Used 21.5″ iMac eBay Price Guide

Google Sheets Link – Feb 2020 Research
2020 iMac NOT in this guide, it hasn’t came out as of writing.

Prices are for continental USA market in USD value. Unfortunately prices from around the world are not included, I assume they would be from 30% to 70% higher.

Previously I have covered these awhile back, but the format will be much different as to how I do things now…

The more powerful iMac 27″ will be discussed in a different article soon eventually… 🙂

TL;DR Post – Trending Mac Prices

• 2009 to 2011 can use macOS 10.13 High Sierra as their final OS, hardware replacement or upgrades are easier than later models
• 2012 to 2019 can be upgraded to Catalina (latest in March 2020)

Recommended Vendors

Green Citizen – I’ve bought a few items from this seller, detailed photos, condition & usually have a wiped HDD/SSD. If you can install your own OS, you can save money from them.

Ok Sellers

themacguysandrew – They sell via auction at a low bid. They only post the year of the item, and the specs are not listed on the title, description

uwilllikeit – Detailed listings and auctions, some super low ending auctions.

Overpriced BS

mac_of_hearts – 100% Apple Store bullshit. Title on listing has the macOS year, not the actual year of the machine, they don’t post what CPU they have (i5-2400s, i7-7700, etc), and buzzwords galore. 3 year warranties might be cool, but I doubt that includes shipping cost & they are way overpriced IMO due to it.

Why Buy an iMac?

Just plug in a keyboard, mouse, & power cord. That’s the beauty of All In One computers. But with the iMac you have the benefit of using OSX/macOS, although not as secure as Linux, it has about the same driver & program support as Windows 7 & 10. You don’t even need a USB to install macOS, it has built in recovery features that will download & install! It does have a few caveats tho, luckily the 21.5″ models seem to have better longevity than the 27″ ones, due to not being purchased by people who push them hard. Still not convinced? Arguably you can be better off with buying an off lease SFF desktop & monitor setup, but if you don’t want to deal with that, & have a great online resource for troubleshooting & upgrading, the iMac is the way to go…

If you have a serial number, you can look up spec’s using everymac’s serial number lookup. It’s pretty reliable unless someone swapped parts out of it. The serial location is on the bottom of the LCD stand…

Disclaimers

The Heat Issue

Many of these machine you may have to pass on them due to their Power Supplies going out or the Graphics Cards being fried on them. Lines on a display is a sign that the GPU is on its way out, and pre-2012 units may need a CCFL replacement post 2025. This price guide ISN’T going to cover part’s pricing… due to Parts Numbers being extremely specific, I am not going to bother finding parts. 2013 & later they get pricey. iMacs built before 2012 has the GPU bad solder issues the most.

For the prices I researched, my frugral price benchmark is that they boot to an OS, or are an R2 ready system, wiped of all previous data, ready for an OS to be installed. Systems with cracked LCDs, missing boot issues or parts system are not included. Although some GPU systems can be an issue, you’re better off with an iMac vs a MacBook… you’ll never have to worry about the notorious expanding batteries ALL MacBook suffer from.

Testing it

Apple has diagnostic software built in the logic board, just press D when it boots and check the codes from Apple or tutsplus. Objects like sound, webcam, bluetooth & wifi might not throw error codes, test that with the OS. You can test out the HDD with DriveDx, or Parted Magic (old free version) if you got an extra USB. Download MacFanControl to make sure that the fans are running properly and if they can go full blast. If you want to, stress test the GPU and maybe the CPU, however do not try this if you have fan errors.

Getting OSX or macOS installed

First off, you’ll need the mac to be running OSX or something, then head to MacWorld and find the latest version your system can run & download it. Make sure that the date/time is current. From there you can double click it and get it partially set up to run. At this point I would get DiskMakerX to create a bootable USB, but at times it wont work with some USBs… from there you can just run the mounted installer and it should be ready within the hour.

If you don’t have an OS, make sure it has an HDD/SSD, then boot to internet recovery, set the time/date via terminal, and then download/install an OS when connected to the internet.

Keep a hard drive with macOS handy

If you have downloaded El Capitan, Sierra, or Mavericks, you could be able to a bootable USB for safe keeping. Download DiskMaker X & read the MacWorld guide for Catalina or this one for an older OS. I kept a hard drive with El Capitan to test boot Mac Pro, iMac, & MacBook systems, you can even boot it as an external USB HDD too!

Apple’s Blade SSD Guide – beetstech by Cody Henderson
Maximum RAM upgrades – Everymac

Price

These iMacs may be a price shock to some. There are hundreds of off lease business desktops being sold and auctioned off everyday. Additionally there are plenty of monitors your can buy pretty cheaply. If you’re wanting a basic computer and don’t need an AIO unit, then this guide is probably not for you. In comparison to other AIO’s, these look to see about 30% more than the competition, but you get none of the Windows 10 update hassle! Additionally there are plenty of online resources, and shops that specialize in iMacs, so if its too much for you to handle quickly, you have options.

Upgradability & Major Differences

TLDR – iMacs up to 2011 have better upgrade flexibility, 4 RAM slots, desktop HDDs, & were easier to take out the glass cover & LCD to replace parts inside. From 2012 and onward, the glued on Glass/LCD to the case made upgrading parts difficult & timely process, but it stopped most eBay resellers from removing the HDD/SSD/RAM/CPU on auctions.

Late 2009 to Late 2011 Systems – Best to upgrade due to ease & pricing

• Socket Desktop CPUs – Upgrades work if same socket & equal wattage
• DDR3 RAM service – Philips needed, 4 slots, simple upgrade to 32GB
• Removable glass cover – magnetic, falls in place, requires suction cups
• CCFL Display – Eventually would die over time, held by eight T10 screws, two requires 2 backlit tubes, somewhat difficult to replace
• ATI Graphics – MXM removable card, known for BGA re-flow processes due to eh reliability, not really up-gradable, requires matching P/N
• 3.5″ Desktop 7200RPM HDD, DVD can be swapped for a 2.5″ HDD bay
• SD Card located on right side of LCD, easy access, slightly sticks out
• 3 Fans – PSU, HDD/Case, & GPU/DVD, bottom side is basically an intake cover, 6mm vent line across the topside of the rear, can be noisy.
• Latest OS – macOS 10.13 High Sierra

These iMacs are the best to upgrade parts from. Much easier than the 20″ & 24″ models, and offers more ease than the later units. RAM is easy, and offers 4 Slots, max ram is limited to processor limits. Removing the LCD is tricky at first, however it isn’t glued on the case like later units… Most of these systems will be dusty due to their age, but a good can of air will do the trick to remove most dust bunnies. A 2.5″ SSD can be ghetto rigged in the 3.5″ place, without any problems other than noise when moving. The ATI GPUs are lacking, VRAM is from 256MB to 512MB, so gaming is out, & youtube videos will suffer a bit. It’s best to use MacFanControl to keep the fans running on these systems at higher speeds when idle. I stated the fan can make this thing noisy, as I’ve noticed working in a non-climate controlled warehouse. However these machines (like the G5 & black back models prior) have plenty of intake in comparison to other iMacs and even the iMac Pro!

Late 2012 to Early 2013 “Tampered Edge” Systems – Slimmer system, less upgrades, difficult

• Tampered Edge LCD – Glass is fused onto the LCD, to remove the screen one would need to carefully pry the glass glued from the edge of the case, with heat & cards or razor blade.
• Socket Desktop CPUs – can upgrade, requires same wattage
• DDR3L RAM complexity – 2 RAM slots, requires to remove the LCD & careful removal of the logic board to upgrade, 16GB max.
• nVidia Grapics – Built onto the logic board, like if it’s a laptop (but Early 2013 unit has Intel Graphics because it’s an Education version)
• HDD – 2.5″ 7mm 5400RPM HDD or a “Fusion” 1TB HDD (w/ 128GB SSD PCIe blade)
• The PCIe connection is only available on SSD & Fusion HDD units, no connector is present on non upgraded units (27″ iMac has it default)
• Proprietary PCIe? – Kits available to adapt an mSATA SSD 🙂
• SD Card in the rear – basically a blind mount, & it protrudes too
• 1 Fan – One fucking laptop fan to mostly cool a CPU, GPU, PSU! Plus you’re going to intake passive heat from the LCD as well.
• Meh cooling – The bottom case is a 2mm wide intake vent, and the exhaust pushes air into the hinge.
• No DVD Drive – Not really needed tho 😛

This is Apple’s first Tampered Edge iMac. Slimmer case, slimmer design, the easy RAM upgrade is gone. On the 27″ systems, Apple let a door in the rear of the case to upgrade, on these you will have to do a near complete disassembly to upgrade RAM. Looking at sold listings, there are many R2 sellers not bothering to remove the HDD/SSD on these systems and actually wipe them. This is the blessing that the Tampered Edge screens have in regards to difficulty & time needed in removing it… something recyclers don’t want to bother doing. On system with Fusion drives, Apple has specialized hardware that installs the OS onto the SSD, and moves files to the HDD that aren’t critical, this can be changed in the OS if you wish to use it as a standard SSD + HDD setup.

Late 2013 to Late 2015 – Crippled iMacs

• Tampered Edge LCD – Glass is still fused to LCD & difficult to remove
• Retina 4K display – Introduced on better equipped Late 2015 units
• Soldered CPUs – Logic board swap needed as a power upgrade; 2013 units w/ desktop CPUs, but 2014 had ultrabook CPUs, yet 2015 units have a mix of desktop and ultrabook CPUs
• RAM – 2 DDR3 slots in 2013 units, LPDRR3 soldered on 2014 & 2015. 8 or 16GB max
• nVidia GPU – only on 2.9 & 3.1GHz units on Late 2013
• Intel GPU – Iris Pro 2013 units, HD 5000 on 2014, Iris Pro in 2015 units
• Mixed performance, newer isn’t necessarily faster!
• HDD – 2.5″ 7mm 5400RPM default, no PCIe NVMe unless it came with an SSD or Fusion HDD.
• Same Fan & Case as prior years

My take on these is that Apple really wanted to set apart the 21.5″ & 27″ units by using the Iris Pro graphics instead of a dedicated GPU. Funny enough is that the Iris Pro does better than Intel HD and in some cases with laptops, were actually better than the non-workstation GPUs. and benchmarks show it kicks ass in comparison to some laptops w/ nVidia dGPUs, but still these are all hindered by one fan. Gone are the issues of the dGPU dying tho, so that can be a plus for buying one of these for a desktop that just werks! RAM being soldered is probably a knee jerk reaction from Apple after companies like OWC selling RAM kits for them and removed it in 2014.

Mid 2017 to 4K 2019 – Socketed & dGPUs again

• Tampered Edge LCD – Yea, but Retina 4K is now the default for 2019
• Socketed CPU – Except base 2.3 2017 model. Max upgrade limited to same generation & wattage; K and X version CPU won’t work
• DDR4 RAM – Faster, 32GB max available, timely & difficult process
• AMD GPU – Iris Plus on base 2.3 2017 model, i7 models have two GPU options
• HDD – PCIe SSD option on non base model units (unless they got upgraded from factory).
• Case & fan basically the same
• New ThunderBolt 3 / USB 3.0 – 2 ports alongside USB

These are pricey as hell, but if you got the money and want to future proof yourself, nab one. One cool thing is that some of these systems can be equipped with Pro Vega 20 graphics, which has that fast as hell HMB2 memory & 4K display. This should be decent for video rendering & photoshop unless you want to drop another $500+ for a 27″ model.

Price Guide

Low – Other than the completely broken/missing parts units, expect some of these being passed up because they don’t have an OS installed & have visual imperfections. You can snag great deals with local pickup in this price range.

Mid – Local deals in this price range on decent units. All of these units should not require any repairs, but might need an OS. Could just be popular items sold by R2 resale & auctions.

High – Buy it now items & bidding war auctions in this price range. Upgraded units in this field (memory or storage) & things like software or peripherals should be included here at this price range.

EX+ – Refurbished & like new, or new items. These can have buzzwords on listings, full of cracked software or are sold by renowned sellers who list “ultimate iMac experience”. Only nab these if you don’t want to spend any money on upgrades or repairs. They best come with keyboard & mouse or other peripherals, otherwise money is better spent in the high range.

#Sold – How many sold listings on eBay in the past 3 months. Higher the number, the better you have a chance at buying it around the prices listed. If the number is low, that means there’s not that many out at the market, or they don’t sell well due to a high price. Listings that do not have CPU speed or type are ignored on listings & anything with “2018 spec OSX” or “macOS 2020 ready” are the reason why I can’t list “2018 iMac” or “2020 iMac” results.

My recommended prices are from search results averages of the model year and contain one of the following:

• Processor Speed (2.8GHz, 1.4GHz, 3.1GHz, etc)
• Processor name (i5-2400s, i7-7700, i5-4260u, etc)
• Order Number (ME699LL/A, MK442LL/A, MNDY2LL/A, CTO/BTO, etc)

Units are grouped by the year & Intel Core Generation, but are sorted from slowest processor to fastest. In the bullet points I will point out a few spec defaults from factory, helpful if they don’t list specs. Keep in mind some listings may be missing memory/storage, or more if they don’t say its gutted.

Additionally bullet points will point out Processor, Memory, Storage, Graphics, Oldest/Latest Software & other misc information.

Late 2009

• Intel Core 2 Duo, Wolfdale Desktop processor, LGA 775
• 4GB RAM standard, 16GB max, 4 Slots accessible
• 500GB 3.5″ HDD standard, 1TB optional, 7200RPM all
• nvidia GeForce 9400m graphics, w/ 256MB RAM
• 10.6.1 Snow Leopard to 10.13 High Sierra
• No search results from the CTO or 3.33GHz model

I’ve used the 24″ Core 2 Duo model in the past, it ran hot playing Youtube videos, but that didn’t cause problems for normal web browsing. These are sort of a disappointment when finding in the electronic recycling field.

Mid 2010

• Intel Core 1st Gen, Clarkdale
• Dualcore i3 & i5 desktop processor, LGA 1156
• 4GB RAM standard, 16GB max, 4 Slots accessible, DDR3
• 500GB 3.5″ HDD on base 3.06GHz i3 model, 1TB HDD on 3.2GHz i3 & 3.6Ghz i5. 2TB HDD optional on all
• AMD Radeon HD 4670 256MB for 3.06 i3 model
• AMD Radeon HD 5670 512MB for 3.2 i3 & 3.6 i5 models
• 10.6.3 Snow Leopart to 10.13 High Sierra
• 3.06 i3 MC508LL/A model recommended

Quadcore i5 or i7 upgrades do not work, because Apple limited the TDP to 73W on these machines. The 27″ iMac does have the 3.2 i3 & 3.6 i5 processors, but they also have a beefer power supply unit and something to do with an EFI that allows high clock quadcore processors. With that said, supposedly you can upgrade a 21.5″ to a Xeon X3430 quadcore… but can’t verify beyond hearsay. Nab the base i3 model for cheap, you’re not going to get much of an upgrade in performance vs buying an SSD instead.

Mid & Late 2011

• Intel Core 2nd Gen, Sandy Bridge
• Dualcore i3 or quadcore i5, i7 desktop processors, LGA 1155
• 2GB RAM standard on Edu, 8GB Max due to EFI limitation
• 4GB standard, 32GB Max, 4 slots accessible, DDR3
• 250GB HDD on Edu, 500GB on base 2.5GHz i5, 1TB on 2.7 i5 & 3.1 i7 models. All 3.5″, 7200RPM HDD
• AMD Radeon HD 6750M 256MB for i3 Edu or (512MB) 2.5 i5 model
• AMD Radeon HD 6770M 512MB for 2.7 i5 & 2.8 i7 models
• 10.6.6 Snow Leopard to 10.13 High Sierra, 10.7.2 Lion on Edu model
• 2.8 i7 BTO model recommended

You may run into the i3 model in local auctions from schools & universities. They would be a nice deal under $100 and upgrading to an i5-2500s would be under $25 USD if you got the tools. I’d skip an i7 upgrade if you have an i5 model, the 100 to 300 MHz increase won’t make much of the difference and you only get 2MB L3 cache increase out of it. You can’t upgrade to Ivy Bridge, and there’s no point in upgrading to i7-2600K other than bragging rights. Oh yeah, these are the last models to achieve up to 32GB of RAM in upgrades, it wasn’t until the Retina 4K in 2017 you didn’t have this limitation due to DDR3 RAM size and slots.