After a mess of posts in The Freebies Thread in the PowerPC Macs forum — post #77 and posts #99 through #125 — I felt it was probably appropriate to give this freebie iMac its own thread and due in its own thread, rather than to monopolize a clearinghouse post (for the variety of free stuff the which MR community are keeping out of landfill and upcycling for new, extended lives).
What this thread ain’t: a place to be a Debby Downer and to bleat “not worth it” or “can’t be done”, because that’s not what the Early Intel Macs and PowerPC Macs forums have ever been about. Go play on your disposable Silicon gear. 😇
This thread is about pushing the limit of the possible and to see what we can do with still-serviceable Macs from when modular components were still a thing in the pre-Cook era.
What this iMac is: a bog-standard, base-model 20in, late 2007 iMac7,1 which a friend handed to me in lieu of them tossing it. Here are pics I shared on the other thread:
![img_0197-jpg.2191481]()
![img_0194-jpg.2191482]()
Goals in the queue:
“Why do this? Just get something more recent.”
Because it’s always fun to know: a) what’s possible and b) make a solid kit, this being the first of the aluminium unibody design language (to later appear in the Mac mini and MacBook Pro), even better — even minding its physical limits. In addition, as most of my tinkering experience has been with either laptops or older pro-line gear (like Power Mac G4 and G5s), this project offers a new learning experience with the consumer-level iMac.
As for the last bit: heck no. I already have other Macs doing more recent things! This is supposed to be a fun side-project with (hopefully) community participation.
“What’s your goal?”
I’d love to see how far this iMac can be pushed. Knowing how I’m/we’re starting with a basement Santa Rosa model, it leaves lots of room for improvements. My own personal goal — what I’d like to see — is this iMac out-performing my A1261 2.6GHz (T9500) C2D MacBook Pro, which I do believe is do-able given the CPU swap I have in mind.
Keep reading.
23 April 2023
What I know about this iMac7,1, so far: the spinning rust has El Capitan 10.11.6 on it (as might be expected) and, despite the system shipping with only 1GB of RAM, was upgraded at some point with 4GB (from Crucial, no less!). This last part means only a single upgrade of a 2GB stick to 4GB, to max it out at 6GB, will be needed. I recently did this with my early 2008 MacBook Pro for a remarkably reasonable price.
I also know this iMac came from the same factory in Shanghai (W8) as all of my late 2005 PowerBook G4s and aforementioned MBP, and it was assembled in early 2008, making it one of the later units in the run.
Next up: With what I have lying around, I can throw in a 120GB SSD, despite the spinner being 250GB. Also, I’m trying to source a Penryn Core 2 Extreme 2.8GHz (X9000) Socket P CPU. Going prices for used ones are around USD$100, with shipping, at the low end, and prices go up from there. I’m in no speed-rush to buy one at those prices and will keep an ear peeled for ones going for less.
[Better yet: if any of y’all wanna donate spare parts for this slow-burn project, send over a PM. I can cover for shipping it to Canada — within reason.]
So that’s how this thread begins.
I’d love to invite a broader discussion here around not only this iMac but also this era of iMacs, as most of the extant threads aren’t discussing A1224s and A1225s from 2007–09 (most discuss the 2009–11 A1311 and A1312 variants).
What this thread ain’t: a place to be a Debby Downer and to bleat “not worth it” or “can’t be done”, because that’s not what the Early Intel Macs and PowerPC Macs forums have ever been about. Go play on your disposable Silicon gear. 😇
This thread is about pushing the limit of the possible and to see what we can do with still-serviceable Macs from when modular components were still a thing in the pre-Cook era.
What this iMac is: a bog-standard, base-model 20in, late 2007 iMac7,1 which a friend handed to me in lieu of them tossing it. Here are pics I shared on the other thread:
Goals in the queue:
- Clean it out! Whole disassembly, new paste, as needed, and the like;
- Memory. Max out the RAM [update: it was upgraded to 4GB along the way];
- Storage. Upgrade the OEM HDD with some kind of SSD;
- Processor. Change out the Santa Rosa CPU with a Penryn upgrade;
- Graphics. Change out the GPU with anything better (and not prone to failure);
- Firmware. Figure out how, if possible, to bump up the firmware to make this an iMac8,1;
- Have a look at the SuperDrive’s condition and function (and deciding whether to keep it, upgrade it to something else, or put in a drive caddy);
- Have a look at the PCIe slot which is currently home for the AirPort/Bluetooth card;
- LCD. Determine if the TN display can be swapped with IPS and/or if board wiring/LVDS can support an LED-backlit display (if any 20in 16:10 ratio exist); and
- Later macOS: Though I plan to keep Snow Leopard on a partition, throw in some OCLP love and put at least High Sierra or Mojave on there.
“Why do this? Just get something more recent.”
Because it’s always fun to know: a) what’s possible and b) make a solid kit, this being the first of the aluminium unibody design language (to later appear in the Mac mini and MacBook Pro), even better — even minding its physical limits. In addition, as most of my tinkering experience has been with either laptops or older pro-line gear (like Power Mac G4 and G5s), this project offers a new learning experience with the consumer-level iMac.
As for the last bit: heck no. I already have other Macs doing more recent things! This is supposed to be a fun side-project with (hopefully) community participation.
“What’s your goal?”
I’d love to see how far this iMac can be pushed. Knowing how I’m/we’re starting with a basement Santa Rosa model, it leaves lots of room for improvements. My own personal goal — what I’d like to see — is this iMac out-performing my A1261 2.6GHz (T9500) C2D MacBook Pro, which I do believe is do-able given the CPU swap I have in mind.
Keep reading.
23 April 2023
What I know about this iMac7,1, so far: the spinning rust has El Capitan 10.11.6 on it (as might be expected) and, despite the system shipping with only 1GB of RAM, was upgraded at some point with 4GB (from Crucial, no less!). This last part means only a single upgrade of a 2GB stick to 4GB, to max it out at 6GB, will be needed. I recently did this with my early 2008 MacBook Pro for a remarkably reasonable price.
I also know this iMac came from the same factory in Shanghai (W8) as all of my late 2005 PowerBook G4s and aforementioned MBP, and it was assembled in early 2008, making it one of the later units in the run.
Next up: With what I have lying around, I can throw in a 120GB SSD, despite the spinner being 250GB. Also, I’m trying to source a Penryn Core 2 Extreme 2.8GHz (X9000) Socket P CPU. Going prices for used ones are around USD$100, with shipping, at the low end, and prices go up from there. I’m in no speed-rush to buy one at those prices and will keep an ear peeled for ones going for less.
[Better yet: if any of y’all wanna donate spare parts for this slow-burn project, send over a PM. I can cover for shipping it to Canada — within reason.]
So that’s how this thread begins.
I’d love to invite a broader discussion here around not only this iMac but also this era of iMacs, as most of the extant threads aren’t discussing A1224s and A1225s from 2007–09 (most discuss the 2009–11 A1311 and A1312 variants).
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