Turn Your Broken iMac Into A New Standalone Display!

[@psivewri]

This seems like a pretty interesting endeavour, check out their kickstarter if it interests you :) www.kickstarter.com/projects/juicycrumb/juicy-crumb-upgrade-logic-board

[@iamdmc]

absolutely stupid pricing you can buy a great 27" 1440p or 4K monitor at these prices! And it would have warranty and be 10 years newer tech disappointed in your promotion of this overpriced kickstarter that will probably never ship

[@digitalrampage]

Thanks @Psivewri - Hopefully all the people who like the idea even those who dont have a compatible Mac can throw in a few dollars support (even a single $) to show the development team there is some love out there. We were over half funded in a week, so hopefully people see the value in this and future projects of the same style on other products

[@iamdmc]

@@digitalrampage your project is bad and you should feel bad

[@ekoprasetiyo]

How about the drives on the imac? Can it be connected to the board so it can function as a storage via usb?

[@69umm]

one question do you have a macOS Seirra install usb by any chance if you do pls can u respond because i have the exact same iMac 27"

[@T3CHGY007]

Man those old iMacs still has some of the best resolutions for viewing around! simply amazing!

[@rebelliousreptile7336]

Absolutly love the idea, especially the use of existing hardware on the monitor like the webcam and the optical drive. Ive seen these macs pretty cheap that are stuffed in the motherboard, cpu or gpu area so this could be a very affordable way of getting a great monitor with a ton of other goodies.

[@stevearkwright]

Alas, it’s not affordable. They’re asking US$249 for the *cheapest* board. You can buy a fancy HP 32" silver monitor - brand new - with $50 left over.

[@rebelliousreptile7336]

@@stevearkwright hold on there. The boards are expensive, sure, but when you add up the total costs, it can be a very good deal. You get 5k resolution, and then all the io including an optical drive, a USB hub and even a webcam. If you get the iMac for say $100, then try to find a monitor with all the same items as that.

[@thumbwarriordx]

Be very afraid of the VESA mounting option tho. They specced the screws to self-destruct and shear apart if you look at them too hard.

[@sf95super]

​@@rebelliousreptile733650$ a monitor and 10$ a webcam also with the european price that it's more expensive then American ones.

[@serg3615]

The Boards start at $386? For that money, you can buy a decent 4k or buy a Chinese board for $200 to convert 2015 images into screens.

[@ericbauer4559]

Nice to see someone trying to make something out of these old but very nice iMacs. I have a 2010 27" that I put an M1 Mac mini inside along with connecting the speakers to USB amp, and installed a 2011 iSight camera. After accidentally killing the ebay display driver board, I took apart a 4k LG display and installed that instead. Just waiting on a replacement front glass panel and it'll be finished.

[@giorgos7six]

Hi Eric, you actually placed a MacMini inside that iMac?

[@ericbauer4559]

@@giorgos7six Yes, just the logic board and the power supply.

[@giorgos7six]

@@ericbauer4559 Wow this sounds awesome! Do you have a video of this installation?

[@ericbauer4559]

@@giorgos7six Not yet. It's pretty nice to use even though I don't get to use it daily since I just have it at work on my work bench.

[@cashwood]

I remember when you could do a similar thing with Target Display Mode on the pre-5K iMacs but the functionality was disabled in a later version of macOS (I think it might've been Mojave not sure)

[@THEcoolGAMER60]

Do u know why it was removed?

[@Sauceyjames]

@@THEcoolGAMER60 Apple needs to make money 💰

[@elu9780]

@@THEcoolGAMER60 Apple only removes functionality and usability to make more profit for themselves. That's it. There's literally no deeper reasoning for this - they don't care about end users. If they did, they would release unlockers for older iPad and iPhone models so that they would remain usable and not just stuck wherever they happened to be the last time they were used.

[@memediatek]

@@THEcoolGAMER60 they started selling displays

[@NickelLight]

@@sys-administrator /\

[@HGAMES69]

Let's hope Apple doesn't try to shut this project down because it looks promising and shows potential reverse engineering.

[@poble]

have they actually gone after these kind of projects though?

[@zoomosis]

I don't see how they could.

[@elfedorausado]

I don't think they can. Controller boards for display panels have been sold for years now. There's a wealth of KZbin content around repurposing displays from otherwise damaged laptop and turning them into external monitors. In the Apple camp, Luke Miani did something similar with an iMac, turning it into a 4k display some months ago, so I guess there is no problem.

[@AmazedStoner]

I’m more curious as to why apple hasn’t thought of this as an available service already

[@GalenlevyPhoto]

Nah Apple won’t. People have done repurposing Macs for years. Swapping boards or making custom boards for older Macs.

[@lasbrujazz]

I can only imagine when this product is finalized, the shape of the board would actually align with external ports on iMac chassis, making it a complete sleeper.

[@hazel_888]

really looking forward to this! i have a 2009 imac with a broken graphics card and i wanted to turn it into a display for quite a while!

[@Tom2404]

For 300AUD you can probably just buy another GPU and a usb capture card.

[@adamren7467]

Only compatible with 2011 27 inch ones.

[@samlawrence4670]

Disable the graphics card that one will work in target display mode.

[@HughJeffreys]

These guys reached out to me. I was keen to cover the product but they wanted me to sign an NDA that was marked as being from "iFixit". I said I wouldn't sign anything and asked them why they where calling themselves iFixit and never heard anything more...

[@cbee402]

?

[@butterfox863]

thats odd, btw love your videos #righttorepair

[@psivewri]

Their "IFIXIT Australia PTY LTD" ABN was registered back in 2012. They are trading as the business "Juicy Crumb Systems" as of August 2021. Maybe it's some sort of inside joke and they registered the company name prior to the American "iFixit" company having a presence here in Australia.

[@digitalrampage]

Juicy Crumb and its original parent company has owned the name iFixit in Australia since 2006. Someone from Juicy Crumb will be in touch soon to re-affirm this.

[@CHGOfficial512]

Shh apple might hear

[@TimurTripp2]

This is amazing. I'd like to see a version for the iMac 5K as it can save people (myself included) so much money vs. buying a new Studio Display! The panel in our aging iMacs is still nearly as good as Apple's $1,600 display and it frustrates me so much that it can't be used as a standalone display, especially now with Apple's attempt to discontinue MacOS support for early models of iMac 5K. Unlike the 2011 it may not be a standard DisplayPort connector inside which is a problem though, at the time the DisplayPort standard couldn't handle 5K. I believe they got around this by using 2x DisplayPorts for the one display but I could be wrong.

[@c1bersnake]

Imagine dumping in the internals of a mac mini M2 pro and having a fully functional iMac pro lol

[@markredf150]

Awesome video! This is a heck of a way to prevent some huge e-waste. Do you know if it'll be available for the 21.5" models as well?

[@digitalrampage]

Throw us a dollar to show your support. We are planning on the 21.5 and the 2009-2010 models as well. The reason targeting this model occurred as a first was due to the significant number of dead units floating around for cheap.

[@a1m598]

@@digitalrampage your prices are ridiculous

[@digitalrampage]

​@@a1m598 Yet we are over half funded. We respect your choice not to like the project and welcome you to attempt to build a competitor for a lower price.

[@RageQuitSon]

​​@@digitalrampage (remove the ! For your website in your last public update) yo I LOVE your project but realistically, no. Preventing e-waste isn't worth over $250 USD. And I don't like the cockiness. Congrats on exceeding your goal! But a diy hack can't cost more than a brand new monitor. And if you release cheaper that's a HUGE middle finger to your backers.

[@Aldo.flores]

That’s an incredible way to turn an old iMac into a Thunderbolt Display for a couple bucks, hope they fix the cable position in the future and manage a way to reuse the existing ports on the iMac

[@BronyumHexofloride]

I do hope they go back as far as the G4, i got one collecting dust that hasn't worked in over a decade due to a logic board issue that id Love to turn into a stylish display for my various computers

[@Bort_86]

I was thinking about doing something exactly like that (well, with the cheap AliExpress-stuff that’s around, USB-hubs and a lot of tinkering) and am on the lookout for a cheap broken iMac for that. While this kickstarter-project is pretty neat, due to budget constraints I will still stick to what I imagined.

[@FadiQv]

My thoughts exactly. The product is amazing, but at a £250 buy in, Its too expensive to be viable. Im sure cost will come down with time though.

[@nuherbleath461]

It’s a very good up cycle. The need to make some sort of brightness knob for the newer Apple cinema displays as they can no longer have their brightness adjusted due to it being in the os and that being removed.

[@videogalore]

Really interesting and long overdue too! Makes perfect sense as they begin to reduce support for the older macs, which are otherwise perfectly good!

[@theburntcrumpet8371]

This is so cool - I've always been a huge fan of the displays apple use in the iMacs so to be able to repurpose computers which would otherwise be ewaste as high quality, high resolution monitors is quite the achievement

[@dash8brj]

I hope this comes out for the 2014 iMacs, as my one has a stuffed logic board. I'd love to use it as a second monitor for my m1 macbook :)

[@jameslangridge8849]

I love the idea of being able to reuse something that would otherwise be thrown away or recycled.

[@digitalrampage]

Thanks! Please throw a dollar of support in if you could to help =)

[@rnicoles9355]

This is actually a good idea Like I can now use more monitors for paying less and more resolution, instead of buying a cheap monitor with less resolution

[@rnt45t1]

Happy to see you posting again, my friend.

[@Pennerman]

I am currently using my 27“ 2011 iMac as a display for my 2012 Mac Mini via a 0.5m Thunderbolt cable. It would be nice to be able to use newer computers with different cables though!

[@bramvandenbroeck5060]

I am quite interested in a 2008 20 inch version of this mod, i have an old imac i would like to convert this way to be able to work with my m1 pro macbook pro! This would be so awesome! And i hope the G4 mod sees the light of day in the near future!

[@digitalrampage]

The G4 will be the next project when this crosses the line and ships. Throw some support on the kickstart with a Crumb Up if you can! Every support and dollar helps, and allows us to keep in touch in regards to the G4 project.

[@LetsPlayKeldeo]

Really cool video ! I did the same thing Years ago I have an Imac Lamp / an 2011 and 2009 Imac as Displays

[@joel.davey04]

thank you for releasing this it's really helpful bro.

[@virgomunoz]

I’m planning on doing this with a 2006 white iMac! The idea was to use it with newer software as if it had original hardware inside of it. I have a special connection to these computers because it’s what they had in the computer lab in elementary school

[@CesareVesdani]

Does this mean that you can turn any broken computer into a standalone display? That's cool. Turning a broken iMac into a tablet.

[@demorbe-official]

I love your creativity it's really awesome seeing you bring old stuff back to life.

[@andrewdupuis1151]

i like imac monitors i have early 2008 imac it still works great

[@rayproductionsbackupchanne3862]

i have a old first generation intel imac here with a fully fried gpu. would be cool to use this to make it atleast not full ewaste.

[@digitalrampage]

Eventually we will. But we need your help to get over the line on this. Give us a crumbs up to help on the Kick Starter! :)

[@zerocks88]

using this to put a new mac mini in is SUCH an awesome idea!

[@digitalrampage]

Thanks! Shoot us a Crumbs Up on the kickstarter if you can! =)

[@Roberto_79]

Looks amazing I have a 27 inch iMac up in the loft with a failed logic board which I was loath to get rid of as it was working so will before that. This is definitely a project I would like to attempt

[@thebusinessfirm9862]

Great video, mate. Thanks for making it.

[@walterGUnique]

Hi at 3:42 you plug cables into the purple board and then you install the screen. How did you connect the new purple board to the screen, you left out the most important part, I wanted to see! :(

[@squeakyg2161]

Mee too. Can you show that part slower and clearly,please,please. Cuz I got stuck too. ❤😂

[@squeakyg2161]

Just now saw this video. Trying very hard to revive my iMac 27”. Any suggestions?

[@zaamuro8408]

Great idea and amazing way of keeping Apple aesthetics around!

[@TheMetalMag]

my 2013 is still working perfect

[@edmn]

Would love this for a 2015 5k iMac.

[@musicCheckers]

Look at Luke Miani he has one 😊

[@digitalrampage]

Throw a dollar to support the team. The 5K iMac is likely second in line after the iMac G4 for this project.

[@Mitchellwow]

It would also be nice to see support for the built-in cd player

[@digitalrampage]

The Pro version does support the CD Drive.

[@AsenIkonomov]

Pretty cool idea!

[@hackintoshslovakia368]

absolut fantastic project, as always !

[@ronkemperful]

Much better and more practical than converting the iMac to an aquarium. And no skinny fish needed. Sadly I got rid of my 2011 iMac because it would have cost 400$ to replace a broken power button… this would have been a great project for it, especially with a secret M1 Mac Mini inside.

[@calvinficenec7538]

I did this a while ago with an $80 board from eBay on a free, dead 2009 27” iMac, and this does everything that I had imagined I would want from the board. The one I got has a lot less features.

[@digitalrampage]

The benefit of this is the lack of need for soldering, a power supply and backlight driver. We use the original Apple Power and Backlight meaning you get great quality display and full brightness. Yes its more expensive, but it has more features and requires little technical experience.

[@maxymko]

Would you please advise the search keywords? I’ve been looking for a while, and wasn’t able to find anything like this.

[@calvinficenec7538]

@@maxymko I just found a sticker on the back of the panel with the model number and typed that into eBay with the phrase “driver board” or “control board” after it.

[@maxymko]

@@calvinficenec7538 Ah, I see. Thanks for feedback.

[@ericrhill]

Oh wow I've got a 2011 gathering dust under my desk. If this would let me upcycle it cleanly into an m1 I'd be so happy!

[@thomasandrews9355]

Ha, they are using Newark / Farnell caps. nothing wrong with that, just surprising :) I use them myself.

[@jorge7282]

Your video has answered my questions. Thank you very much for sharing this method that works for all platforms.

[@Elflavio92]

Dreams do come true! I love it! But now we need one for the iMac G3 😆😆

[@digitalrampage]

Throw in a dollar of support to the campaign if you can! The G3 is certainly something we would love to do one day, but its much further down the list

[@solosamp1106]

This project is awesome, I will try my best to inform everyone I know with a mac that this exists and offer my help to execute the mods. This is the kind of innovation we need to avoid electronic trash and make good use of hardware!!! Thanks for the very well put video! :D

[@rackbites]

Any boards left ... I missed the kickstarter but this would be great for my 2011 27" iMac ...

[@Geardos1]

really promising product, these displays are still good by modern standards and highly functional. Great way to prevent iMac e-waste.

[@digitalrampage]

Thank you for your kind words! People forget how good these displays are. When people say “But I can buy a better display for $200” they clearly haven’t used one of these as a standalone display! Give us a crumbsup on the Kickstarter

[@fatgrouch]

I wish there is an easy way to use an old 5K iMac as a monitor in Australia, strip it down and adding a board as the controller for using it as a monitor is a good idea ?

[@RestInRaxys]

This looks so cool, hope they keep their promises

[@paulb4uk]

Very neat idea to reuse these as a stand alone monitor if the computer fails .

[@The_10mm_socket_you_lost]

Ngl, i hope that this can support the older iMacs like the 2007 iMacs. I have one with a bad gpu and would love to connect a m1 Mac mini into it.

[@digitalrampage]

Throw us a dollar in support of the campaign. Next is the iMac G4, then we go with demand based feedback on which models are thereafter. We have gone for one of the most technically challenging up front. We are nearly there. The revision 5 is far more polished.

[@georgesenda1952]

Their kickstarter ends before the end of the month. I hope they extend it.

[@digitalrampage]

We expect to reach the goal with more videos coming. but throwing a dollar in will help if you can!

[@ShockingPikachu]

Got to love upcycling!

[@digitalrampage]

Thank you! So do we, throw a dollar of support in if you can!

[@jasmidotormythrilaon]

Wow imagine using 3 2010 imacs as displays that sounds awesome

[@TheSpotify95]

4:29 Nice, it's good to know that other people also play the older F1 games :). Even without seeing the banner, I guessed it was from 2012 (or similar).

[@psivewri]

Yes, 2012 🙂

[@TheSpotify95]

@@psivewri F1 2012 was one of the first games I played on a PC - it was back when I was using a weak laptop, could barely get 20fps with everything set to low 😛

[@claudiad5751]

I have that 27 inch iMac but when it turns on it has a gray display bought this 10 years ago; not sure if it’s worth fixing. What do u think.

[@calebandkylerock]

Dang it bro! You beat me. I'm in the process of editing my video of a 2011 imac monitor! Great video as always mate!

[@andresbravo2003]

Looks good! I was really impressed! 😇👍🏻💙

[@digitalrampage]

Thank you! You can support the efforts with a crumbs up on the project!

[@Supercon57]

What a great way to bring new life to an otherwise unusable great screen just collecting dust

[@digitalrampage]

Thanks! Shoot us a Crumbs Up on the kickstarter if you can! =)

[@LoftechUK]

I’m in the UK so will wait for postal to be cheaper

[@digitalrampage]

We are looking for a European distributor. Once this occurs postage will drop. It’s about £50 atm

[@MyFriendlyPup]

You're rad dude.

[@The_Aztech]

Man I need this my 2012 27 inch hasn’t been working for the last year due to similar issues. Still turns on though.

[@ElectronicsNerd]

I have a 2019 iMac that's like that. Wonder if they'll make a kit for it?

[@digitalrampage]

The iMac G4 first, then there seems to be a lot of demand for the 5K 27” iMacs

[@georgesenda1952]

I have a Thunderbolt display with the front glass broken out & what looks like rust on the aluminum edges. I'm hoping to restore it if possible. I found it while walking on the street.

[@LoftechUK]

Great idea.

[@digitalrampage]

Thanks! Shoot us a Crumbs Up on the kickstarter if you can! =)

[@LeBeautiful]

Hopefully Apple doesn't show no prying eyes to this, this is such an awesome mod.

[@SPARTAN_Cayde-26]

I would make a all in one pc out of my old laptop with this thing!

[@digitalrampage]

Throw a dollar in support if you can! The best thing is, eventually when this is commercially successful, the M1 bracket solution could be repurposed for any stick PC or mini PC that runs on 12V power

[@nenadtarlac]

Hope they make one for the 5k 2017 iMac. That’s a stunning display.

[@BenjaminMillar]

Bake the GPU! I've resurrected 4 2011-era 27" iMacs this way :)

[@kayburcky7146]

That board you inserted is a panel controller, "logic board" is the edgy name apple gave to their Mainboards...

[@davidg5898]

This is worth buying a dead/dying iMac for. Those displays are still really good for just about any use (even color accurate photography and videography) other than high refresh rate gaming.

[@lucas_badico]

any ideia if the 2013-2015 version will receive this kit?

[@Ahsaniscool987]

This man is criminally underrated

[@Ahsaniscool987]

Scammer

[@lands1459]

could you maybe do a video on GPU replacement? i have a 2011 21.5" iMac, A1311 with an HD 6750M in it. works fine but i heard they have issues so it would be nice to know how to replace it should i ever need to

[@BluIceLollyUltra]

Nice Hyundai Nathan!

[@Matthew_Finn]

Solid video!

[@uchihasasuke7436]

This is sick as hell, might try to make one myself

[@Abhidoesfirestuff]

love your vids mane keep these innovative bits coming !!

[@harkiratkathuria318]

Yes! Another mac video !!!

[@nextaire]

i Have a iMac Intel late 06 17" but the screen is getting lines. The 06 iMac's are notorious for getting screen lines that are not GPU related but screen related.

[@ObjectiveCForYou]

Hi! Do speakers work?

[@theshadowman1398]

I still do not understand who at apple thought it was brilliant to switch from magnets to glue.

[@giorgos7six]

Will the Dock Lite Pro board work on a mid 2010 iMac?

[@Applecompuser]

i really would want this. Why give up a large 5 k display? (I have 2.) Id prefer if it was solely a software or external solution.

[@HowlinAndyDE]

Maybe some epoxy with black color will help repair the broken bits of glass? Just as an idea.

[@caviar_dreamz]

You can switch the integrated GPU off using an application. I forgot what it was called, but I've used it on a Macbook Pro with a failing GPU and it switches back to Intel graphics. I think there's also a verbose command to switch it off too.

[@GalenlevyPhoto]

That would be a great project if my 2017 iMac stops working in the future. It’s a excellent 5k display.

[@avrel820]

Nice I enjoyed watching 😃

[@SkyAce200]

I NEED THIS but my old iMac is a 21.5" model, does this fit in one of those??

[@StaceyAyodele]

I would pay $100-$150 for someone to repurpose my old 2009 iMac into a working display. That looks so cool.

[@tunnandaaung2]

cool dude now i going to buy broken imac and try to test this :3

[@AlexisNicoleMunoz]

I have 2015 imac, i love the retina resolution and it’s in good condition like new. I would like to use as a monitor. Everything is ok only the processor and ram can’t change because it’s obsolete and welded 😫

[@spoons4904]

Great video

[@havarhen]

Cool idea, but 300 AUD is way to much for this card. This can be done much cheaper with just an LCD driver that supports this type of display panel. Can't use the builtin PSU, or any of the other hardware.

[@gracejune3426]

I have a 27 inch 2009 imac that has 32 G of ram and a 512 SATA drive. It works wonderfully, other than how it fries my external drives so I can't edit photos. Also can't upgrade OS so I can't upgrade Adobe programs. Of course XD The computer experts locally said it sounds like a power supply issue and isn't worth fixing, but having paid to upgrade this already I'm possibly in denial that this is the end of the road. You said you installed an M1 in your 2011 computer. Do you think I could do something similar with this? Thanks for the video! I am interested in learning how to work on these myself.

[@talisap]

im waiting for Imac A1312 support by your project

[@aviwephaka3782]

Please make a video of a old laptops and pc that a good for fl studio or music production