Used 21.5″ iMac eBay Price Guide

Late 2012 & Early 2013

• Intel Core 3rd Gen, Ivy Bridge
• Dualcore i3 or Quadcore i5, i7 desktop processors, LGA 1155
• 4GB RAM Edu, 8GB Standard, 16GB max, 2 Slots inaccessible, DDR3
• 1TB 2.5″ HDD standard, 500GB 2.5″ HDD on Edu, all 5400RPM
• Fusion optional, 1TB HDD w/ 128GB SSD Gen 2A mSATA blade
• Intel HD4000 on Late 2012 Edu model
• nVidia GeForce GT 640M 512MB on 2.7 i5 base model
• nVidia Geforce GT 650M 512MB on 2.9 i5 & 3.1 i7 models
• 10.8.2 Mountain Lion to current OS
• 2.9 i5 MD094LL model recommended

This iMac I wouldn’t even be sure if I would bother to open up… At this price point, you could make a 2011 model run faster if you want to upgrade. Additionally the 27″ iMac has the PCIe connector as standard, while this one is only available if you got the fusion drive. The downgrade to a 5400RPM HDDs is a real bummer, even the latest 2019 iMac gets configured this way!!! So the ugly solution is that you install an external SSD and connect it thru the ThunderBolt port, which actually boots pretty damn fast. You could buy mounting kits for the external SSD that hook on the stand.

Late 2013 & Mid 2014

• Intel Core 4th Gen, Haswell
• Dualcore i5 laptop processor on Edu Mid 2014, soldered
• Quadcore i5 & i7 desktop processors on Late 2013, soldered
• 8GB RAM standard, 16GB max, 2 slots inaccessible, or soldered on 2014, DDR3
• 1TB 2.5″ HDD standard, 500GB 2.5″ HDD on Edu model, all 5400 RPM
• Fusion optional, 1TB w/ 128GB SSD Gen 3A PCIe 2.0 x2 blade
• SSD options, 256GB or 512GB, standard PCIe port on quadcore models
• Intel HD5000 on Edu, Intel Iris Pro 5200 on 2.7 i5 model
• nVidia GeForce GT 750M 1GB on 2.9 i5 & 3.1 i7 models
• 10.8.4 Mountain Lion to current OS, 10.9.3 Mavericks on Edu model
• 2.7 i5 ME087LL/A model recommended

The Edu model is prob the worst to get because of it’s laptop processor and soldered RAM. With that said, the units with nVidia graphics may be a decent deal, but the Iris Pro graphics on the 2.7 model ain’t too bad. As bad as these sound, you could at least upgrade the RAM on them if you wish to open them up. Out of all of them, I would assume the 2.7 model would be the most reliable. Strangely the NVMe port is available as default on the quadcore models, so it’s great if you’re going to open it up. Still the external SSD is a seamless ugprade.

Late 2015 & Retina 4K

• Intel Core 5th Gen, Broadwell
• Dualcore i5 laptop processor on 1.6 i5 model, soldered
• Quadcore i5 desktop processor on 2.8 i5 & Retina 4K, soldered
• 8GB RAM soldered, or 16GB optional, LPDDR3
• 1TB 2.5″ HDD standard, 5400RPM
• Fusion optional, 1TB w/ 24GB or 2TB w/ 128GB, Gen… 4A?
• SSD options, 256GB, 512GB, PCIe port only on upgraded models
• Intel HD6000 on 1.6 i5 model, Iris Pro 6200 on all others
• Retina 4K panel introduced on 3.1 i5 & 3.3 i7 model
• 10.11 El Capitan to current OS
• 3.1 i5 MK452LL/A recommended

Pardon on the info of the SSD, I’m not sure if its Gen 4A, 4B or 4C, feel free correcting me. 😉 Soldered RAM and CPUs which is a big drag. There is no point in opening up the machine for upgrades unless you decide to pay out for a pricey logic board. It’s a real shame that Apple didn’t put dedicated graphics on these models, but I assume they wanted to force video production sales on the new 5K 27″ iMac models. Oh yeah, the 24GB SSD is actually a 32GB, but Apple went ahead and limited the storage capabilities so they can automatically address the bad blocks due to usage.

Mid 2017 & Retina 4K

• Intel Core 7th Gen, Kaby Lake
• Dualcore i5 laptop processor on base model, soldered
• Quadcore i5, i7 desktop processor on Retina 4K models, LGA 1151
• 8GB RAM default, 16GB max on 2.3 i5, up to 32GB on Retina 4K, 2 slots inaccessible, DDR4
• 1TB 2.5″ HDD standard, 5400RPM or 1TB Fusion on 3.4 i5 model, either as default on i7 model
• Fusion optional, 1TB w/ 24GB, Gen 5B blade
• SSD options, 256GB (2.3 i5 Max), 512GB (3.0 i5 Max), 1TB (3.4 i5, 3.6 i7 Max)
• Intel Iris Plus 640 on base 2.3 i5 model
• AMD Radeon Pro 555 2GB on 3.0 i5, & maybe on 3.6 i7
• AMD Radeon Pro 560 4GB on 3.4 i5, & maybe on 3.6 i7
• 10.12.4 Sierra to current OS
• 3.4 i5 MNE02LL/A model recommended

Similar to the 2012 & 2013 iMacs, Apple offered 3 graphics options, an iGPU, and two dGPUs. The CTO i7 model is odd, because it can be configured with either dGPU, prior to this year, these models had defaulted to the highest dGPU available. Additionally you either get the ‘slow’ 5400RPM HDD or the Fusion drive on the i7. The price of these iMacs leap much higher than the previous models, due to the price of these. Because these are relatively new, they haven’t depreciated in price yet, and in comparison to the next generation, you are probably better off financing them. One thing is that the 4K panels on these machines are brighter at 500 nits, compared to the… uh, 300 nits on the 2015 year? Grab em if you’re in a bright office with glares.

2019 Retina 4K

• Intel Core 8th Gen, Kaby Lake R
• Quadcore i3, & Six-Core i5, i7 desktop processors, LGA 1151
• 8GB RAM default, 32GB RAM max, 2 slots inaccessible, DDR4
• 1TB 2.5″ HDD, 5400RPM on i3 & i7 models
• 1TB Fusion, 32GB SSD on i5 & i7 models, Gen 5A blade
• SSD options, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB
• AMD Radeon Pro 555X 2GB on i3 default
• AMD Radeon Pro 560X 4GB on i5 default
• AMD Radeon Vega 20 4GB w/ HMB2 Memory on optioned i5 models
• All 3 graphics cards are available on the i7 model due to configuration
• 10.14.4 Mojave to current OS

Prices on these iMacs are pretty high, but I’m sure things will change when that new “think bezel” XDR-ish iMac comes out. Also we have six core CPUs now in the i5 and i7 models, and the i3 is now a quadcore. I completely forgot about comparing processor computation numbers… but the new processors are quite better, especially since these were Intel’s answers to AMD’s threadripper. It is unknown what kind of processor will be used in the 2020 or later iMacs, however these models may be the last of the “traditional” iMacs for awhile. The HMB2 will be a game changer with 4K video editors, it runs cooler than GDDR5, can be packed in smaller spaces and has A LOT more memory bandwidth. For the CTO/BTO i7 model, like the 2017 year, this machine can be equipped with either of the 3 AMD Radeon graphics cards. This could be bad if you require a powerful dGPU, but if that’s not the case, you can catch an i7 model that other bidder/buyers pass up on. There is some uncertainty with how this machine will stack up on the next iMac, but it’ll do OK against the 27″ & Pro model.

So that’s it with the iMacs, the 27″ is much more interesting to me, but to be quite honest, I currently like the 21.5″ 2011 I am messing around with. On the 2009 – 2011 machines, the 27″ is a lot more easier to work on than the 21.5″ iMac. I don’t know on the 2012 and later models, but it shouldn’t be that bad after looking at a few guides.