Who else is still using a 2017 iMac?

[tgara]

Still using mine as well, and it's running like a champ for work at play, including remote office apps. Bought it with maxed out specs for CPU, GPU, and SDD (2TB). I upgraded the memory myself to 32GB. I will likely upgrade to a Mac Studio later this year.

 

[rin67630]

Even better still (and I do this), a divers bottle, but be I have to be really careful as mine are pressurised to 300 bar which is over 4000psi

But you have a pressure regulator, haven't you?

 

[Feek]

But you have a pressure regulator, haven't you?

Nope, because I use it to fill air rifles so it’s straight out of the bottle. I regulate the airflow by how much I open the tap.

 

[retiredInDelaware]

My 2015 27" (3.3 Ghz Quad-Core Intel Core i5) with 2 TByte fusion drive and 24 Gbytes of memory still meets all of my needs. Every time I consider replacing it, I don't want to give up on the size or quality of the display - especially at the price of a Studio display. Once security updates stop being posted for this configuration, I may have to reconsider. I hate that being the reason for giving up on a perfectly good system.

 

[drrich2]

Even better still (and I do this), a divers bottle, but be I have to be really careful as mine are pressurised to 300 bar whic

Thanks for mentioning that; you got me thinking. Recreational scuba diving is a hobby of mine, and I keep a scuba cylinder handy. I do have a scuba regulator. Tank pressures (I think in PSI, not BAR) vary with whether it's an aluminum or steel cylinder, high pressure or low pressure, but generally in the 2,000 - 3400+ PSI range. The regulator sends one line from the tank to the 2nd stage the diver breathes off of, and a different line to the inflatable/deflatable dive vest (BCD) via a low pressure inflator - the regulator cuts tank pressure to an intermediate pressure around 125 PSI, if memory serves.

I say this because there's a tire inflator attachment for the low pressure inflator hose, and it's not all that expensive.

Scuba Dive Tire Inflator

Promate Tire Inflator/PI050

www.amazon.com

I have one tucked away somewhere. Might be worth testing out sometime whether I could use it as an air blaster. I'd feel a little safer vs. taking the main tank and just turning the valve (which is adjustable; it's not like one has to turn the thing all the way open, but still...).

 

[Rich B22]

I have a pair of 2017 27" iMacs at different seasonal locations. I upgraded both memories to 24GB and installed two 1TB SSD's in each for storage. Most intensive use is photo editing.
Will look to replace them both in a couple of years after security support stops with a Mini that I can transport back & forth easily. Hope to be able to convert the iMacs to display monitors using the procedures in this link.

 

[AlexisV]

Just picked up a base iMac Pro with 64Gb RAM for £950 ($1200). Absolute bargain.

Not interested in Apple silicon at the moment because I play Windows games through Bootcamp when I'm not working.

I would have kept my old 2015 i7, but ATI have discontinued driver support for the M395X, so nothing new works anymore.

 

[SalisburySam]

Still have and use my 2017 iMac: 4.2GHz i7 Kaby Lake 4-core processor boosting to 4.5GHz, 16GB RAM with 512GB SSD (wish I’d gotten the 1TB but oh well). AMD Radeon Pro 580 with 8GB VRAM and a nice boatload of built-in ports: two Thunderbolt3, four USB-A, Ethernet, and SD card plus 802.11ac wireless. Still gorgeous 5K Retina 27” screen delivering 500 nits. Just a great machine for my uses with the only upgrade being a shift to Monterey for software that would no longer run on Mojave. No need nor interest for Ventura, the end of the line for this machine. I also have 20TB of HDDs locally attached for Time Machine backups and photo/video/document storage.

I had hoped to replace the machine back in 2022 with a new 27” iMac and we know how that turned out. I almost went with one of the last 2020 Intel iMacs in the refurb’d store but didn’t pull the trigger in time. So now keeping the 2017 until it or I go sneakers up.

 

[AlexisV]

On day three and the wife still hasn't noticed the computer, keyboard and mouse have changed from silver to space grey...

 

[Feek]

On day three and the wife still hasn't noticed the computer, keyboard and mouse have changed from silver to space grey...

My wife didn't notice when I added an extra HomePod in the front room and played something that was very stereo

 

[boultonn]

We've finally had to retire our late 2015 27" iMac as the mechanical aspect of the fusion drive was struggling and the GPU seemed to be on the way out.
Only really kept it as long as we did because we were hoping that a new 27" iMac would be introduced but had to cave and replace it with a 24" M3 iMac, lord it's an upgrade.

 

[rin67630]

We've finally had to retire our late 2015 27" iMac as the mechanical aspect of the fusion drive was struggling and the GPU seemed to be on the way out.
Only really kept it as long as we did because we were hoping that a new 27" iMac would be introduced but had to cave and replace it with a 24" M3 iMac, lord it's an upgrade.

You can use it with an external USB3 SSD, it will run ways better.
Why do you say the GPU were on the way out?

 

[el.rafar]

I have my 2017 27" iMac for the last year and it is a workhorse for everything that I need today. Upgraded it to a new SSD, 1TB, and 32GB of RAM. Great computer, great screen, works perfectly with Sonoma and OpenCore.

I still think it has at least 3 years (2027!!) of great performance for what I do.

 

[JonaM]

My 27" 2017 iMac is still going strong - the move external SSD when upgrading to Ventura felt like getting a new machine and has reduced the Fusion Drive failure risk.
Just love the screen so it will keep on going till it runs out of support (and even then I might try open core to get Sonoma on it)

 

[el.rafar]

My 27" 2017 iMac is still going strong - the move external SSD when upgrading to Ventura felt like getting a new machine and has reduced the Fusion Drive failure risk.
Just love the screen so it will keep on going till it runs out of support (and even then I might try open core to get Sonoma on it)

As you already uses an external SSD to boot up, try Opencore and Sonoma... with a video tutorial is really easy and it runs perfectly!

My wife have a 2019 21" but with a Core i3, a tad slower than ours and it runs just fine!

 

[rin67630]

As you already uses an external SSD to boot up, try Opencore and Sonoma.

What is supposed to be better with Sonoma?

 

[el.rafar]

What is supposed to be better with Sonoma?

Security updates specially, but some new features are also neat... https://www.apple.com/macos/sonoma/

 

[rin67630]

Security updates specially, but some new features are also neat... https://www.apple.com/macos/sonoma/

Ventura has no less security updates. ...and you believe that these few gimmicks are a must for everyone?

 

[el.rafar]

Ventura has no less security updates. ...and you believe that these few gimmicks are a must for everyone?

A must absolutely not, but learning open core and how to use it can give a lot of life on unsupported hardware by apple. Those 2017 iMacs have great hardware that can go doing quite a lot for a long time.

 

[rin67630]

A must absolutely not, but learning open core and how to use it can give a lot of life on unsupported hardware by apple. Those 2017 iMacs have great hardware that can go doing quite a lot for a long time.

...everything on time. A 2017 iMac will not be needing OCLP for a very long time, probably forever, since no much new stuff for Intels is to be expected from Apple.
There is no need to be on the bleeding edge until some really needed app will not work.

 

[yieldchase]

Hi everyone, glad I found this thread and have had to post.

Question:
--------------
Is anyone having success using this machine for live streaming? Youtube and/or Twitch? At this point I am trying to figure out if I just need a pc just for streaming.

Background:
--------------
Currently use iMac for :
- media creation via Adobe suite
- about 9 hours of live streaming every week via OBS.

Day to day work is just fine.
My live streaming is struggling and I cannot figure out why.

Prior to my current DSLR/Cam Link 4k setup I used the basic iSight camera and then upgraded to a webcam. That was fine but I wanted more and upgraded to DLSR. However, since I upped the quality I can't seem to iron out the setup. Computer seems to struggle -- specifically video becomes choppy.

I've reinstalled the OS. I've reformatted. I ran the apple diagnostic tools. I removed all files and all software I didn't use. I tested read/write speed of ssd and they seem to be ok.

I've narrowed down that I cannot have any other apps open besides OBS or everything lags. But even with just OBS open every other stream it still becomes choppy.

At this point, I'm having a hard time narrowing down the right settings to make it work. So I figured I would ask here and maybe someone would have an idea.

Or is it even worth the fight?
iMac is struggling with live streaming on its own and struggling when sharing screen.
Always have to restart the stream multiple times to make it work.
Can't isolate to what the issue is.
Don't even start with trying to multi-stream. It can't handle it.

I've gone through 2 Cam Links already so I'm also wondering if I should maybe try a different video capture device.

iMac:
Processor: 4.2 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core 17
Graphics: Radeon Pro 580 8 GB
Memory: 40 GB 2400 MHz DDR4
Hard Drive: 512 ssd

Camera:
External DSLR
Fed into iMac via Cam Link 4k

Thanks for reading and for any insight.

 

[rin67630]

External DSLR
Fed into iMac via Cam Link 4k

That is probably the bottleneck.
This device has an USB3.2 two lanes port, which the iMac cannot handle and defaults to USB3.0 single lane, which is ways too slow for 4K.

 

[MisterSavage]

I just set mine up a week ago for a family member. I told them they probably have around a year and half left for security updates.

 

[yieldchase]

That is probably the bottleneck.
This device has an USB3.2 two lanes port, which the iMac cannot handle and defaults to USB3.0 single lane, which is ways too slow for 4K.

Thanks for this insight! I was wondering that. I'll try the usb-c to usb-a dongle and push the video over that to see if it works better. Much cheaper than buying another video capture device or a new pc ... plus I need one.

 

[rin67630]

Thanks for this insight! I was wondering that. I'll try the usb-c to usb-a dongle and push the video over that to see if it works better. Much cheaper than buying another video capture device or a new pc ... plus I need one.

I cannot promise it will work, you may ask on a forum specilized on CamLink.