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

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The other day I found a 21.5 inch iMac discarded in the trash room in my apartment building, so I snatched it and today we're going to try to fix it up! Even though it might be old or broken, it's never a good idea to throw out your old tech. Today I'll show that with some elbow grease and a few bucks in parts you can fix up a broken machine like this and save it from the landfill!
time stamps
0:00 What a trash find
2:35 Testing the iMac
4:00 How much to fix it?
5:25 Why this Mac was thrown out
6:33 Let's fix it!
8:48 Disassembly
12:14 Upgrades :)
15:34 Massive improvement!
17:30 Was it cost effective?
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[@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

[@StriveDad]

To be honest, I would've covered the cracked glass with some electricians tape & called it a day 😂

[@stevewaller6577]

I have done just that to my iMac, thinking about using car windscreen chip repair kit to fill it.

[@amethystdene]

same

[@RobertFixit]

Yeah that and a usbC nvme drive, no need to open 😇

[@tigersusyt]

Fr

[@cynonexus]

That’s exactly what I did 😂

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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@user-ht1xu4gv2u]

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😊😊

[@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!

[@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

[@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?

[@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. :)

[@larskjr7439]

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

[@sn95_mustang_garage]

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

[@user-ht1xu4gv2u]

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

[@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

[@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.

[@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 :)

[@ShapdCrusadr]

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.

[@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.

[@satoshi649]

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

[@chowandrew2458]

I miss this kind of video😍

[@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.

[@bradleyf1342]

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

[@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.

[@tomwagner4516]

Luke back in his element. Thank you.

[@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

[@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.

[@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!!

[@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...

[@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😂

[@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!!!!

[@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

[@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

[@mikeracanelliart]

Bev center! The fact that you found that iMac in a trash room in this town is 0% surprising.

[@user-ii7sw5ey5l]

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

[@thenetworkmystery]

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

[@MorbidGod391]

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

[@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 ❤

[@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

[@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.

[@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.

[@jernaugurgeh451]

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

[@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.

[@johnplainsong9769]

Lucky find!! Fun video to watch (gosh-diddlee-dang-it). I have a similar (late 2015 27” 5K) iMac that I upgraded a few times over the years. I'm upgrading to an newer Mac Mini and found I could only get about $250 for the iMac. So I'm gutting it and adding a video controller board to use the $$ 5k display with the Mini (plenty of instructions and $100 controllers online).

[@emilsecker7881]

Good use of a 5K display. Nice

[@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

[@jsax1709]

I really enjoyed watching this video. You make repairing it look so easy! I found it really difficult to get the display on and off when I upgraded to an SSD in my 2013 21.5. Now it's actually usable and I love it.

[@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

[@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.

[@iPodee]

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

[@empathon]

The glass can be separated and glued with a new glass, it's just not that easy.

[@MrRicky6796]

I managed to do this with a 27 inch. With a plastic card, a hair dryer and baby oil its possible

[@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

[@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.

[@cycledance]

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

[@ouss]

Yes you FOUND it. Total luck.

[@tigerhead85]

Why KZbinrs do this I will never understand 🤷‍♂️

[@sorrai]

I’m not seeing how that could be out the realm of possibility? I’ve seen tech in the trash that most people would never expect to be thrown out for one reason or another.

[@InimitaPaul]

I used to work in a recycling centre and we had two tower Mac Pro’s come through with post it notes saying broken, I took both into my office, reinstalled the software and kept one and gave the other to the guy who pulled them out before the were recycled. At the time that was almost £1000 worth of perfectly good Mac Pro’s being thrown out because the owner had no idea what they were doing. Some people have more money than sense and then people like me had a grandfather who taught them to at least try and fix stuff before binning them. Teaching me to fix CRT TV’s turned out to be useless but I’m grateful for the mindset.

[@Dxntoo]

I was doubting the legitimacy of this video until I remembered that Apple users aren't exactly smart and they're rich enough to just throw shit out. With that in mind, this is believable tbh.

[@IAMLXGEND]

@@Dxntooalso, I WISH I was rich. But sadly that is not the case.

[@cajunla.jtr.0057]

Imagine if your biggest fan lived next door in the apartment, overhearing all your KZbin activities. They might suddenly scream out having recognized you! But guess what? Too bad, because by then, they'd already tossed your iMac in the trash. Crazy, right? No idea why they did that... should've recycled or sold it. Oh well, no big deal!

[@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

[@shawnstar86]

Nice scripted setup video luke I’m sure you found it

[@thomas_xsg]

Lol… yeah we may be Apple sheep but we’re not THAT gullible 😂

[@cycledance]

You found it in the trash. Sure... 🙄

[@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!

[@kodtech]

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

[@bryans8656]

I've always enjoyed watching your Mac fixes and upgrades. I'm really glad you swapped out the HDD.

[@dmmetzpaul]

known mac youtuber finds slightly cracked newish imac in his trash. plugs it in and connects it to his wifi.

[@chrisyang05]

I have a 10-year old iMac. I added 16GB of RAM when I bought it and it still runs faster than my 2020 MacBook Air with 8GB of RAM. I've never used a computer for this long and I think it still has at least 4 to 5 years in it, absolutely worth every penny I paid.

[@slonekettering25]

These computer fix ups are my favorite videos you do!

[@GixrGuy]

Peace be with you! I'm not surprised. Of late, I've come into both unwanted Macs & PC's, neglected, but otherwise in working condition. Thank you for this👍

[@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.

[@mikezizis3725]

Wow amazing! Dude you got the right stuff!

[@Gerkozielman]

Very nice restauration Luke. well done ! Thanks for the video.

[@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

[@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.

[@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.

[@boyko-digital539]

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

[@RobertFixit]

This is literally the same as my current iMac (4k) It does not have a loud boot chime thank god. Running Sonoma with Opencore on external SSD. Got it for $150 and I like it.

[@emilsecker7881]

Should really upgrade that. The hardware will be ancient

[@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.

[@AdamHansen95]

17:01 “broken discarded waste of space” was my nickname in high school🤣🤣😂

[@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.

[@Milo_the_chonk]

Post a picture of where you found it and I’ll believe you . That’s a fair ask.

[@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.

[@rjcam]

yeah only a youtuber would find an iMac in the "trash" LMFAOO

[@dilbertpugh8517]

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

[@Athithan_2000]

You could always tear down the iMac into spare parts sold on Facebook Marketplace!

[@bejaekay7133]

👏👏👏👏👏 Well done man. Always love your upgrade videos

[@JohanDee]

Love this upcycling stuff! ❤ A pity it was expensive!

[@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

[@50ShadesOfBeige]

I found a perfectly working iMac 10.1 in the hard rubbish on the side of the road. Fresh install of BigSur via OCLP, extra RAM from my RAMbox and donated to a family that needed a computer for their autistic son.

[@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!

[@Rhysco80]

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

[@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.

[@sp-vt4je]

The fact that you have to lug it all the way to the store to get a ballpark quote is a bit absurd.

[@flickwtchr]

A rescued mac is a happy mac. Well done.

[@repairsnstuff]

love the fact youtube ads right after this video are "training" "passive income" scams

[@Michael-Martell]

I’m still using my Modded 2019 iMac. + custom iMac Enclosure 5K Monitor alongside my m1 16” mbp.

[@Mooooooof]

It’s a decent machine, personally I wouldn’t have bothered replacing the screen. Add an SSD, maybe some more ram and install Ubuntu

[@josemedeiros007]

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

[@Parker307]

I appreciate the sponsor for sponsoring your dumpster diving activities

[@tkusterb]

Loved watching you repair this Mac. Be sure to give it a good home!

[@DragoNate]

It had a perfectly good home before he took it away for this video :D

[@agunzterizer]

Love this adventures man!

[@seasidemark4088]

Great video love these type of videos best channel on KZbin

[@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.

[@chrismifsud7154]

I have a 2019 21.5inch Imac. I want to upgrade the ram to 16gb and install an NVME. The screen has a crack from top to bottom. I am scared to remove the screen because of the crack. What do you thing ? Its cracked not chipped.

[@carlakilleen3514]

I'm using my late 2013 as a monitor for my m2 pro mac mini, fantastic display, too good to trash. Love your content ❤

[@carlakilleen3514]

iMac 27"

[@jseden]

very much still usable machine.. at work I've got a 2015 27" with an i7, 512gb ssd and 16gb of ram. Very solid computer! Just recently did a fresh install of Monteray iirc

[@blikje_in_de_water]

Offcourse new computers are faster. But if you don't do heavy loads a 10 year old computer is just fine:) I had a 10 year old i7 desktop and it worked perfectly for what I did.

[@emilsecker7881]

Time to upgrade. Monterey will be unsupported

[@ZipplyZane]

The crack doesn't even appear to affect the screen, so I would have probably just tried to do something to hide the crack and keep using it. Or sell it. Mention the crack that is just aesthetic. Or, if that's too much work, donate it.

[@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.