to ask for help understanding old iMac please... signposting required

[DevonLulu]

Sorry for the AIBU but posting for traffic.

I have an old iMac desktop - early 2008, OS X El Capitan, 3.06GHz 2GB. It is essentially obsolete. But it looks brand new!

I hate throwing things away but have been actually laughed at when speaking to computer people about upgrading it.

It now receives no updates, and just does not have the ability to run the webpages that my children aged 6 and 4 years need for school. Who would have thought!

I am not computer minded.

I would like to purchase a refurbished iMac as a replacement for our family computer, but am unclear as to whether or not this will be compatible with modern life.

I am looking for signposting to the right chat / info sites so that I can take advice from people who would be able to guide me. This is not my specialist subject!

Thanks in advance

bump

What ever you do don’t chuck it! I’ve an old Mac book pro that’s still running from early 2009, it’s so old the apple store folk called out a relic when I called them up last time HOWEVER, it still has a cd rom which is unheard off these days in a Mac book and I’m biding my time till I can bring it to the antiques road show and get a fortune for it

But seriously, take it to a decent independent tech support place, the apple store won’t help you, they’ll just want you to buy a new computer. I’ve had mine old laptop down to the guys local to me who are total geeks and they updated the operating system so that it would take updates and elongated it’s life by a good year or two (although that was last year....)

Thanks, loving the antiques road show comment, see you there!

I have spoken with an independent guy and it can't be updated so no longer compatible with the spelling and maths websites that the kids use.

Its so frustrating, I guess the in-built obsoletion makes everyone buy a new one!

before you chuck it, look into running a version of Linux on it, that would be more than capable of running a modern browser for you kids. Try searching for Ubuntu as a start, it's aimed at non-techie people.

I agree, ask around your local independent shops. I think that with a desktop model you could install a new operating system like Linux and get more life out of the hardware that you currently have. It is likely possible that some minor hardware upgrades might also improve things and the cost of these will be considerably lower than a newer Mac.

Or sell it to someone who likes to tinker and buy a Chromebook or £500 Windows laptop.

Apple devices are well made, but, they are expensive. When browsers are no longer supported its time for a new family computer.

We have a MacBook G3. PowerPC chip. Lovely, but now essentially a DVD player.

You need to change it. Replacing the OS with Linux isn't going to avoid the issues with ancient hardware. 2gb RAM is less than any phone has nowadays. Face reality and get something else.