Imac 2013 Other Uses?

[Annie Bynnol 612]

Now that I have officially been told that my iMAC (2013 21.5") is a security risk as it cannot be upgraded beyond its OS 10.10.5, its soldered 16 Gb memory and its inability to upgrade Sophos, I was wondering what to do with it.

I will wait for the new M1 23" iMac as the latest  21.5"iMac is no real improvement from the 2017 model, so I will have a few months to to decide on Part Ex or another use.

 

I have already tried to make it a dedicated picture/video scanner but the WACOM software won't run. The monitor only has USB and wireless. I have an Apple TV box. phone and Ipads as well as Android and PC laptops.

 

Any thoughts appreciated.

. 

 

[Ghozer 112]

in all honesty.. sell it to someone who could use it as a basic machine, or web browsing etc...

one reason I hate Mac's is the lack of upgradability, and 'end of life' shenanigans they do with them over OSX..

You could stick Windows 10 on it and use it as a simple Windows machine!

macs can be fun, but annoying... (don't currently own one)

Edited December 29, 2020 by Ghozer

[Annie Bynnol 612]

Windows 10- now that sounds interesting, particularly since our main PC is failing an has generally been replaced by laptops.

I too am not a Mac fan but it is needed for work.

 

Thank you.

[zach 235]

Although my mac is newer, I run it in a fairly unconventional way.

 

macOS is on a Thunderbolt 3 NVMe drive (macOS seems quite happy on external)

I split the internal Fusion Drive and installed Windows 10 on the 128GB SSD and set the 2TB mechanical to exFAT (So both could use it)

 

Getting to your question. How about installing Windows 10 on it? Just get the drivers via Bootcamp, do a Time Machine backup (just in case) Although not 100% sure, you may be able to to run your macOS from a cheapish external SSD if you needed it again. Just use the option key when you turn on to choose OS.

 

Do a bit of reading first, as I said, my mac is newer and it might not be an option for you but it should be OK. 

 

So bits needed...

 

Backup macOS if you want

Get Windows drivers via Bootcamp on mac (no need to run the .exe, each driver needed can be found in the folders)

Download latest Win 10 from MS (make bootable USB)

Plug into mac and hold option key after turning mac on. Select Win 10 and Wipe all old partitions then install Win 10 on the clean drive.

 

** I'd keep a copy of your mac OS and run from USB if possible ** (just my opinion)

 

Anyone feel free to add if I missed anything, or it's different on older macs.

 

I have no issues at all with Windows 10 on mine. Give us a shout if you need more help.

[The Joker 10]

4 hours ago, Annie Bynnol said:

Now that I have officially been told that my iMAC (2013 21.5") is a security risk as it cannot be upgraded beyond its OS 10.10.5.

Are you sure you can't upgrade beyond Yosemite / 10.10.x ?

 

I thought 2013 iMacs could be upgraded to Catalina / 10.15.x which was released last year and is still supported:

 

macOS Catalina is compatible with these computers:

iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2013)

 

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT210222

 

 

 

[Annie Bynnol 612]

Thanks for the replies.

I am still on the lookout for a Mac OS fix that works and I have tried to upgrade to other OSs but the installations fail-sometimes with no reason but often because the memory available for installation is insufficient (16Gb installed and 14+required).

Some of the data and advice in the links are 5+ years old and  repeatedly jump to trying to install Catalina instead of an earlier OS.

With more and more software failing to upgrade/perform  and now the security issues  with other networks,  it is probably time for a  new one.

Thanks all. 

[The Joker 10]

2 hours ago, Annie Bynnol said:

Thanks for the replies.

I am still on the lookout for a Mac OS fix that works and I have tried to upgrade to other OSs but the installations fail-sometimes with no reason but often because the memory available for installation is insufficient (16Gb installed and 14+required).

Some of the data and advice in the links are 5+ years old and  repeatedly jump to trying to install Catalina instead of an earlier OS.

With more and more software failing to upgrade/perform  and now the security issues  with other networks,  it is probably time for a  new one.

Thanks all. 

That could be the problem; you may need to upgrade to an earlier intermediate version of MacOS first.

 

I remember a year or two ago, I upgraded a similarly aged Mac from a much older version of MacOS directly to the latest, and the upgrade process failed because I had tried to jump too many OS versions in one go.

 

I resolved the problem by upgrading to an intermediate MacOS version first, and then upgrading to the latest.

 

I think I tried to go from El Capitan / 10.11 (or earlier) directly to High Sierra / 10.13, but I had to upgrade to Sierra / 10.12 first, and then I upgraded a second time to High Sierra.

 

This Apple Support article here has links to  earlier versions of MacOS:

 

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT211683

 

I should let you know that even High Sierra / 10.13 is no longer supported by Apple; only Mojave / 10.14 and Catalina 10.15 and the latest Big Sur /11 versions are supported.

 

[Waldo 96]

You may be able to upgrade to newer (than are supported by Apple) versions of MacOS using DosDude. I did this with my 2009 Mac mini and it worked fine, a little clunky maybe (a 2009 Mac mini, what could I expect), but quite serviceable.

 

Recently got a M1 mini, I’m super impressed with it, deffo recommend getting a M1 Mac if you’re about to buy a new one.

[Annie Bynnol 612]

On 29/12/2020 at 12:20, Waldo said:

You may be able to upgrade to newer (than are supported by Apple) versions of MacOS using DosDude. I did this with my 2009 Mac mini and it worked fine, a little clunky maybe (a 2009 Mac mini, what could I expect), but quite serviceable.

 

Recently got a M1 mini, I’m super impressed with it, deffo recommend getting a M1 Mac if you’re about to buy a new one.

DosDude looks very helpful and the way to go. The question now is about backup which I will leave until the new M1 is installed and running and itself backed up.

Thanks

[swarfendor437 14]

Or you could put Linux Mint on it?

 

https://jonworth.eu/ubuntu-and-linux-mint-first-steps-on-an-imac/