Are There Any Known Problems With This iMac?

[Tannerhead]

I'm considering buying a used iMac, and would appreciate any input anyone may be able to share on this machine.

Apple iMac "Core i5" 3.8 27" (5K, Mid-2017)

The listing on eBay is here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/145147584841

The EveryMac page is here: https://everymac.com/systems/apple/...7-inch-aluminum-retina-5k-mid-2017-specs.html (basically same info as eBay listing)

QUESTION: What is a "fusion" drive? I have vague memories of hearing something ugly about fusion drives, but don't recall what exactly. Should I be concerned?

QUESTION: Are there any other areas of concern with this model, as far as you know?

QUESTION: Are you aware of any reason why I couldn't run Sierra or High Sierra on this machine?

This machine is basically a significant upgrade of the 2011 machine I'm currently using. So assuming everything is working, I'd expect to be quite happy with the purchase. Just trying to do a bit of due diligence here.

Thanks for your thoughts!

 

[MacsBug]

Hi there,

I have one of these iMacs and it is a decent machine. I would prefer if the iMac had an i7 CPU vs the i5, but if you aren't doing any video work, this should be fine.

This iMac that is listed does not have a Fusion Drive, its listed as having a 2TB SSD. Fusion drives are a rotational drive with a small ssd formated as a single volume making the drive seem faster than it is.

You should have no problem running macOS Sierra 10.12.5 through macOS Ventua 13.6. If you want to run the latest macOS then you will need to patch it with Open-Core Patcher.

With the specs of the machine I think that you will be extremely happy with it, With the 2TB drive, it gives you room to install multiple OS's on it so you can run both older and newer software.

 

[Tannerhead]

Thanks Macsbug,

Actually, if you dig down a bit deeper in to the listed stats for that machine, it does say "2 TB Hard Drive SSD "Fusion" drive".

Here's a page that claims to lay out the pros and cons of fusion drives. https://datarecoverystation.com/fusion-drive-failure-symptoms-problem-solve/

I don't claim to know, but this statement from the above page suggests Apple may have concluded fusion drives were maybe a mistake?

"At present, the drive is only used on iMacs. For all other devices, Apple uses an SSD or HDD"

Other than the fusion drive, this machine does look great, a substantial improvement on my current machine. Other than the fusion drive, my only real reservation is whether I want to spend $750 right now. The seller looks good, as best I can tell.

Thanks for your thoughts!

 

[Tannerhead]

The graphics card on my current machine is this:
AMD Radeon HD 6770M 512 MB

The graphics processor on the machine for sale is listed as:
Radeon Pro 580 graphics processor with 8 GB of dedicated VRAM

The newer graphics card is radically better? Yes? No?

Thanks.

 

[Tannerhead]

More on fusion drives...

Hard Life Lesson of Owning an iMac With a Fusion drive

Don’t skimp on SSDs

medium.com

 

[MacsBug]

Hi There,

I missed the spot on the bottom about the Fusion Drive.

With it being a Fusion Drive, I would not recommend getting this unless you are willing to purchase an external SSD that run over thunderbolt 3 such as the SanDisk Pro-G40.

In my opinion with this not having a 2TB SSD the price is too high.. I wouldn't pay more than around $500 for for a machine without Flash Storage.

 

[Tannerhead]

Thanks Macsbug, yea, I agree. Also, the seller doesn't accept returns, and the shipping is another $150. I don't care that much about SSD, and would be content with HDD. But the fusion drive seems a deal killer. I'll keep looking. Your advice is appreciated, thanks.

 

[MacsBug]

From experience with the newer Mac OS’es , I would recommend staying away from rotational Hard Drives.

MacOS high Sierra started using APFS on SSDs, and Mojave extended APFS to all drives. APFS on a rotational drive will slow down your Mac to the point where it can take over 5 minutes to boot vs about 30 seconds with an SSD.

I have several clients that had 2017 iMacs with rotational drives in them that ust adding a Pro G40 as an external boot drive made them think that they just bought a new Mac, it was so much faster.