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From: Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com>
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.system
Subject: Re: To: Jolly Roger/RE: iMac "i3" (Mid-2010)
Date: 25 Jan 2015 15:13:03 GMT
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On 2015-01-24, sctvguy1 <sctvguy1@invalid.net> wrote:
> JR,
> I have been doing extensive research on the iMac models, very confusing.  
> I took your advice on avoiding the Core 2 Duo models, and found this i3, 
> iMac "Core i3" 3.06 21.5-Inch (Mid-2010) 	3.06 GHz Core i3 
> (I3-540).  This model was made up to May 3, 2011.  Ram expandable to 16 
> gigs, 500gig HDD, optical drive, etc.  Only $599 refurbished from Amazon 
> seller.
> It comes with SL 10.6.8, but says it will run current OS, which I guess, 
> is Yosemite.
> What do you think?  This will be it!  I will transfer all the iTunes 
> stuff, over 800 purchased songs from 2002 on!
> Will this model be good for the long run?

A Core i3 is the low-end of the Core series, but is much better than any
of the Core 2 Duo models. 

How much RAM is installed in it? You will want at least 8 GB of RAM
installed if you wish to run the latest operating system, Yosemite.
Adding more RAM will almost always result in faster operation. So it's a
good way to extend the life of a machine.

The hard drive may or may not be relatively slow. If it's the stock
drive for this model, it will be a 7200 RPM drive, which is typically
faster than 5200 RPM drives. At some point, you might consider replacing
that with an SSD at some point for a huge speed boost, to give the
machine additional life. 

Keep in mind the machine is already 4 years old. As a result, some new
features in the latest versions of Mac OS X will not work with this
model. For instance some Continuity functionality will not work with
this Mac due to the older Bluetooth hardware in it and so on:

<http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT6555>

The price is perhaps just a tad on the high end of what I would expect
to pay for a used machine of the same model:

<http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40%7CR40%7CR40&_nkw=Apple+iMac+%22Core+i3%22+3.06&LH_Sold=1&LH_Complete=1>

But it's far less expensive than one of Apple's current refurbished
offerings (which are newer models):

<http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/mac/imac>

-- 
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I often ignore posts from Google. Use a real news client instead.

JR