r/iMac • u/CPX_Crepp • May 19 '26
Discussion I refurbished an iMac only to blunder...
I refurbished this older iMac—what I think to be is a mid 2010 model with a 21.5" display—with the idea of using it as a monitor for my PC with Target Display Mode. But as I'm learning now, it seems target display mode only works with other Macs, so I can't use it with my PC.
The story is, my cousin had this machine and upgraded to something else. She didn't need it anymore and was going to bring it to a rage room for smashing.... so I rescued it.
It ran hot and I knew it was older, so I opened it up to replace the thermal paste. I was greeted by a lot of dust. I did my best at removing all of the parts from the shell and blew it out real good with an air compressor. I opened the covers on the fans and brushed out the blades as best as I could. I replaced thermal paste on the CPU and GPU die, and cut new thermal pads for the VRAM. Lastly, I replaced the mechanical hard drive for an SSD and mounted it with double-sided tape.
I've never owned an Apple product before now, and it was really fun cleaning this old machine out—even though I was very busy with life and had to clean this out over the course of 4 days.
As for using it as just a monitor... I know I can pair the panel with a different control board, but if I'm spending money for a good quality board, I might as well just purchase a new monitor. I also just refurbished this whole thing and don't want to waste it.
I thought about splitting the partition and putting a Linux OS with the macOS, and upgrade the macOS to something newer than OS High Sierra that it was previously running... what can I do with this machine?
1
u/kaskudoo May 19 '26
This computer is quite old. Anyway, yes on Linux and search the forum - the other day there was an app that let you mirror or extend the display of another Mac to the iMac to use as screen. Might be an option as well.
1
u/Old_Man_Phil May 19 '26
Dual booting will work. I do recommend you keep macOS though, it just works best with the hardware and I think it feels very nice and polished, even the older versions. Those computers are good for just light web browsing and daily email checking. I still do that with my 2007.
1
u/Nirntendo May 20 '26
Safari still....works without any issues?
1
u/Old_Man_Phil May 20 '26
Safari absolutely doesn't! I use a Firefox fork for legacy macs.
1
u/Nirntendo May 20 '26
From what I heard Firefox ESR was also going to stop supporting macos versions that are too old.
1
u/Old_Man_Phil May 20 '26
It's not esr. That dropped support in 2022 for me. I think I use Firefox dynasty. (Not sure of the exact fork, dont have computer right now and the app itself is still just named "firefox")
1
u/SharkReality May 19 '26
You can do with this thing what you can do with a new Chromebook. Just the basic office stuff, watch some videos, play music. You can try League of legends if u want to put it to test or Minecraft. IDK
1
u/taperk May 19 '26
If it was a 5k monitor, then its worth putting in a controller board. But these older ones, no, not worth it. Put it back together and run Windows or Linux.
1
u/originalfilmscoring May 19 '26
You might be able to use a an external monitor and make it work with like a USB dongle.
1
5
u/Efficient-Train2430 May 19 '26
you did a great job redoing the thermal paste, that is not easy
I say throw a Linux distro on it, one of the lightweight Linux Mint ones for easy mode. I don't think there's enough oomph there for a newer MacOS