Here's why this $400 iMac is one of the best ever! 

If you make it all the way to the bit at the end, you are a true screamer

Wow, I’ve had my mid-2011 27” since 2012 and only knew about the RAM (which I did a few years back). My iMac still runs like a champ. But I cans it believe I JUST found out it has a magnetic glass screen! Time to boost it up even more. Great video!!

The 60/30 FPS is because you have VSync on.

Luke, If you can, please do a step by step videos for the upgrade process.

Here's a long story about how I got a 2011 iMac to work after the video card had failed. I bought a 2010 27 inch iMac with an i3 CPU about a year and a half ago at a reasonably good price on Craigslist, intending to add an SSD and upgrade the CPU to an i7. I went to a local place that has all sorts of used computer parts for sale, looking for an i7 CPU. Purely by coincidence, while I was standing there in line someone brought out from the back a 27 inch iMac, presumably in for repairs, and handed it over the counter to the iMac owner, telling him that the iMac couldn't be fixed. The guy was, understandably, pretty sad about the situation. I asked the iMac owner what the problem was with the computer. He said that the video card had failed. [Note that the computer store had already removed the internal hard drive when he first brought the computer in to the store a few days previously, so his data--he was a video developer--was safe and secure in his hands.] I told the iMac owner I was in the store right now looking for a used i7 for a 2010 iMac, and asked him if his iMac was a 2010, and if it had an i7. He said yes, and I asked him if he wanted to sell it. He said sure, since it was of no use to him now. Neither of us knew what it was worth, so I said, Look, I only need the CPU, and offered him $20 (Canadian). He said OK, and asked me if I wanted to buy the RAM also, 4x4GB=16GB. I asked him how much, he didn't know, but the computer store employee said $80 for the RAM was reasonable, and added that $20 for the CPU was an OK price. I didn't have the cash on me, so we both walked a few blocks to my bank and I paid him $100. I got home, the 2010 iMac was already apart, waiting for me to install the SSD. I disassembled the new iMac I had just bought, intending to take out the i7. After I got it apart, I realized that the new iMac was not a 2010 Mac at all, but rather a 2011. "Damn" I thought, now I have an iMac with a fried video card. But at least I bought the 16GB RAM at a reasonable price for used RAM. Then I got to thinking, wondering how much it would cost to replace the fried video card. I checked eBay, and WOW!!! it was $900 Canadian for a new video card for a 2010 iMac. Unfortunately that was at least ten times more than I wanted to pay. I started scrolling through eBay, looking at prices for video cards and came upon an ad claiming to fix a video card for a 2010 iMac for $119, 3-5 days turnaround, 90 day guarantee. (You had to remove the video card yourself, and mail it to the vendor). That seemed like a pretty good deal, so I emailed the eBay vendor to see if this also applied to a 2011 iMac. "Sure, no problem with a 2011 iMac", the vendor said. A little while later I started thinking again, how could someone "fix" a fried video card, guaranteed, with a turnaround of less than a week? How can you "fix" a video card, with ten zillion connections? All of a sudden, some neglected, long forgotten sectors in the back of my brain fired, and then it struck me; I googled "iMac 27 inch video card oven". The following RU-vid video turned up: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-9vPM41ZmLos.html It's a long video, but essentially a really nice, believable guy named Evan, from Greece I think, explains in some detail how he fixed a failed video card on his 2011 iMac by putting it in the oven for 8 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius (405 degrees F.). It seemed ridiculous, but since I had both iMacs apart, I thought WTF, I've got nothing to lose, why not give it a try? So I got started. I must admit though, after a lot of painstaking work disassembling the logic board, and then extracting the video card, I felt pretty stupid for a few minutes when I got to the point of actually putting the video card in the oven. After installing an SSD I had lying around and completely re-assembling the 2011 iMac (nearly a full and very grueling day!), and starting it up, I waited for twenty or thirty seconds... And then, I couldn't believe it. The friggin' iMac started right up and the video card was, magically, no longer fried!!! That was nearly a year and a half ago, and it's still going, and I haven't seen any issues whatsoever with the video card or anything else. In fact, I'm writing this on my salvaged 2011 iMac right now. I have since installed a 250GB SSD with velcro tape under the optical drive, replaced the original internal hard drive with a 2TB drive, attached a second monitor, a 30 inch Cinema Display, upgraded the RAM to 24GB, and installed macOS High Sierra 10.13. I have a bunch of Mac Pros, MacBook Pros, MacBook Airs, iMacs, etc., of various vintages, plus more than a couple of older PCs, and according to Geekbench 4, this is the fastest computer I currently own, even beating both of my 8 core Mac Pros with dual Xeon processors. Except that the GPU diode runs quite hot (according to Macs Fan Control nearly 80 degrees Ceisius, yikes!!!), my new $20 2011 27 inch iMac seems to be performing admirably. Oh yeah, and I eventually found and upgraded the i3 to a compatible i7 ($119 from a local used computer dealer) in my first 2010 iMac, installed an SSD and a 2TB internal drive. The 2010 iMac was also successfully tested with 24GB of RAM. I'm kind of delighted with all this. As you can probably tell.

I just bought one for $20. It was missing a hard drive, memory, and the glass that sits in from of the screen. I’m about to upgrade the HD with a SSD and the memory. Thanks for the video.

It’s always 30 or 60fps because of vsync being enabled in the graphics options. If the GPU can’t display 60fps, vsync drops to 30 instead of displaying torn frames. 👍

Noice Noice Noice Noice Video

I still use this model iMac every day.

Steve Jobs I think was still around and he was what made apple great and kept from soldering things

Be carefull! The mid 2011 models are very famous for theire defective graphiccard problems (white screen of death). U cant find a new graphiccard for this model because its to old and the second hands cost about 300-400$..also its rly annoying to replace this Card because u have to take out the whole mainboard. And official repair stores for Apple cant Repair that for u because 2011 is not supported from Apple! And Its not rly worth because the „new“ Card could die in the next few month.. thats why i sold mine. U better do some research in the Internet before u buy this model. Ps:sry for my Bad englisch :) But anyway ure Video is rly good quality!

I'm really looking forward to see how you upgrade the graphics to something metal compatible without losing the boot screen, brightness control and target display mode. Also, very interested in a fully functional Bluetooth 4 upgrade along with apple watch unlock and without the need to hack the system after every upadate. Psyched!

Luke, I would like to donate that DVD to hard drive caddy to you and your channel. I had one in an iMac like yours several months ago. That iMac is gone and I have some parts left over. Let me know, of a P.O. Box address that you accept mail at. I will gladly send it out later this week. Thank you for all the great videos on old Apple products. Hopefully, you decide to make all the changes you are discussing in this video. Those era of iMacs have so many upgrade possibilities. I hope to see you complete them. Including replace that 6970M with a modern GTX 8/9xx series GPU for it.

When you upgrade the graphic card you will loose the ability to change screen brightness und the boot menu will be gone! you need to flash 3rd party graphic cards.

That iMac is pretty much worth the price. Nice

I dunno how you can make saying "screamer" sound cool. When I try to say it I end up sounding like an old guy.

Watching this on my mid 2011 iMac I just got FO FREE! I can't believe how well these computers hold up

Had these in college library. I’m an artist so I ran through plenty of programs. It was as smooth as a dolphin. I miss it :(

I actually used this video to find my mid-2011 imac 21.5", which so happened to be from the same company that you bought yours from and they did a great job on the packing but I didn't get that card that you got. But I did actually get a ripped up garbage bag in my box, lol. No lie. I laughed cause it looks exactly like the one that you got. Also the cord smells brand new and it works great. So thanks for the advice and this is the first time that I actually took someone's advice on buying anything from the internet and not ever seeing what I was buying before I did and it worked out great. So I'll keep watching what you post (great info by the way) and thanks for your insight on the computer. Truly helpful.

Still rocking my 2011 27in iMac!

I’m excited to work on this iMac!

Firewatch background and synthwave music. Wise choices

How about a top of the line late 2009 iMac 27" 2.8 GHz?

Purchased in 2011, I have the 27-inch, 3.4 GHz Core i7 with 32GB Ram iMac. I have upgraded the internal drive to 1TB SSD, I replaced the built-in optical drive with a built-in Blu-Ray optical slot-drive and Apple replaced the GPU as part of the GPU replacement programme many many years ago. I also use Target Display Mode with my MBP so can use the iMac as a second monitor and I have the Belkin Thunderbolt Express Dock providing USB 3 ports. I don’t game but I code, run multiple server VM’s, watch/record TV using Elgato, run my work VDI and other UrAvgConsumer stuff. This is a good looking, rock solid iMac that has out lasted many of my friends desktops/laptops over the years. One of my best tech purchases ever..

Great video; I have two of these 2011 iMacs. Upgraded both to 16 Gig RAM, one with an SSD, and the other with a FireCuda SSHD and both run great. Great value since you also get a 27" 2.5K display.

You said they were great back in 2018. Here I am in 2022 watching your video on a late 2009 iMac 21.5". I only upgraded the RAM, the rest is stock (mine came with a 7200rpm HDD)

Watching this on my 2011 21 inch iMac, in usage since 2011. 24/7 - a beast

Watching this on my 19th century steam engine.

Do you remember to turn offo V-Sync in settings when benchmarking? Usually the reason why framerates get capped at 60 or 30fps. Great video! Considering one for a budget setup

What's the best CPU and GPU you can put in this thing? Does it have target display mode?

First computer in my life, it was pretty amazing in its time.

Again a great video man! Keep the great work up!!

Why do I never find those deals?

Found this video doing some research for this model of iMac. I was able to get one for $50 and the only issue was the fact that the previous owner had accidentally erased the partitions off the hard drive and didn't know how to fix it. Rebooted into recovery mode, reinstalled the macOS, and i was fixed.

2012's Apple products are the best. - last of the non-retina unibody macbook pro - USB 3.0 introduction - MacBook retina introduction - Quad core Mac Mini

wow even the thumbnail looks like those from Dave2D.. good job Lu

Can you do a video on how to shop “for parts” Mac mini’s?

30 or 60 FPS? This is because of Vsync. That display has a 60Hz refresh rate. When Vsync is on and the game is too far from reaching 60 FPS, it will lock at half. Otherwise, it locks at 60.

I own a late 2009 iMac 27, 8 April 2010, I changed the hard drive for a Crucial SSD 1tb, 8 gb memory, it runs under 10.11, 8 el capitan and is like the first day when I bought it, or better...... I bough it for 1420 € and today I would not pay what Apple is asking for the new ones it starts at 2.400 €......

Awesome video, I bought that exact iMac back in 2011, I loved it, but now it sits in the corner ofy bedroom, I have a 13" MacBook pro , but since watching this video, I had no ideas of all the upgrades I can do to this iMac, ty so much for that bit of info !👍✌️

Watching this on my 2012 (almost maxed out) 27 inch iMac GTX 680mx and i5 3470 with 24GB RAM

I bought an earlier version of iMac for very little that had been upgraded to 1TB SSD and Mojave OS. After a year l decided to dump Apple OS for Linux OS and it's way faster and easier to use.

Agree the 2011 is in a SWEET SPOT for value vs performance and upgradeability. I've opened mine up, added an SSD (without removing optical or stock HDD), added RAM, and added a Thunderbolt 2 to USB3 external device. It works very well. BUT, with modern HEVC and 4K video the quad core 2nd gen i5 CPU struggles hard. My 2015 MacBook Air outperforms there...

Very intrigued to see where this goes. The fact it's using an MXM GPU is pretty damn interesting!

You were lucky to get that in one piece and undamaged. Amazing. Look forward to the upgrade videos. Cheers.

I know this is old but I recently bought this imac with an i5 and I am struggling with getting any decent modern Mac OS to work on it. I gave up and put Ubuntu 20.05 on it. I’d rather have actual Mac on it but nothing worked. Safari, chrome. Do you have any recent thoughts on this? Thanks for the video.

i just picked one of these up myself, upgraded the ram to 12gb. really curious to see what you can do about the graphics and getting it to support metal

My 2011 iMac 27 inch just stopped! It won’t turn on in my “[macdaddy]“ says if the hard drive is or was pretty close to being finished. Is there anything I can do to resurrect this machine? I really like it. Thanks

Hey man great video. There are a few great years for certain models. 2012 Mac Mini w/SSD is the best mac ive ever had. Who is the artist that does the song in the beginning?

Time to stalk eBay for a 2011 “rig”

I have a 2011 imac 21.5 in with 32 gb memory

I’m looking to buy one of this “vintage” Mac’s, until the slim one’s, and after a few days searching for information, your vídeo is the best one !

Wow, an iMac with upgradable graphics 😳?! So, what is the newest graphics card you can upgrade this too, and will MacOS even support it? Also, I'm really excited for this series btw! Keep up the good work!

Dear Luke, is worth to do same thing in 2022 for mid 2011 iMac like you? thanks.

There's an Apple software limit of the fps of the screen, when I run Cinebench, OpenGL test I get exactly 60fps everytime

Question for you sir Luke. Can you please tell me what I will need to install a 500 SSD into a 2011 IMAC 🖥? Will I need to order new adhesive strips also.

so after all your upgrades how much did your $400 imac cost lol

Its upgradable but not worth it. Mxm cards have limited upgradability because of price and the type os cards that will be compatible with the stock cooler. And this machine have a huge problem of only having usb 2.0, so you have to buy an thunderbolt dock to use any external hardrive or raid. Almost any ssd you put inside will be a lot slower than any new pci-e ssd and the biggest problem. Apple doesnt make parts for this machine so if it broke for any reason you will be in the hands of second hand parts on ebay. In Brazil, where i live, for example ir nearly impossible find parts for this machine and a motherboard is the price of a used machine.

I had the 2011 21.1 inch as a teenager and it was so amazing. I never loved a computer as much as that iMac.

How long can I expect it to last if I buy the 2011 model now? From the scale excellent, good and fair, it's condition is fair

We sell these for 699. CAD. Great longevity and upgradable. 👍

The next video in series: it didnt turn out right :( : ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-hRtB6VBDiSU.html

Here's why 'INSERT APPLE PRODUCT' is one of the best ever! iMac 2011 only has USB 2.0, not great. (Why I sold mine)

Do you want to sell it now? Ill buy

A like from Russia! Nicely made.

Your videos look great. You speak clearly without rambling. Most importantly you aren't trying to push people into buying 50k machines.

Your the man, I don't know why other people haven't figured out that the 2011 iMac is great for price.

Luke, thank you so much for your awesome and informative videos!! i actually scored this exact iMac today for $300 best offer deal on ebay...mines comes with 8GB ram & 1TB HDD, no mouse, and a usb keyboard - but no worries im gonna upgrade to 32GB memory and slap a 1tb SSD in there as well... i'll be following your videos to see what you guys do with your $400 imac... cheers f

I managed to save a 2011 iMac from the dumpster. The original owners thought it was broken because it wouldn't start. It DID start but it wouldn't let me format the hard drive through the terminal. So I used a windows disc to wipe it and now it runs great.

Because their GPUs are prompt to failure, these iMacs are the bests ever! No! The 2012s are the best, they support Metal, and thus can easily be patched to the latest version of macOS without any problem!

Just bought a used 2011 i7 iMac 🖥 for $80! Replaced the mechanical drive with a ssd

Steve Jobs made it. When he died, Apple died too.

It has a diskdrive! i like the design more then a 2012-2017 imac.

Where do you get your minimalist landscape wallpapers for your Macs?

Watching this on my mid-2011 21.5" iMac, about to getting a SDD.

I have one with 3.4Ghz I7, 32GB, 512GB SSD, 1TB HDD, AMD Radeon 1TB and it screams! Why can't I use Mojave? Apple can be so frustrating!!!

I got a 5000$ 2018 iMac pro for free but it is missing An ssd A Gpu A cpu Ram The screen The case The motherboard The coolers The power supply

I run minecraft on this and it works flawlessly with texture packs etc Shaders work aswell just dont go over the top mods work just fine 2

I have the same iMac! 2011 27" i7 3.4Ghz 32GB RAM and fusion drive and 2GB of VRAM which I had to bake in the oven to get running again.

I still have an iMac 27inch Late 2010 and it's perfect for my use! Just Office, light Photoshop and RU-vid videos.

I agree. I have this exact iMac with the i7 BTO and I upgraded it to 16GB ram. Also I had the original BTO 256GB SSD, but it was slow as it was only SATA 2. I upgraded it with a 1TB SSD Sata 3 drive, and this thing just continues to be rock solid. It's going on being almost 8 years old.

This iMac doesn’t have the stock RAM sticks. The RAM screen shows 1067mhz but it should ship with 1333mhz

hey screamer, where do I find the 2nd Part. Kinda got me …;-))

I have a mid-2011 27" iMac and have yet to upgrade anything. It is currently running High Sierra. It takes a long time to fully boot. I look forward to watching your series on this computer. Thanks for posting. Liked, subbed and commented. Happy 2020!

I wish I have one of these 😔

This was a cool video! Since, I am 100 percent old school (my most modern system is a 2010 mac mini running OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard with its Front Row and Rosetta software). Was hooked when, I saw this imac model still had a built-in apple super-drive.

I have the 21.5 inch mid 2011 iMac. Im gonna get a kit to upgrade the ram and add. It'll run for a lot longer then. I also want to put better graphics to play games on windows via Bootcamp

this kinda content is definitely why i follow you. Looking forward to the upgrades. will probably buy one once first upgrade video comes out

Bought one of these for about $700 last year. RAM had been upgraded to 20GB and added a 128GB system SSD. It's really perfect for my needs in music production and light video editing.

This is my computer! I absolutely love it! The only problem is that for the past year the screen keeps turning black at random times. :( I think it is a problem with the inverter. Otherwise I am still so happy with the computer - the newer ones are not as impressive to me.

wallpaper?

Hi Luke. Congratulations for your channel and thank you for sharing your knowledge with us, I have a question: I have a 2011 21.5 iMac. Can I replace the original i5-2400s cpu for a Xeon E3-1290 one as both use the LGA 1155 socket? Do you think it is possible? Thank you!

"Behind me is a mid-2011, 27" iMac..." What a coincidence! In *front* of me is a mid-2011, 27" iMac!" I got it from an Apple Store, as a re-furbished floor display model, when it was no longer being shipped (new) by Apple, but before the next models of iMacs were arriving. [I think that next model was the first round of retina iMacs; not certain, though.] So it was a bit cheaper than a new one, but nowhere near as cheap as they (apparently) are now ($400?!). One of my reasons for getting it, was that it was the last iMac with a built-in optical drive, which I *do* use for ripping music CDs and watching the occasioinal DVD movie. So with the newer models I'd need to buy an external CD/DVD drive, adding to the cost. It was also the last iMac with Firewire ports, and I have some Firewire drives. (It was also the first iMac with Thunderbolt ports, though I haven't used those. Yet.) I'm not that much of a tinkerer, but you've got me really intrigued about possibly upgrading this (now aged) machine. As you mention, its MacOS update-ability tops out at 10.13 (High Sierra), with 10.14 (Mojave) already out, and 10.15 (Catalina) on the way. But if I can upgrade the CPU, will that push my OS-level up? Or would that require more changes in the chipset? And if I should dive into this, I'd surely want to go from the 1 TB HDD to a SSD, by either replacing or adding that; this thing can be horribly slow at times, the way it's configured. Thanks for awakening some possibilities for me! Fred

What is the best possible gpu you can plug into this imac?

0:50 I used to have a dual iMac setup

The unboxing at the end was the best ever! Hahahaha. I’d have a heart attack seeing it packed like that, shameless!!! Wow.

I have this one, i love it, its still fast and was the final one with a cd/dvd drive

Hi Luke, I've just started to watch your videos a few days ago and love them. I have 'almost' the same iMac that this video is about. Can I upgrade it just like you do in this video? Here are the specs: macOS High Sierra iMac (27 - inch, Mid 2011) Processor 2.7 GHz Intel Core i5 Memory 16GB 1333 MHz DDR3 Startup Disk Macintosh HD Graphics AMD Radeon HD 6770M 512 MB Serial Number Co2HD1ABDHJP

NOICE

I fitted that i7 in my 21.5 inch iMac when I did a ssd conversion. I’m currently fitting a x3740 Xeon in my 27inch 2010 iMac with a ssd and a new 2tb Seagate barracuda as I purchased it cheap because the had was about dead.