Buying iMac mid 2011 27''

[markarrow]

Hello everyone, is it good idea to buy used iMac mid 2011 27'' with i5 processor, 12 GB RAM, 750GB SSD, AMD Radeon HD 6750m 512 mb , for video and photo editing? Price is 400EUR.

[jochicago]

IMO no. Computers are not meant to last forever. That's 8 years old. Most parts are rated for 5-10 years. An i5 processor from 8 years ago is nowhere near the same as a current one. That graphics card is like 10 times slower than a GTX 1070, you might be better off with integrated Intel graphics. So you'd probably be better off buying a used i5-mobile Windows laptop at the same price.

I would try to put together a few hundred more, and my advice don't buy anything older than 2 years unless you are buying a corporate machine off-lease, I've had great luck with those (but they were always corporate models).

[RL_Sensei]

Hello everyone, is it good idea to buy used iMac mid 2011 27'' with i5 processor, 12 GB RAM, 750GB SSD, AMD Radeon HD 6750m 512 mb , for video and photo editing? Price is 400EUR.

No! That's insane to spend $400 on an 8 year old PC. I wouldn't even pay $100 for something like that.

You can buy a new one for $500 that will be multiple times faster then that.

Just think about how many of the transistors have already burned out in 8 years.
That PC is probably struggling with basic tasks already like playing back a Youtube video on 720p.

[sam-video]

I use a 2014 Macbook Pro that I baught on release but it is definatley showing its age. I wouldent go for any machine from 2011, even an Apple one.

[clay_9]

Older hardware will really struggle with newer camera codecs, specifically Long GOP codecs that are commonly used. It takes a heck of a lot of horsepower to decode those codecs, even more so if you're applying effects or multiple sources.

But it could work for you if you employ a more proxy based workflow, if you have the hard drive space!