Tomorrow my 20" iMac early 2008 arrives!

[GameGuru]

I bought this from usedmac.com. The specs are: 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo, 6GB RAM, 320GB HDD, Radeon HD 2400XT and Snow Leopard.

I want to put a more modern OS on it and not sure if I should go Mavericks or Yosemite.

Which one will run the fastest on my hardware?

 

[harryb2448]

You will have no choice as Mavericks was withdrawn from the App Store when yosemite became a public release. If you are running OS X.6.8 be aware that is a pretty big jump. Make sure you back up everything to an external drive, download Yosemite and do a clean install and Migrate everything over from the external.

 

[chscag]

Which one will run the fastest on my hardware?

The current version of OS X that's on the machine: 10.6.8. Neither Mavericks or Yosemite will give you a speed boost, and since that machine is maxed out with memory and you can't do anything about the graphics, it's about as fast as it's ever going to get.

I suppose if you're brave and good at taking things apart, you can remove that HDD and replace it with a SDD.

 

[pm-r]

+1!! SL 10.6.8 with that iMac, especially considering it's capped at 6GB RAM but if you water to go further, then I'd say Mountain Lion 10.8.x at most which you can purchase from Apple for $20.00.

We have the mid-late 2007 24" version of that iMac and run SL 10.6.8 as it just works well, nor do we need any newer features. Your needs mat be different.

 

[pigoo3]

I think that I would go with Mountain Lion as well.

- Nick

 

[GameGuru]

You wouldn't want to stay with Snow Leopard would you? It has been abandoned with no further updates correct? It is like WinXP, dead in the water.

I actually have a USB install of Mavericks, if I do a clean install my system will run good right?

 

[chscag]

I actually have a USB install of Mavericks, if I do a clean install my system will run good right?

Give it a shot and let us know. As far as XP and Snow Leopard are concerned, you might remember this famous quote from Mark Twain: "The report of my death was an exaggeration."

 

[GameGuru]

Yeah I will try Mavericks tomorrow. If it seems sluggish I might try Mountain Lion.

 

[pm-r]

Any PPC code apps you might have and used in SL 10.6.x will NOT run with any OS X version later than that, so you might want to check a see what you have.

Or just install your Mavericks on a separate partition and then use Migration Assistant, which is what I would do.

Then you'd have both OS X versions available and may be good to have — just in case if nothing else.

 

[TattooedMac]

You wouldn't want to stay with Snow Leopard would you? It has been abandoned with no further updates correct? It is like WinXP, dead in the water.

I actually have a USB install of Mavericks, if I do a clean install my system will run good right?

If I had a machine capable of SL or ML, I would go Snow Leopard ALWAYS. it was such a beautiful OS, and so very stable it wasn't funny.
Im really hoping Apple with the next OS update, just that, Update Yosemite, to get all this cloud stuff, Handoff and Continuity 100% before they start throwing new junk at us. Im feeling OS X is starting to go the way of Windows, with crap we just don't use, or need, and if someone does need they obscure Utility, get them to download it from the Mac App Store . . .

 

[dtravis7]

Are you sure on that Video chipset? The 2.4 ghz C2d 2008 with a 320GB Hard drives that I have seen had a HD 2600 ATI and not the 2400xt. Mavericks ran well on my iMac with those specs. Mountain Lion was very smooth.

Try Mavericks, let the Spotlight index then give it a go. If is seems slow to you try Mountain Lion unless like already said above you need some old Power PC Application, then you are stuck with Snow Leopard.

 

[dtravis7]

Just checked to be sure. The Late 2007 iMac with 2.4Ghz CPU had the ATI HD2600 Pro. In 2008 they made the 2.4 the entry level CPU and put an ATI 2600xt with it. Oh well!

 

[GameGuru]

I'm not planning on gaming at all on my iMac, I have a beefy PC for that. This video card should work great for everything but gaming right?

 

[GameGuru]

I'm not planning on gaming at all on my iMac, I have a beefy PC for that. This video card should work great for everything but gaming right?

Used Mac screwed up my order! On the left is what I ordered and on the right is what they sent me!

20" iMac ----------> 24" iMac
2.4GHz ------------> 2.8GHz
6GB RAM --------> 4GB RAM
320GB HDD ----->500GB HDD

I think I need to send it back so they can get it right and give me my 6GB RAM!!!

 

[pm-r]

Used Mac screwed up my order! On the left is what I ordered and on the right is what they sent me!

20" iMac ----------> 24" iMac
2.4GHz ------------> 2.8GHz
6GB RAM --------> 4GB RAM
320GB HDD ----->500GB HDD

I think I need to send it back so they can get it right and give me my 6GB RAM!!!

I'd suggest you do some checking first and maybe get your brain back into gear. And you could start here:
Apple iMac Specs (All iMac Tech Specs) @ EveryMac.com

Gheese, they sent you a faster iMac with larger capacity and you're complaining about a $30.00± price difference for a 2GB RAM difference. Sigh…

Or you're just joking…???

 

[pigoo3]

Used Mac screwed up my order! On the left is what I ordered and on the right is what they sent me!

20" iMac ----------> 24" iMac
2.4GHz ------------> 2.8GHz
6GB RAM --------> 4GB RAM
320GB HDD ----->500GB HDD

I think I need to send it back so they can get it right and give me my 6GB RAM!!!

I'm going to assume that you're teasing/joking. Since they sent you a better computer!

- Nick

 

[dtravis7]

That screen on the 24" is amazing. The 20" of that model run were a TN panel and not the best, but the 24" was a true IPS display and amazing looking! KEEP that 24" and upgrade the RAM. OWC has 6GB Kit for that very machine!

 

[GameGuru]

Of course it was a joke. I just about fell out my seat when I saw how big it was and then checked the specs in Mountain Lion. I have never had a mistake in my favor before, kinda refreshing!

 

[pm-r]

That screen on the 24" is amazing. The 20" of that model run were a TN panel and not the best, but the 24" was a true IPS display and amazing looking! KEEP that 24" and upgrade the RAM. OWC has 6GB Kit for that very machine!

I'm not sure if our mid-2007 2.4GHz 24" iMac uses the same screen as the everymac.com site just says they basically have a TFT Active Matrix LCD display.

I'm not sure they are the same as the "IPS display" TFT display panels that seemed to be the rage back then and I got confused and gave up trying to figure it all out and all the terminology and just enjoyed the display which my wife has been using for the last few years and I'm using a later mid-2011 27" iMac.

Unfortunately the 2007's iMac display age is starting to show with a bit of apparent yellowing and dimming of its fluorescent backlight.

 

[chscag]

I'm not sure if our mid-2007 2.4GHz 24" iMac uses the same screen as the everymac.com site just says they basically have a TFT Active Matrix LCD display.

As far as I know, that's correct. The IPS screen technology was not used until later on. (2009 27" iMac)

From Mactracker:

Built-in Display 24-inch (viewable) glossy widescreen TFT LCD
Brightness 385 cd/m2