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How do I keep an old iMac going?

northernbaldy

northernbaldy

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 13, 2010
769
132
the north, UK
We have an ancient early 2008 20” iMac.
It’s being used as a TV in the kitchen.
The kids use it for Netflix, Disney+ and amazon video.
The problem is, as of this morning, Netflix and Amazon won’t run in the old version of chrome.
They don’t work on safari either
It has Yosemite installed and that is the highest OS I can get on it

Any suggestions? It’s a waste to bin it! It’s a perfectly good computer, but it’s just become useless :(
 
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picpicmac

picpicmac

macrumors 65816
Aug 10, 2023
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northernbaldy said:
The problem is, as of this morning, Netflix and Amazon won’t run in the old version of chrome.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I discovered today that my iMac8,1 (2020 iMac Core Duo) is not allowed by Prime Video.

It's not just Chrome, but also Firefox, the latter is up to date (for my version of OSX.)

I need to buy a new Mac. (It's in the planning post-taxes.)

I posted elsewhere a link to OWC's used Mac list, and they have 2020 iMacs, 27", starting at less than $1000. Probably would work well for your uses you described.
 
DeltaMac

DeltaMac

macrumors G5
Jul 30, 2003
13,484
4,413
Delaware
I have an early 2008 iMac, 20-inch, with 3 boot partitions. One with Leopard, one with El Capitan (yes, it will go beyond Yosemite natively), and finally, it is normally booted to Sonoma, absolutely up-to-date, so the only real limits is the hardware itself, nothing about the system software that is in use.
You do need to replace the hard drive with an SSD, of course, and also update to the max RAM of 6GB (a bit overpriced for a 4GB PC2-6400 chip, but it is just the final step to get it working fairly well.)
And, the Sonoma boot is a bit finicky using OpenCore Legacy Patcher, but it certainly works.
 
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ignatius345

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Aug 20, 2015
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LasaterJ

macrumors newbie
Jan 25, 2024
2
10
northernbaldy said:
We have an ancient early 2008 20” iMac.
It’s being used as a TV in the kitchen.
The kids use it for Netflix, Disney+ and amazon video.
The problem is, as of this morning, Netflix and Amazon won’t run in the old version of chrome.
They don’t work on safari either
It has Yosemite installed and that is the highest OS I can get on it

Any suggestions? It’s a waste to bin it! It’s a perfectly good computer, but it’s just become useless :(
Click to expand...
You have a few options! Please don't junk it!
  1. Windows 10 should install fairly easily. This person put together a guide to do it without using BootCamp: https://www.reddit.com/r/mac/comments/60dvky A 2008 Mac is definitely too old for an easy installation Windows 11 (even most Windows PCs from before 2018 or so are not officially supported), but it might be do-able if you have a little technical know-how. Windows 10 is scheduled for sunsetting in 2025, however.
  2. Install a newer version of MacOS with Open Core Legacy Patcher. See this page for caveats regarding your 2008 iMac https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/MODELS.html#imac For example, you may have USB issues if you install anything newer than MacOS 12 Monterey, but that should be recent enough to allow you to get a modern-ish version of Chrome and/or Safari running. The OCLP people are amazing, doing the Lord's work to prevent these Macs from ending up in a landfill.
  3. Install ChromeOS Flex. https://chromeenterprise.google/os/chromeosflex/
  4. Install your choice of modern Linux distro.
 
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TrenttonY

macrumors 65816
Nov 14, 2012
1,218
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If your planning on just using your computer as a web-browsing machine, I highly suggest installing ChromeOS Flex.

It's a very light-weight OS by Google, that run's great on old hardware. You'll also gain security, as its always being updated with the latest patches, a must if your computer will be connected to the internet.

You can even boot into it using a USB stick to test it out, before fully installing it.
 
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LasaterJ

macrumors newbie
Jan 25, 2024
2
10
TrenttonY said:
You can even boot into it using a USB stick to test it out, before fully installing it.
Click to expand...
This is a great suggestion, and it also applies to Linux.

I wanted to add that I have used OCLP to update a much more recent Mac (2017 MacBook Pro) to run Sonoma, and it works, although I am not sure it was worth the effort, since Ventura is fine for my needs at the moment.

Your Mac has a Radeon HD 2400 XT graphics chip, which does not support Metal, but the Open Core folks do have a home-brew patch to add Metal support to GPUs like yours. For me, this would be a fun weekend project to try to get it to work, although I imagine most people would prefer to create a ChromeOS USB stick to boot from. Less hassle, and it would definitely get you a modern browser to watch video with.
 
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roronl

roronl

macrumors regular
Jul 8, 2016
142
166
The Netherlands
This is excellent for that device. Ubuntu BUDGIE
ubuntubudgie.org

Ubuntu Budgie

Ubuntu Budgie is a community developed distribution, integrating the Budgie Desktop Environment with Ubuntu at its core
ubuntubudgie.org ubuntubudgie.org

No joke, this distribution runs smooth on it.
 
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picpicmac

picpicmac

macrumors 65816
Aug 10, 2023
1,071
1,522
ignatius345 said:
You have definitely earned a new Mac
Click to expand...
Well thanks.... but like many people I have to pay taxes first and see what's left in the bank account.

Seriously, I think computers have been so capable now for at least a decade or even two, that for customary daily stuff a machine should last over a decade of use. Constantly flipping machines is what computer companies may want you to do, but it is wasteful IMO.
 
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Andrey84

Andrey84

macrumors 6502
Nov 18, 2020
254
205
Greater London, United Kingdom
LasaterJ said:
Install a newer version of MacOS with Open Core Legacy Patcher. See this page for caveats regarding your 2008 iMac https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/MODELS.html#imac For example, you may have USB issues if you install anything newer than MacOS 12 Monterey, but that should be recent enough to allow you to get a modern-ish version of Chrome and/or Safari running. The OCLP people are amazing, doing the Lord's work to prevent these Macs from ending up in a landfill.
Click to expand...
This and get the oldest Mac OS which supported by OpenCore Legacy Patcher (it's probably Monterey) to minimize problems.

This is a good walkthrough - but select Monterey.
 
P

pshufd

macrumors G3
Oct 24, 2013
9,963
14,446
New Hampshire
I have 2009, 2010 and 2015 iMac 27s. I paid $100 for the 2010 a few years ago and it has an i7 and 32 GB of RAM so it is quite usable for web browsing, office tasks and as a television. I currently use it to watch videos in front of my spin bike. Web browsing can be run on Firefox Extended Support Release on Sierra or High Sierra.

The 2009 has a Core 2 Duo so it's dog slow but I use it as a monitor if I need one in a pinch. I will just give it away when I think that I no longer need it. The 2010 is probably worth $25 - $50. But it will probably be worthless in maybe a year or two.

So I'd recommend keeping an eye out for something newer that costs pretty close to $0.
 
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