Fix My 2009 iMac

What is it you would like me to do?

A call came in today from a gentleman asking me to go onsite and fix his 2009 iMac. I’m not sure how many of you remember these machines, they had an Intel Core CPU, (which still lives on 12 iterations later), 2GB of RAM, and a 300GB spinning hard disk.

My question is simple: What would you like me to do?

This particular Mac model is 15 years old, was declared obsolete by Apple 12 years ago, has no readily available hardware parts for replacement, and is running a version of MacOS, (before it was called MacOS), called Snow Leopard.

You can still find them on e-Bay and other auction sites for about $50. So you can imagine my disappointment when the caller suggested my motives were suspect.

I worked at Apple for 8 years, (badge #13902), I’m writing this post on a MacBook Air, and have a half dozen or so other Macs in my lab and workshop.

My best advice is to purchase a new system, and we don’t sell products, so there isn’t any “upsell” incentive on our part. Other than trying to help save you from the inevitable scammer who will ‘fix’ it for a nominal fee.

On calls like these, I’m reminded of the cliche, “No good deed goes unpunished.”