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Revitalising a late 2013 iMac

Avatar Eleanor Spenceley
I've just finished a SSD drive swap on an old 21" 2013 iMac for a friend. This is the second time I've come across a still usable iMac being totally crippled by a (non-fusion) hard-drive running at a paltry 5400rpm. It appears the new APFS file system just isn't optimised for such a slow drive. The machine was so slow my friend had resorted to booting her machine from an external USB drive.

These 2013 iMacs require you to 'cut' the sticky tape keeping the screen on the iMac to get to the drive. This is pretty easy these days, providing you are careful and ensure the tape is properly separated and have the proper tools.

Anyhow, more information here. Spare parts can be obtained here or here. Don't skimp out on the tools, they are very useful.

If you've got family coming around for xmas and their old/slow iMac could do with an upgrade, have a go at doing it yourself. It's not too hard though somewhat fiddly (but follow the steps closely mentioned above). It brings a lot of 'tension'/'risk' as you are doing it and has a better feeling of accomplishment rather than doing a jigsaw this time of year... :-)

(Note: I understand many iMacs from 2013 follow the same upgrade process, but make sure you follow the appropriate guide on iFixIt when you do...)

Re: Revitalising a late 2013 iMac

Avatar Lionel Ogden
I have a 2017 iMac which is also slow and has been since I bought it. Would your description of how to improve a 2013 iMac apply to this later model. I have tinkered around inside earlier iMacs, but the new bonded screens are a bit frightening.

Re: Revitalising a late 2013 iMac

Avatar Eleanor Spenceley
Assuming your iMac is a 21in 2017 machine and has a plain hard drive (not a fusion one), I believe it would be a great candidate. I had a play with a fusion Mac last month and it was pretty spritely considering, so the benefit would be less apparent.

I must admit upgrading my first bonded screen iMac was scary, especially since it wasn't mine!!! But it was going to be dumped if it didn't get fixed so the pressure was off a little.

But everything came out okay, just don't force the screen off the bond, make sure to cut the bonds effectively and stuff credit cards along the edges to prevent the bonds from reattaching...

Re: Revitalising a late 2013 iMac

Avatar Douglas Cheney
There is a firm in Broadstone which update my 2015 iMac with a SSD. I had been operating my iMac for some time with the SSD running trough a ThunderBolt 2 port. The charge for doing the work was £60.00 which was well worth it
 
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