what is the latest MacOS operating sistem right now? Big Sur or Ventura or a different one?

The answer for a 27" iMac, hell yes. Once you have experienced that screen, anything else is like looking at a tablet from the Stone Ages. I bought a refurbed 2020 i7 for about 1800 and sent it back. Found a 2017 i7 1tb SSD for 750 and the speed difference is negligible, maybe 15% on 4K rendering. Had I not broke the screen on my 2014 i7, which I bought from isellmac, I'd still be using it. The one downside is Safari will quit rendering pages correctly. You have to change to Firefox, which has an update daily or Chrome, which I try to avoid. As far as security goes, don't download free software or visit porn sites. Your bank or doctors office will be hacked before you.

I picked up an EXCELLENT MacBook Pro 16” 2019, 6-core i7, 16GB, and 512GB SSD, 4GB GPU for $600; cosmetically it was in pristine condition, use it as a solid backup. Yep, could have purchased a new MacBook Air M1 for $799, but considering what the 2019 brings to video and photo editing it was well worth it.

I’ve got a 2015 with Monterey. I’m new to Mac’s, can I stay secure with something like Trend micro on my Mac?

im looking for an older mac version that can handle photoshop and lightroom. can you recommend a model/year and specs? thank you

Thank you, for another excellent video. I agree with your comments about picking-up an older Intel based Apple computer system. Got my first Apple computer new in 1996, an All-in-One 5400 with its built-in speakers, 15-inch Sony display, floppy drive, CD-ROM, internal Apple video card system, internal Apple TV/FM radio card system with its matching back and white remote control. However, since then all of my Apple computer desktop systems have been refurbished or used including glossy white 20-inch G5 iMac, glossy white 24-inch Intel iMac, 2010 "mac mini" (the last model with a built-in DVD super-drive). Last year, I even picked-up a 2014, trash can size "space gray" Mac Pro 8-core/D700/64GB and paired it with my already owned Apple 27-inch Cinema LED (none thunderbolt) display and everything is working great. My current advise to others is to follow your example and buy off of Apple's certified refurbished web site either a 24-inch iMac desktop or a 13-inch MacBook Pro laptop for about $1,100 (smile...smile).

It's all about the money. The Amazon refurb M1 Mac Mini is a heck of a good computer for $450... especially if you only have $450.

🧸Buy new one and keep it 3 to 5 years then buy another new one and protect yourself..

Thanks Craig. I like to tinker with computers, have done so since the 90s (primarily Windows PCs). For a few years I purchased old Macs on eBay to upgrade, just for the challenge and learning experience. It turned out that the experience came in handy because some of my friends have older Macs and I was able to upgrade/repair them with the knowledge I had gained. However, when the M series chips came out I sold or gifted the old computers and made the transition to the newer technology because it is SO much faster (and has better support).