I found an iMac in the TRASH... can we fix it?

[@DjBlacid]

There’s something therapeutic about repairing old macs and watching them repaired

[@benhurumut229]

tell me about it

[@wertywerrtyson5529]

Even just watching a certain Australian KZbinr cleaning them with eucalyptus oil is therapeutic. Upgrading them and fixing them saves the world from a little bit of e waste at least. This thing is newer than many iMacs still in use.

[@deheiligebron]

There’s something therapeutic about old macs and watching them repaired by Luke and his gosh diddly dang style 😉

[@bashdachivo]

My dad loved computers when I was growing up and I enjoyed them as well, it’s nostalgic and homey

[@AmirRazan]

​@@wertywerrtyson5529Same thing goes to another Australian KZbinr whose background setting is usually white in colour, repairing phones and computers.

[@ImNXVS]

As someone who is an ex-Apple technician who worked on these, I can say that you did an exceptional job at the repair and upgrade. Just be careful around the camera area with the adhesive cutter because you do not want to accidentally break it. Fun fact the adhesive never goes within that little bit of the camera area. 10/10 repair and upgrade! Love to see this as an ex-Apple technician.

[@spitty3208]

the chance of casually finding an imac in the trash 😭 (edit) i just wanna clarify this wasn’t meant in any malicious way. i just can’t imagine finding one myself :)

[@WalkerArt-64]

And importantly, the chance of it’s PSU not blowing up. That’s important …. It’s like Russian roulette, I’ll say

[@battman505]

Almost like it didn’t happen and it’s just a fake premise for a mundane repair video.

[@XRTerra]

I found an m1 mac mini near a dumpster so it's not entirely impossible

[@griffin8062]

Someone gave me a 2015 4k iMac that they were going to e-recycle

[@kez1619]

Lol my dad found a Legion gaming laptop with a i7 and GTX 1050

[@ninjanerdstudent6937]

I actually spent one year of my life after high school working for a waste management company before pursuing college. You will not believe the number of desktop cases I have found headed towards landfill. Some of them were various imac versions without cracked screens. Since it was all trashed, it was also up for grabs by anybody who wanted one.

[@PaulaBean]

Did you bring them back home? Did you resell them?

[@Artimidorus]

We had a recycling thing here where we paid money to get rid of electronics.. While in line to get rid of an old standing AC, I was sitting there watching people drop off CRTs, gaming systems (like consoles and stuff), PCs out the wazoo... they wouldn't let me get out of my car to ask if I could buy some of it. :( The thought of that stuff getting just trashed/torn apart/sold for scalping when we paid to have it taken... just very annoying.

[@gerry-p9x]

Yeah bulk pic up week town wood have all electronics toosed. Found 10. Mac classics the small screen. Fdd ones took em and we re used them for eord processors😊😊

[@carlm1595]

I would have taken them apart and then sell the parts. More money in parts than a working computer. He paid $200 just for a screen. I've often used second hand parts to fix a computer.

[@jpdemer5]

@@carlm1595 That's what I used to do - bought and sold iMacs on eBay, mixing and matching parts, usually a couple of years behind the latest model. I only had to trash one, and I sold the guts for parts & recycled the empty aluminum case. Now have an M1 Mini, and I doubt that there's anything in it that I could rescue and re-use. (Maybe the fan? I've never noticed it turning on - it should be like new!)

Odds of finding an iMac in the trash: Luke Miani: 100%, rest of the world: 0%

[@tykymba]

what are you talking about? it is realy common nowadays. every tech youtuber finding them all over the trash

[@sophustranquillitastv4468]

@@tykymba I used to find one as well but I don't have the right tool to open the screen glass so it broke more and inside it there isn't anything I can harvest at all so it's stay a trash.

[@davidg5898]

I've come across 2 just in the last 5 years, without even looking for dumpster treasure.

[@michvod]

i found 2 in the trash a while back. one 27 inch 2011 with dead psu and one 24 inch 2007 that was in flood (but still managed to work, despite being a mud bomb)

[@DengueBurger]

Welcome to LA. It’s a rich place. In any other part of the US, they’d sell this on Facebook marketplace, at least at a big discount.

[@RandyWaage]

I bought a core2duo iMac for $10 at a flea market a few years back. It was pretty scuffed up, but powered on. I replaced the hard drive with an SSD with a new OS and it worked great! Eventually I realized I wasn't using it much so I slapped a FREE sign on it in my front yard & it found a new home. :)

[@caseyboone7018]

That's such a nice thing to do! you made a lucky persons day

[@QuikyBassman]

In the trash... and here in Italy best you can find for a 4K iMac is around 300€ for a base model with a dead display and/or dead logic board. Heck people here still asks 150-200€ for a 2010-2011 iMac! Great video as always but... US/Canada market is not remotely comparable to any other market here in the EU.

[@CB-kt7qd]

If you look carefully you can find good deals. Here in France i was able to buy a 2012 21" imac for 50 Eur, and another 2013 21" with dgpu for 70 Eur, although people here usually ask at least 200Euros for such imacs.

[@QuikyBassman]

@@CB-kt7qd of course you can find good deals here, but it’s nowhere as easy as in Luke videos… he talks mainly to his US fan base, which is absolutely fine and correct, but whenever I see him saying “you can find this Mac for X amount of money, they’re dirty cheap, people literally throw them in to your face” I say “yeah, no. Not here. Not even in a million years, here.” Problem here is that virtually no schools have a single Mac (no Apple education programs) only maybe in some universities, and 90% of businesses also have PCs so the only possibile Mac market is from private users that purchased those Macs at full retail price +22% taxes in euros. This leads to a natural price inflation on every single Mac model in the used market compared to the exact same computer in the US. That’s the way it is.

[@marco24117]

@@CB-kt7qd the problem in italy (as my experience) is that everyone believe their stuffs is worth alot an try to gain every penny from them. I saw alot of listings about electronics devices priced above the average price (for EU) only because from italian sellers. An example? A used switch goes for 200 on average (280 new from amazon, sometimes 250) and the average price for an used one in italy is 250 at best (ofc sometime you find nice deals near 200, but is like 10% of the total). In france (thro vinted), i saw almost all switches goes for 220 on average and sometime even 150. I'm italian and i can't blame to much my culture, but that aspect is really annoying.

[@Chimpur]

I dunno why you'd include Canada in that. Here in Toronto nothing goes cheap with an Apple logo on it. People "know what they have" lol! Well.. they think they do anyway...

[@emilsecker7881]

@@CB-kt7qdboth unusable at this point

[@OutlawNix]

As someone who been trained in electronic repair starting multiple decades ago I had to work on plenty of CRT's in the past. It was working on CRT's around the flyback that had me on the edge of my seat. Over the decades been inside of plenty of power supply's for computer's over the decades they don't scare me unlike the CRT's did.

[@revvluvv]

For 90% of the population , this is a perfectly acceptable and usable machine!

[@janegoodall1837]

The more I watch this the more I'm certain he just bought a cracked screen but working one one on ebay, and said he "found it" for a more compelling narrative.

[@emilsecker7881]

Yeah not so much

[@complexity5545]

@@janegoodall1837 I am a computer guy. I literally have people, teachers, that freely give me old macs and devices just because they upgraded. They trust me to recycle and remove data. I probably get about 10-20 computers a month. They're all re-usable. with PCIE3 and up speeds. Its insane what people don't want with computers now. Everybody is on the phone or tablets. Usable phones and tablets don't get recycled as much.

[@flickwtchr]

@@emilsecker7881 Oh yeah? I think you're wrong okay? lol

[@flickwtchr]

@@janegoodall1837 Like he needs that narrative. He has a ton of videos where he buys stuff on Ebay to repair, but on this one video he makes that call? Not logical Jane, but I suppose you had to inject your daily random dose of social media poison and call him a liar. Feel better?

[@StardustOneReviews]

I also rescued a MacBook Air Mid 2013 from the local recycling center, minor scratches, no dents, perfect screen and keyboard. All I had to do was to replace the battery that only worked for about 10 minutes with a new one from Amazon plus a MagSafe 2 to USB-C cable. After reinstalling Big Sur I wanted to get Monterey but I had these Volume Hash issues. Tried again but couldn’t patch the SSD to boot without the USB stick. I then tried Ventura using OCLP 1.5.0 and it worked perfectly fine. It has only 4 GB of RAM but I also am quite surprised how usable this 11 year old Mac still is. It is a real shame that Apple is only interested in selling new hardware because these old computers are well capable of running almost everything currently available. Instead of creating eWaste, Apple should support these machines for as long as possible. 😊

[@davidmurakami164]

You might want to pay attention to the thermal pads of the GDDR chips for the GPU too. People often forget this when they apply new thermal paste for the CPU/GPU, leaving a risk of overheating issues of the VRAM.

[@larskjr7439]

As an Apple technician I like how you quickly jumped past the cable connections and screen alignment 😂

[@thehitman5007]

😂😂 oooops

[@nickwort123]

I wish I had that kind of luck. The best thing I’ve ever found in the trash was an unopened 6 pack of bud light when I was a teen

[@RealEpikCartfrenYT]

I found a whole core 2 duo motherboard a few months ago. I still have it and it still works. But I have no tower case to put it in.

[@elu9780]

I've found a couple of late 90s and early 2000s PCs in more or less working order (had to repaste things and restore the BIOS on one). Found a 5.1 audio system too, some generic USB speakers, and a variety of mice and keyboards. A couple of CRT and LCD monitors, some ancient GPUs and modem cards, plus some other minor things.

[@DaveAlkema]

My best find was a Dell Optiplex 9010 SFF. That thing made a decent little Hackintosh.

[@tejasraman6913]

I found a working 2012 HDD unibody in a trash before…

[@oscarcharliezulu]

Score!

[@captainjakesparrow85]

I have rescued many Macs from the trash. One is sitting behind me right now basically as a glorified juke box! The iMac I am using to watch this video was also a neglected (not quite trash, yet...) computer that, with a little love, works like a charm! Great video! Keep rescuing discarded/neglected Macs!!

[@sn95_mustang_garage]

I'm such a sucker for when Luke does these upgrades. Love these videos.

[@gerry-p9x]

Yeah R AND R OF THE GOLDEN OLDIES WARMS THE COCKLES OF MY HEART

[@CCC54E]

Every time I watch Luke repair and refurbish a Mac, I am fascinated and fantasize about doing the same thing myself. Then I wake up and realize that my lack of experience means that I would endure hours of frustration and errors if I tried the same thing. Instead, I pay up for my Macs, avoid the frustrations and watch Luke for the entertainment. Thanks, Luke, for another good KZbin adventure.

[@chrisdeering8524]

Hi from Australia saving these older Imac's is a labour of love not a money tree, thankyou for saving it from the trash

[@rb3020]

I found an older iPod (running iOS 12 with lightning port) in the box with the headphones and charging cable thrown in the trash while doing janitorial work at an office for rent building. It had been cleaned and was factory reset. One of my best trash finds!!!!

[@godlymen7963]

The crack isn't even in the way of functioning of the pc It's a perfectly fine working system as is

[@yeknommonkey]

Wasn't it like a split all the way down the centre?

[@yeknommonkey]

5:00

[@godlymen7963]

I believe it broke while he was removing it

[@godlymen7963]

Could have been cracked beforehand

[@1994dashi]

he didnt find this im sure, i mean whats the odds to find id and without an account inside

[@itsairwick]

As a suggestion, to really unscrew the CPU mount, you shouldn't remove the entire screw one at a time, unscrewing in an X pattern is great, but you should be unscrewing them equally in the X pattern until the tension has lessened so the spring won't pop up like it did at 12:52

[@chowandrew2458]

I miss this kind of video😍

[@josemedeiros007]

Great video Luke, I myself would have just used the original 4k display, the crack didn't look that bad.

[@thenetworkmystery]

I use a 2019 21.5" iMac - 3 GHz i5, 32 GB of RAM, and a 1 TB SSD. Works great still!

[@ja5467]

Way to go! Watching you upgrade this machine was an educational experience. Showed that a repair CAN be done! Sometimes repairing something you own and have an attachment to is better than buying someone else’s headaches. Love the channel ❤

[@funnyclips9051]

The upgrades were good, but that screen with the little crack outside the viewing area was super usable. You could have just added the processor, RAM and SSD and called it a day. The other move on these iMacs involves getting a damaged one with a bad MOBO and you just use the screen. If you didn't want to upgrade anything you could have booted off an external SSD and put a piece of tape over the little crack.

[@TabalugaDragon]

yeah lol apply some black spray paint and you're good to go. Replacing the whole screen because of this on an OLD computer doesn't make sense.

[@lifecloud009]

I used to work for an electronic waste recycling company and in the more financially affluent areas people throw away perfectly good stuff. I recently found a 2019 MacBook Pro fully maxed out and all I had to do to get it running was replace the battery. Saved myself hundreds of dollars and it works perfectly.

[@FernandoAndrade-v5s]

Love to see young Flanders staging a computer rescue.... Okiley dokiley!

[@davidg5898]

Be careful with dumpster treasure -- and used computer stuff in general -- if you don't know much about the owner. You may end up with bedbugs. They like to go into warm electronics and will lay eggs in there, too. Give it a full inspection (inside and out, every crack and crevice) before bringing it into your home.

[@LiEnby]

the imac is so hard to open i doubt they could even get into it /s

[@gregf9160]

I absolutely would have done the same! Perfectly usable (free) machine, after the upgrades, slightly expensive though they were, but you saved it from going to Landfill -- and that's _marvellous_ and _priceless_ 🤩

[@APopov]

Haha, have you fallen for it? No one finds a working iMac with only a cracked screen in their trash. Obviously Baseus paid him for sponsorship and he had enough money to buy a perfectly working iMac (unlocked and magically boots into a guest account, how handy) and a replacement screen for it. Hell, I won't be surprised if he even cracked the screen himself.

[@elu9780]

@@APopov some people are very willing to throw out perfectly good things. People who buy iMacs tend to fall into that category. And even if the story is fake, the video is still good. Either way, you can't verify whether it's true or not, so it's whatever.

[@axi0matic]

@@APopov As he showed in the video, it was beyond economic repair. It was only worth it for Luke because it's just fodder for YT content. As a base-model 2017 iMac with a cracked screen (and perhaps damaged webcam), it's hardly inconceivable the owner just tossed it and bought the current model, with a larger screen and 10x faster. Also not surprising they had wiped their data off it. And why password protect if you're only booting to confirm it had wiped? In any case, Luke was going to install a new boot drive anyway, so would have just formatted the HDD. Still, was fortunate to not be firmware locked.

[@jacobkinielsen]

thanks. great job. however, instead of reapplying adhesive strips just put a small piece of clear tape somewhere along the rim to keep the screen in place and for easy future access to the internals.

[@tomwagner4516]

Luke back in his element. Thank you.

[@j.lietka9406]

Found a tossed out iMac A1312, two Mini Macs, 3 Apple laptops, several iPhones and iPads (couple of iPods too!) This is over a period of about 3 years. Also found a tossed out Power Macintosh / Power PC 6500 / 250, matching CRT, keyboard, mouse, some disks, programs and it works! The A1312 works but needs the iOS reinstalled! It's possible to find electronics but depends where one looks.

[@ParzivalKings]

if you rang me when i worked at applecare i'd have put you on hold and rang every apple store within 100 miles till one picked up and gave me a price hahahaha or i would not stop calling any of them

[@dsymonkey]

I had this EXACT thing happen to me at my old apartments! Sitting by the trash were two 27inch 2011 monitors that just had fried chords. Took them home and the work PERFECTLY! Still using them today!

[@satoshi649]

I’m just thinking how casually dripped out Luke is, got a good sense of style

[@manilkasheran2934]

It sitting on the edge like that gave me goosebumps! 15:26

[@mmanish7331]

Yaa. KZbinR finding iMac in trash ..... never gets old :)

[@APopov]

While walking to the garage in his apartment building.

[@daspec]

You'd be amazed at how many computers people dump at their front yards in Australia for stranger to pick them up. One time I found half a dozen of SGI workstations

[@ranjitmandal1612]

😂😂

[@dc292177917]

@@daspecyea, a newish fully functional mac without icloud lock

[@Syntappi]

I've found 2011 iMac back in 2015 from trash. It had failed GPU which i put to oven and BOOM it worked again. It has failed a couple times after it again. I still have it but it's too old for any use nowadays.

[@moogfooger]

You know Luke, these are the kind of videos I really miss from you. Refreshing to see an old fashioned repair of an old mac video from Luke Miani. It is why I subscribed to your channel in the first place! Bravo for ditching all the new format ideas and going with a success story. Cheers

[@captainshakesbeard2453]

why tf do i never find an imac in the street. yet every tech channel manage to find one? are u sure you're not just buying them on ebay and feeding us a scenario

[@mattstone8878]

It's a bit suspicious that he didn't record himself finding the iMac. But I believe him. These iMacs are insanely cheap these days. I got one for $40.

[@CautionusJay]

​@@mattstone8878 it's an unexpected find, why would we want to have our cameras on us at all times? I found an Xbox 360 Slim in the trash once and the only issue is someone mashed up one of the front USB ports.

[@mattstone8878]

@CautionusJay Bro you have your phone on you all day and your phone is a video camera. When something cool happens to you (and you are a professional KZbinr) it would make sense to whip out the phone and record the moment. But whatever I don't really care lol.

[@IAMLXGEND]

@@mattstone8878as a professional KZbinr, I almost never think to do this. Not even with my phone. I just do whatever I’m doing in the moment and then record a video about it later. Only time I ever bust out a camera to do anything KZbin related is when I’ve at least somewhat planned what I am filming. Even if it’s not fully scripted.

[@DragoNate]

@@IAMLXGEND Cool, you're the exception :)

[@robbristow]

Love these videos. I still have a very useable 2009 iMac 21.5 running High Sierra 3.3hz I core 2 Duo with 8GB ram. I have converted the System to a 256 SSD but replaced the optical drive with a 2 TB ssd using the OWC conversion system. Boots and opens apps fine and with a truck load of storage now I use it to scan (using Silverfast and an Epsom 700) and store all my images from old family photos dating back to the early 1900's

[@BTL400]

I bought a 2006 macbook pro for like $10. The previos owner said she didn't know if it was working or not since she had lost the charger so long ago. I got it just to see if I could make it work again. I plugged the charger, turned it on and voilá, it was working just fine, slow, but fine. The only thing I did to it was to upgrady the ram, throw an SSD in and now I'm planning to install Ventura with a patcher.

[@oldipodee]

you can’t on a 2006 MacBook. You can on a 2008 MacBook Pro though

[@emilsecker7881]

Don’t use that crap as a daily machine for the love of god

[@kodtech]

Yesterday I found a Bentley Batur Convertible in the trash, but was scratched and I left it there 😂

[@MorbidGod391]

15:16 you should try to sell the iMac back to whoever trashed it and say your the Trash Can Fixer 😂😂

[@NathanNJ300]

An FYI for hard drive swaps on iMacs. I’m not sure what iMac models are effected, but some like my 2017 iMac with a Fusion Drive will run the fan at full speed continuously if you swap the hard drive out without dealing with Apple’s proprietary built in extra thermal sensor. OWC sold a kit for it at one point. Basically just a SATA cable with an extra sensor you can fix to the new drive to avoid the problem.

[@oscarlopez727]

I too found a 21.5in iMac on the side of the road with a perfect display just a bad os. Slapped a new macos Ventura on it and voila free working iMac.

[@emilsecker7881]

How old is it though? Hardware probs leaves a lot to be desired

[@massonlemieux]

I had almost the same exact thing happen to me, I found a 27in 5k with a cracked screen on the side of the street in NYC. I'm typing this on it now. It has been a great free iMac!

[@emilsecker7881]

How old though?

[@massonlemieux]

@@emilsecker7881 2017, I also found it 2 years ago

[@cycledance]

Could have sold it for about 100. Now you spent 250 and can sell it for 200.

[@MarkS-ir6db]

I loved watching you fix this Mac from the garbage. I'm also glad it wasn't my money, but yours. Still appreciate what you did to fix it.

[@CIRCLEDARK]

You should just drive it to the Genius Bar in the Lexus you also found in the trash.

[@DragoNate]

Bro come on, you wouldn't find a Lexus in the trash... A Tesla however...

[@xrayangiodoc]

For the last 3 years my wife has been using a late 2009 21.5" iMac for all her Zoom meetings. I found the iMac at the curb of my neighbor's house. He cleans out abandoned apartments and he found the iMac but couldn't figure out how to get past the password. I replaced the original HD with a SSD and upgraded the RAM. It works just fine. The screen is great and it does what she needs it to do.

[@titrate1176]

I don't believe you found this in the trash

[@mariog8067]

I agree with you.

[@yogibear2k220]

I agree with you. This is such a piece of junk, the trash is too good for it.

[@SuperCyberOffical]

The apple watch every time he turns his hand I know you want the ti- Do you want the ti- The time i-

[@DavidWasman]

Next iMac you find: Grab the main (working) PCB, convert it to use a 65watt USB-C wall wart (instead of the scary PSU), find a new cooling option, then 3D print a case. No $200 screen and it takes less table/desk real estate. Like a home-made Mac Mini. (and yes, ditch the speakers since you can still plug it all into a speaker/stereo or use bluetooth sound.)

[@toseltreps1101]

dumbest suggestion ever

[@djtecthreat]

Repairing it and using it (or giving it to someone who will) is the most efficient and purest form of recycling. I wish more people realized that "recycling" it isn't actually green when it can still be used.

[@Techboss532]

Yeah

[@jernaugurgeh451]

12:04 “Lets set aside that empty shell” This is the story of my life.

[@vaughnschultz6820]

is it only me or did you guys also see on 15:25 into video crack on screen? but never the less well done bro i love watching how people save old macs and desk tops etc.

[@Rhysco80]

I love finding stuff in the trash and getting it working! It is very satisfying.

[@cleanycloth]

I bought a 2013 21.5" iMac off eBay a couple of years ago. Popped 16GB RAM in it, a 512GB SSD, used OCLP to upgrade it to Monterey and it was absolutely screaming. I didn't even think to put a better CPU in it! I eventually did upgrade to an M1 iMac because I got a good deal on it, but it's still a good machine.

[@dilbertpugh8517]

Hey Luke, It's lovely to see you in your happy place, it brings a tear to my eye for the olden days.

[@PrototypeOnyx]

$190 for a replacement display, while a fully functioning mac sells for $230-280 doesn't sound like a great deal to me. The display can easily be damaged in shipping or the replacement process.

[@adamhutton4165]

As strange as this comment may sound, your videos make me very happy. I've been on Macs since college in 1987 where I would spend hours in the CIRCA Lab learning everything I could about computers and desktop publishing. I helped put myself through biz school as a tech and by finding and repairing old Macs or profit (Classic, Si, Ci, SE, etc). I still run all Macs in my company and do my own repairs (even though I'm the president). Bottom line, I love Macs and you do to. You did a great service by bringing this beautiful machine back to life.

[@hughdevaux2994]

Company was junking a mid-2011 27 iMac 3 years ago. Upgraded RAM to 20GB, replaced HDD with SSD. Still using it as a Citrix Client for work and watch YT ... all this thanks to Luke's channel

[@mallenge]

These are your best type of videos, in my opinion. It's great to look at these machines on the inside and being fixed, pimped and so on. And I would definitely buy these machines from you if I had the opportunity.

[@mikaelbiilmann6826]

I bought a 2013 iMac my friend had tried to upgrade, but he busted up the cables to the screen. I bought it for almost 100 usd, ordered a new cable, an ssd and it worked perfectly. Sold it a couple of months ago and according to the buyer his daughter is very happy with her iMac. 😊

[@billedwardson2562]

I bought a 2011 27" iMac for 50 bucks from an auction. I couldn't upgrade the iOS so I installed Ubuntu and it works very well. It does need a better hard drive and new ram I think but overall it is a very usable computer. I'd like to open it and do some of this myself but I've never done that. Videos like this help. Thank you.

[@Bergenslarsen]

I found a late 2015 iMac in the e-waste at work. Only thing that was failing was the internal fusion drive. The monitor looks amazing.

[@PoXFreak]

Luke isn't the only one... I found a 27" iMac A1419 in the trash only 3 houses down from my current residence. It would seem that some people aren't computer literate enough to factory reset their iMac when it craps out. Outside of looking like it was used in a dusty and dirty environment, it actually powered right up to the folder of death screen. I cleaned it up with various cleaners and alcohol wipes while it self-restored to Catalina (I think), and once booted seemed perfectly happy. It now runs 13.6.x Ventura with Windows 10 in a 100 gig boot camp and serves as my main PC for various what-not stuff.

[@jujujustme]

Sweet find! I think the person wanted someone to find it and save it; didn't have the knowledge or want to fix it themselves. I have the same machine (but 27"). It's been the best one I've ever had. She's a workhorse! The positive thing is how clean this mac is on the inside.

[@sewdclass10]

Ive worked on these imacs for a while with many a zaps from apples lovely exposed psu's. ive found that if you unplug the imac and then hold the power button for 5-10 seconds it discharges the capacitors and makes it safe to handle

[@TheTechGuyYT]

I found this exact model myself in the trash , mine doesn’t have a broken screen , going to do the same upgrades .

[@emilsecker7881]

Don’t waste money on it

[@TheTechGuyYT]

@@emilsecker7881 why still a very useful machine with a good screen

[@d.r.martin6301]

That model's been my daily driver for five years, until it crashed a few months ago. I thought about getting a Mini with a 4K monitor, but balked. I had a 1T SSD sitting around, ordered a 16 gig memory card, and had my Mac guy put it all together for me. All for $350, about a third of the cost of a Mini setup. It's performing better than it was before, with the 20 gig memory upgrade. If you can keep it cheap, this iMac is definitely worth saving. And I sure do like that Retina monitor.

[@conath]

Great video. While it is rare to find working stuff in the trash room, I recently pulled a 49" Sony Bravia from the bin and it works perfectly, even had the remote with it. I think the power supply must have gone missing and that was why it was in the trash. Unbelievable!

[@paulf2898]

Pity you couldn't try fixing the cracked screen with one of those car windscreen crack repair kits??

[@Mr_INTP]

You can seperate the broken glass from the display panel by simply using a thin guitar string connected to a battery to heat the guitar string and it will slice through the resin that fuses the outer glass with the display panel.

[@irensaga561]

I live in Japan, and the second hand shops here have a “junk” section where many treasures are to be found for very little money. I would not be surprised if iMacs were just thrown out in areas where this kind of shop doesn’t exist. I got my 2013 MacBook Pro, an old windows laptop, and a bunch of chargers from one.

[@amimrie]

My late 2013 27inch is still going strong, Was the highest spec at the time.

[@whateverrandomnumber]

You could have swapped the front glass, and soldered in an NVMe connector.

[@SDRIFTERAbdlmounaim]

for some weird reason, only KZbinrs tend to find expensive things casually and cleanly put in the trash... it's almost as if they intentionally put things out there or something😂

[@boyko-digital539]

I appreciate the effort Luke put into creating this helpful fixing video. It's always great to see someone sharing their expertise.

[@guitardude32787]

Just got one of these with 32gb of ram and a Fusion Drive for $75. Definitely doing some of these upgrades. This video dropped at the perfect time!

[@mjs28s]

you forgot one thing on your cost analysis at the end. Your ROIT, Return On Invested Time. But you did film it and make a video out of it so clearly....Great idea to fix that up 🙂

[@Tech_Zilla]

Unfortunately I feel they have gone in the wrong direction to far. The screen is not acceptable at this price point, the cameras seem to be a downgrade and still suffer with hit or miss. Thank you for your honesty in this video.

[@DanielStalnakerII]

I haven't found one as a waste collector myself, but I was given a 2013 from my pastor who bought it used. It was (still is) registered to a university management profile but has a non-removable flag so I assume that could never be dealt with or no attempts were made by previous owners. Ended up modifying a file so it can't verify against servers to fix that. Also upgraded to a 1tb Samsung 870 EVO, and used Opencore to bring it up to Sonoma. Some programs like Ableton Live do tend to drag down the CPU with more intensive tasks, but still catches up and runs great for being 11 years old. I use this thing daily with only occasional issues.

[@LieutenantDanVic]

I just got this same model, but with 16bg ram and a 1tb HDD for $115. the iMac was dropped while powered off and the only damage was the stand got a small bend where the hole for the power cord goes. Plan is to upgrade the HHD for a 2tb SSD, Upgrade the i5 to the i7 and replace the whole stand assembly while the screen is off.

[@emilsecker7881]

Don’t waste money on it

[@LieutenantDanVic]

@@emilsecker7881 Why? there's nothing Wong with it. I use it as a Time Machine Back up destination for my M1 iMac and my M1 MacBook Air.

[@emilsecker7881]

@@LieutenantDanVic if that s all you use it for, that’s fine

[@ninnamon1260]

I remember doing the same upgrade to mine. When Luke said I'm going to replace it with an NVME, I'm like oh no..... Then, I'm like did I make a mistake with mine.

[@tonyg6158]

Last time I fixed something from the garbage was a little 14" lcd tv. I brought it home and changed the blown electrolytic capacitors in the power supply. It worked great but no one wanted it. I left it by the garbage that I found it in with a note saying repaired lol. People including myself throw out good stuff all the time. Most of us already have plenty of garbage taking space in our homes.

[@onigvd77]

love how this baby got fixed up and got a new lease on life, hate how it was treated! that fact that it was ready to be thrown away and still worked is disappointing. it could have been donated to a charity or school with poor funding etc. but the previous owner seemed to only think of their own back pocket and not the environment or others when it came time to find a replacement. Luke you are doing great work and by showing what can be done i feel verter that you found it to give it the love it deserves :)

[@TuxedoPanther]

Well done, good job. If I found one of these, I would just take it to an Apple store and get them to recycle it. You also need to take into account the time and effort spent fixing it, not just the cost of the new parts. Great video anyway, I enjoyed watching it, keep up the good work 👍

[@satyabhan6548]

It baffles me that your channel hasn't even reached a million subscribers. Been following you for a while now, and I believe your's is one of the most exciting tech channels around.

[@lukemiani]

Wow, thank you!

[@nicolasdaum6185]

Good for you! I owned a late 2000's iMac. I had to change the HD. The glass held with magnet at that time. After I was done I said: "iMac? Never again!" Yet I eventually sold it for a good price. ;-)

[@flickwtchr]

A rescued mac is a happy mac. Well done.

[@Kafj302]

i tend to do the same thing try to breath new life into things. found a netbook a little ways back, and plan on putting a SSD in it, already put the max of 2gb of ram in it. it might not be the fastest, but will work as a down little download mule, and it has a SD card slot so there is a plus as well. good on you to save tech, and that right there has earned you a subscribe, keep on saving tech from the trash heap.

[@onlineconsumer4796]

I got a bought a used 2019 iMac a few years ago and upgraded the the hard drive to a SSD. That was the only upgrade and the speed improvement was great. Would have been interesting to see each upgrade added one at a time so show the improvement each made on its own so we know what gives you the best bang for the buck.

[@braixeninfection6312]

I've recently upgraded my 2019 iMac. Ram is now 32gb instead of 8gb. SSD is now 1tb instead of 256gb. And also added a second sata SSD of 2tb. It's way better now! Plus for my first time opening an iMac it went super well! I actually opened it a second time to do the storage upgrade a week or two after the ram. It may be difficult to open, but was easier than I expected lol. These machines are still great with some upgrades. No reason to trash one just because it is a bit slow. Learn to fix it and make it last many more years! At least these ones can be opened and upgraded compared to the newer models.

[@adamthurmond9092]

My very first Mac was a 2002 eMac that my cousin that works IT for a school system gave me in 2007 when they upgraded. I found a tutorial online for how to break it down and I upgraded the 3.5” hard drive, the optical drive to a DVD burner, the RAM, and the OS to Tiger. Was it a usable machine for the next two years til I bought my first MacBook? Yes!! Was it slower than Christmas syncing my 1st-gen iPhone over USB 1.1? You betcha.

[@jackcrawford304]

Bought 27” IMac 2011 from goodwill for $30. Next to it was a Apple pro monitor, but a guy snatched that up before I could even walk over. 1tb drive and 8gb ram. Thing still runs great and I use it all the time. Next day went to Same goodwill and found the wireless keyboard in the box with the stickers! Turns out it was owned by a guy who went to Penn State.

[@XeonProductions]

This is the same problem I ran into attempting to repair an iMac. If your goal is making money, its more economical to scrap all the working parts out of an iMac and sell them individually then it is to fix up an iMac and sell it as a complete unit.

[@rpdee7344]

5/13/24 Good seeing you back to fixing old macs, you did answer the question when buying a used mac that isn't too old or repairing or upgrading one. I have a 2012 27" imac with DVD drive and the thick case. that I was trying to do some upgrades on the hard drive and video card, but in the process I destroyed the video connector on the motherboard when the screen fell forward on me, I was able to get another replacement mother board after checking parts and codes off Ebay to match, but have not attempt a fix and wondered if that is something you might be interested in doing? I can get a monitor to work using a back connector on the back to an external monitor, but it seems a shame to not use the perfectly good screen I still have for the front. Long live old iMac that can be upgraded.

[@rickystarling2863]

remember the 2010 imac when all you would need to do would be just replace the glass? ahhhh.... miss those days.

[@rigsbyrigged1831]

Leaving the HD so nonSSD was the point I left. The most important update of all.