Used 27″ iMac Price Guide – April 2020

Google Sheets Link

Prices are for continental USA market in USD value, but some of the High & EX+ prices were from international sellers who ship to USA. If you want to find out your region’s pricing, you could open each link on the pricing tables, copy what I have in the eBay search bar & then paste it on your eBay country/domain search bar.

Previously I had done price research in 2018, but the format is completely different than here. I have a 21.5′ iMac Price Guide, and I’ll make a consolidated page with both prices.

No 2020 iMac prices; currently it wasn’t released during my price appraisals. These prices are checked during the Coronavirus pandemic, so… either people got the money to buy units or firesell them for bills.

TL;DR Prices

Compare & Contrast

Maintenance

• 2009 to 2011 – Glass & screen separate, magnetized to body, 3 fans, RAM door at bottom
• 2012 to 2019 – Glass is fused to display, adhesive to body, 1 fan, RAM door at rear
• iMac Pro – Glass Fused to display, 2 quiet fans, no RAM door, dark gray

Display, Graphics & Operating System

• 2009 to 2011 – QHD Panel, CCFL tubes, AMD Radeon HD, OS 10.13 limit
• 2012 to 2013 – QHD Panel, LED backlit, nVidia GTX < GT, OS 10.15 limit
• 2014 to 2019 – 5K Panel DCI-P3, AMD R9 < Pro < Vega, current OS
• iMac Pro – 5K Panel DCI-P3, AMD Vega graphics, current OS
• All graphics cards are EFI locked & require mods if sourced elsewhere
• QHD = 2560 x 1440 pixels
• 5K = 5120 x 2880 pixels

RAM type & limitations

• 2009 & 2010 C2D & i3 – DDR3, 16GB
• 2009 to Mid 2015 i5 & i7 – DDR3, 32GB
• Late 2015 – DDR3, 64GB
• 2017 – DDR4, 64GB
• iMac Pro – DD4 ECC, 512GB
• 2019 – DDR4, 128GB

Storage Types

• 2009 – 3.5″ HDD SATA II & DVD Drive
• 2010 – 3.5″ HDD SATA II, 2.5″ HDD/SSD Upgrade available & DVD Drive
• 2011 – 3.5″ HDD, 2.5″ HDD/SSD upgrade available, DVD Drive
• 2012 – 3.5″ HDD, Gen 2A Blade SSD
• 2013 to Mid 2015 – 3.5″ HDD, Gen 3A & 3B Blade SSD
• Late 2015 – 3.5″ HDD, Gen 4A & 4B Blade SSD
• 2017 to 2019 – 3.5″ HDD, Gen 5B Blade SSD
• iMac Pro – Dual Gen 5B Blade SSD, no HDD
• All HDD’s are at 7200RPM, & 1TB standard on almost all units
• All 2012 & later have Blade SSD ports by default, not like 21.5″

Rear I/O Ports

• 2009, 2010 – 4x USB 2.0, 1x Firewire 800, 1x mDP, 1x RJ-45, 1x Aux In, 1x Headphone Out, 1x Microphone, SD Slot on right below DVD
• 2011 – Similar to previous, but now 2x ThunderBolt 1 (mDP, 10 Gbps)
• 2012, 2013 – 4x USB 3.0, 2x ThunderBolt 1, 1x Combo Headphone Jack, 1x RJ-45, 2x Microphones, SD Slot at rear
• 2014, 2015 – Similar to previous, now 2x ThunderBolt 2 (mDP, 20 Gbps)
• 2017, 2019 – Similar to previous, now 2x ThunderBolt 3 (USB-C, 40 Gbps)
• iMac Pro – 4x USB 3.0, 4x ThunderBolt 3 (USB-C, 40 Gbps), 1x Headphone Jack, 4x Microphone, 1x RJ-45

Just about every iMac here was for sale about a year or right until the successor model was released. There were a few “old” models that were sold alongside newer models, but for the most part, they weren’t produced side by side, unlike the 2012 13″ Macbook Pro which was made for like… 5 years.

If you want to upgrade the processor, you can upgrade to the highest clocked CPU available if it can be configued to the system. You can’t upgrade to a later gen CPU, as a 2011 can’t accept Ivy Bridge. Some iMac come with unlocked “K” Processors, but you aren’t able to overclock them.

Graphics cards are all discrete and a MXM type, so you can replace them rather than the entire logic board. However they require to be sourced from the same Apple Part Number, or will require flashing if you decide to use other models… Unlike the Mac Pro, the graphics cards are much more locked in, so you’re stuck with whatever GPU was intended for that model year.

Finally, if you want to add a blade SSD but are afraid of opening up the Tapered Edge display, you could simply buy an external SSD and connect it via firewire to boot off of.

Recommended Vendors

IT Replay – Good Prices for general IT equipment, plenty of buy it nows, & they do auctions.

MacsRu1e – Good prices, they seem to test these fairly, buy it now & nice photos. Looks like they’ve slowed down a bit on items for sale, but they’ve sold a lot of higher end/price MacBooks.

GreenCitizen – Usually they auction computers of all kinds. I like buying from them and have made a nice profit fixing up their ‘as is’ items.

Quality Macs – They are on the high side because they are new models or mint condition, however they are very detailed on their descriptions & photos, plus they post battery life percentage on MacBooks.

Tekdeals – Fair prices, previously they sold more iMacs, but it looks like keyboards, macbooks & iPads now.

ipowerresale – High end prices, but detailed specs in description w/ 30 day warranty. Sometimes they come with keyboard/mouse. Stock photo for default, actual photos afterwards.

Don’t buy From

The following sellers are not recommended in this price guide, due soley because they are overpriced for what you get. You can literally buy the same or better spec/condition iMac from a different seller than from these ones and save hundreds. However if you’re ok with leasing a entry luxury vehicle without writing it off as a .

LegitiMac Mac_of_Hearts – Overpriced & Misleading Titles (like “Ultra iMac upgraded to 2019 Spec”) when its a fucking 2011 unit that has High Sierra. Because of of this seller, I’ve had problems trying to find an accurate price because this FUCK doesn’t post what year model it is and will have “customized i7 retina” when it’s clearly a fucking POS Core 2 Duo Macbook. I’m pretty sure these are the same person selling it, the format is just how I remembered it.

Experimac – Your typical overpriced mac store, but with country branding.

iSelliMac – Extremely overpriced, laughable condition units. Luckily they are sticking to iPhones and MacBooks. They’ll list grade C equipment and sell it at the top fucking dollar. “B-but desu, there is a best offer function. owo, use that to get a good deal?”, none of their iMacs have sold in the past 3 months, which says either no one bothers or they decline offers.

iSellMacParts – Just like iScam, it looks like they are selling broken parts that they cannot profit as much as. Probably because of their branding, these items are not sold at the other store. However, they got a maybe OK deal on a beaten up 2015 iMac.

Becareful with buying from sellers with ZERO feedback and have stock photos for their items with limited info or ‘mint condition/brand new’ and super low prices. Also, never, ever get duped when someone goes wrong, and the seller messages you when you win/buy an item, that they “give you their word” when they’ll update tracking number, asking for more money due to shipping costs, or bring up ANYTHING to with God, these are just scammers. They will cut corners and/or keep your money.

Helpful Reading

EveryMac’s unnofficial max RAM list, & iMac Pro Max RAM.
Beetstech Apple SSD Guide
twam.info’s Mid 2010 & Mid 2011 SSD Install guide
MacWorld’s downloading guide for older OSX & macOS software.
EveryMac’s Tampered Edge Pros and Cons FAQ
iSunshare guide on creating a new admin user via Single User Mode

Late 2009 – iMac 10,1

• A1312 (EMC 2309) – LGA 775, Core 2 Duo Wolfdale
• A1312 (EMC 2739) – LGA 1156, 1st Gen i5, i7 Lynnfield
• 4GB PC3-8500s RAM default, 16GB or 32GB max
• HDD – 1TB or 2TB
• AMD Radeon HD4579 256MB (C2D) or HD4850 512MB (i5/i7) GDDR3
• 10.6.1 & 10.6.2 Snow Leopard to 10.13 High Sierra
• i7 Model recommended
• Orignal MSRP – 1699, 1899, 1999, 2199

First new models are the bad ones? Maybe, there are quite a number of differences that the 2009 has compared to the 2010 and 2011. It sucks that you are limited to one HDD internally, but if you want you could swap the DVD for a 2.5″ HDD Bay, & it has its own fan too :). EveryMac’s estimates the value is $300 to $550 for C2D & $450 to $750 to i5/i7 machines.

Mid 2010 – iMac 11,3

• A1312 (EMC 2390) – LGA 1156, 1st Gen Core, Lynnfield
• 4GB PC3-10600s RAM default, 16GB or 32GB max
• HDD – 1TB to 2TB
• SSD – 256GB 2.5″ SATA III
• AMD Radeon HD5670 512MB GDDR3, or HD5750 1GB GDDR5
• 10.6.3 Snow Leopard to 10.13 High Sierra
• 2.8GHz i5-760 model recommended
• Orignal MSRP – 1699, 1899, 1999, 2199

These are good? Well yeah….they are a better buy than the 2009 model. 1st gen Intel Core processor, decent graphics memory, and that 2.5″ drive potential if the machine isn’t fusion yet. If you’re on the fence of the i5/i7 on the previous year, the performance is negligible, but graphics performance will be better. Regarding the average price different from the previous year, low/mid price, they are about 17% higher, and about 4% more on the high/EX+. The i3 is kind of gimped, because of the EFI lock, it won’t accept over 16GB RAM, even if you upgrade the processor.

Mid 2011 – iMac 12,2

• A1312 (EMC 2429) – LGA 1155, 2nd Gen Core, Sandy Bridge
• 4GB PC3-10600s RAM default, 32GB Max
• AMD Radeon HD6770M 512MB, or HD6970M 1GB GDDR5
• HDD – 1TB to 2TB
• SSD – 256GB 2.5″ SATA III
• 10.6.6 Snow Leopard to 10.13 High Sierra
• All are recommended 😛
• Currently popular to buy on ebay, highest sold out of all years
• Original MSRP – 1699, 1999, 2199

This iMac is the “best one” to get before they changed the design, Sandy Bridge is still pretty strong to use for most web & program tasks. Unlike the 2009 and 2010 models, you’ll not come across a dual core unit, these are all quadcores from here on out. Apple had gotten rid of the 4th model option like they had on the 2009 and 2010, so only 3 model iMacs were available. The model removed was essentially a slightly better base model, probably because they got rid of the dualcore units all together. With that said, the base model i5 here is a decent system, though some might dislike the 512MB dRAM limit for the graphics card. Cost difference wise, these are about 10% more expensive in the low/mid sector & 30% more in the high end. It is well worth it, as even the base i5-2500s is about 10% better in performance than the i7-860 processor, & the i7-2600 is about 30% better, and this isn’t including power draw.

Late 2012, iMac 13,2

• A1419 (EMC 2546) – LGA 1155, 3rd Gen Core, Ivy Bridge
• First of the Tapered Edge models
• 4GB PC3-12800s RAM default, 32GB max
• HDD – 1TB or 3GB
• SSD Gen 2A – 256GB, 512GB, or 768GB
• Fusion – 1TB or 3GB w/ 128GB SSD
• nVidia GeForce GTX 660M 512MB, GTX 675M 1GB or GTX 680M 2GB GDDR5
• 2.9 model has 1st GPU, 3.2 & 3.4 can have either of the latter two GPUs
• 10.8.2 Mountain Lion to 10.15 Catalina
• Original MSRP – 1799, 1999, 2199 (base price up $100 from 2011)

Third Gen processors are good value for the money. You’ll have to consider the price difference between this and last year, which is about 26% higher on the low/mid end, and 19% higher on the top end. Oddly Apple switched to nVidia for their graphics, so programs optimized for nVidia’s CUDA core technology, you may consider these or the 2013 model. For some, 1GB dRAM might not make a difference, but it is noticeable when you do video editing, if you could check the serial number if they haven’t posted a pic of the GPU type. The base model could not be configured with an SSD, but it had the fusion option hardstuck with 128GB blade. The latter two models can come with an SSD & omit the HDD options.

Late 2013, iMac 14,2

• A1419 (EMC 2639) – LGA 1150, 4th Gen Core, Haswell
• 8GB PC3-12800s RAM default, 32GB Max
• nVidia GeForce GT 755M 1GB, 2GB or GT 780M 4GB GDDR5
• HDD – 1TB or 3TB
• SSD Gen 3A – 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB
• Fusion – 1TB or 3GB w/ 128GB SSD on both
• Base model with 1GB, latter two with 2GB default or 780M 4GB
• 10.8.4 Mountain Lion to 10.15 Catalina
• 3.4 i5 model recommended, or 3.2 if graphics not an issue
• Orignal MSRP – 1799, 1999, 2199

OCD kicking in, my curiosity searched for the two GPU’s you can get on the 3.4 and 3.5 GHz models. Most sellers don’t list graphics card in the title, which is why the #Sold amount doesn’t equal to the total 3.4 & 3.5 units sold… But when they are listed, they are sold considerably higher, or maybe I was too generous on my findings. Anyways, there are plenty of the 3.2 units to buy here, so they can be good if you’re looking to source the parts. I don’t know if it is fidgety on EFI locks for the video card, if you are wanting to do a full transfer w/ CPU & GPU. Although they support 10.15 Catalina, I don’t know if Apple will have macOS 10.16 or 10.17 supported by these GPUs… because they went back to AMD. Price difference from last, the low price average is about 30% more, while the higher end is closer to 20%. The odd sized 768GB SSD was dropped out in Gen 3A, & the base model has the same optional storage configurations as the 3.4 i5 or i7 models.

Late 2014 & Mid 2015
Retina 5K, iMac 15,1

• A1419 (EMC 2806) – LGA 1150, 4th Gen Core, Haswell, Devil’s Canyon (i7)
• 8GB PC3-12800s RAM default, 32GB Max
• AMD Radeon R9 M290 2GB GDDR5 for Mid 2015 model only
• AMD Radeon R9 M290X 2GB GDDR5
• AMD RAdeon R9 M295X 4GB GDDR5 optional
• HDD – 1TB, Default on Mid 2015 only
• SSD Gen 3A – 256GB (Optional Default on 2014), 512GB or 1TB
• Fusion – 1TB (Default on 2014), or 3TB w/ 128GB SSD
• 10.10 Yosemite to 10.15 Catalina / Current
• 3.5 i5 Late 2014 model recommended
• Original MSRP – 1999 (Mid 2015), 2499, 2749 (Late 2014)

This is the first year Apple introduces the 5K panel, they also brought a 4K resolution to the 21.5″ iMac. The price went up $700 for the 5K panel, it was $2499 for a base model, compared to $1799 from the 2013 year. In May 2015, Apple released the Mid 2015 model, which started out at $1999, while the Late 2015 model came out in October for $1799 or $1999, which kinda fucked everyone who bought these originally. If we consider the average price difference, these are actually the highest, from 40% higher on the low/mid mark, and to 27% on the high end… gotta have that Retina 5K! I didn’t come across many specific 3.3 i5 Mid 2015 models, probably because they get lumped with the Late 2015. The M290 and M290x graphics cards doesn’t have that much of a difference in performance, but in comparison to the next year, they jump 2 generations in CPU. But if you need a 5K display, these are the cheapest ones to fit the bill.

Late 2015
Retina 5K, iMac 17,1

• A1419 (EMC 2834) – LGA 1151, 6th Gen Core, Skylake
• 8GB PC3-14900s RAM default, 64GB Max
• AMD Radeon R9 M380, or M390 2GB GDDR5 on 3.2 & 4.0 models
• AMD Radeon R9 M395 2GB, or M395X 4GB, GDDR5 on 3.3 or 4.0 units
• HDD – 1TB on MK462LL/A only
• SSD Gen 4A – 256GB, 512GB, 1TB
• Fusion – 1TB (24GB SSD, default), 2TB (128GB SSD), or 3TB (128GB SSD)
• 10.12 Sierra to 10.15 Catalina / Current
• 3.2 model or M395X equipped models recommended
• Original MSRP – 1799, 1999, 2299, 2549
• 2nd most popular iMac on this guide, 1st for the tapered edge units

Although there are 3 different CPU types, there are four models available. All systems have at least 2 GPU options, and the i7 model can get 3 options except the M390 GPU. For the GPU specific search, the M390/5/5X units have a $200+ premium, even though they are default on some of these iMacs. Makes no sense, but if you’re gonna sell your iMac, squeeze that GPU spec! The new 1TB Fusion drive gets cucked with a 24GB SSD which is actually a 32GB unit. but on the 3.2 units, you might have the 1TB drive with no fusion, as it wasn’t available for the budget $1799 machines. Apple added a 2TB fusion option, that has a 128GB SSD alongside the 3TB. These are the last that had DDR3L RAM, but DDR4 RAM is about the same price if we compare 8GB modules.

Mid 2017
Retina 5K, iMac 18,3

• A1419 (EMC 3070) – LGA 1151, 7th Gen Core, Kaby Lake
• 8GB PC4-19200s RAM default, 64GB Max
• AMD Radeon Pro 570 4GB GDDR5 for 3.4 i5
• AMD Radeon Pro 575 4GB GDDR5 for 3.5 i5 or 4.2 i7
• AMD Radeon Pro 580 8GB GDDR5 for 3.8 i5 or 4.2 i7
• SSD Gen 5B – 512GB, 1TB, 2TB
• Fusion – 1TB (32GB SSD) Default on most systems, 2TB (128GB SSD), 3TB (128GB SSD)
• 10.12 Sierra to 10.15 Catalina / Current
• 3.8 i5-7600K model recommended
• Original MSRP – 1799, 1999, 2299, 2499

If you’re wanting to do video editing or photo editing, the 4GB dedicated RAM on these video cards are great. They’ll def cut through Final Cut Pro X, and I believe you’ll be safe on macOS updates. However the worst thing is that these will probably depreciate fast, as they are about $500 more than the previous model, which translate to 27% & 31% on the low/mid & high priced brackets. But that is 2 years of waiting for this machine, only 1 processor generation newer *meh*, and I believe these also had a brighter 500 nit display, vs 300 nit of all previous ones. The iMac Pro came out 6 months later, right before 2018, but cost at least 3 times more. The reason why I recommend the 3.8 i5 is that it comes with a 2TB Fusion and the Radeon 580 w/ 8GB as configured default! With the i7 4.2 you might end up with the Radeon 575 w/ 4GB RAM or a “measly” 1TB Fusion drive with the cucked 32GB cache, if you’re doing 4K, you will need to buy an external drive, and at worst you’ll be limited to the spinning drive vs the system rendering off the 128GB SSD (if you configure it that way). Or you could just end up with the 1TB or 2TB SSD which are pretty damn fast.

2019
Retina 5K, iMac 19,1

• A2115 (EMC 3194) – LGA 1151, 8th & 9th Gen Core, Coffee Lake
• 8GB PC4-21300 RAM default, 128GB max
• AMD Radeon Pro 570X, 575X, 4GB or 580X 8GB GDDR5
• AMD Radeon Vega 48 w/ 8GB HMB2 memory
• Fusion – 1TB Fusion (32GB SSD) Default on most systems, 2TB (128GB SSD?), 3TB (128GB SSD?)
• SSD Gen 5B – 512GB, 1TB, 2TB
• 10.14 Mojave to 10.15 Catalina / Current
• 3.7 i5 w/ Vega Graphics recommended, 3.6 i9 or 3.0 on budget
• Original MSRP – 1799, 1999, 2299, 2499, 2699
• K for kool, not for overclocking 🙁

So this part of the price is most volatile and susceptible to depreciation; the 2020 iMac has yet to be released. Even then, if people upgrade, 2019 models may not be sent out to the market, the 2015 or 2017 could depreciate more. Enough speculation, before you buy a complete unit used, check what these new units cost, at least you can pay even more money for that Apple care. Actually one thing to consider when buying these if they are still valid with Apple Care, because its… what $170 of extended warranty that you can save on, depending on the activation date ofc. If you can get them at a low price, thats good, but the mid price, some of these are $200 to $400 off when new; if that’s what you think is a discount after being released since March 2019, then nab one, but in most cases they can be newer, so its hard to say. The price research of the GPU done fucked up everything; how the fuck are some of these GPU units more than the average? These might be snabbed by alt-coin miners who don’t know what they are doing. Really hard to say why, I don’t have an analogy, because the high prices don’t match up with he other high prices, they come out to EX+…. on base models too. Supposedly the Vega 48 units on ebay start at $3200, but consider that a 3.7 i5-9600K unit configured with the Vega GPU should cost $2749 from Apple, if my math is right, the i9 version should be $3150. Obviously these are higher than Apple’s MSRP thanks to eBay, PayPal & Shipping taxes, probably to sales tax too! Consider checking out the new units at Apple and their refurb division before pulling the trigger on eBay, it might not be worth the discount if you want to have the clairvoyance of an Apple Care warranty.

The God AIO Workstation
iMac Pro 1,1

The IBM NetVista X40 is still the god of aesthetics tho.

• BTO BTO BTO BTO@@@@@
• A1862 (EMC 3144) – LGA 2066, Xeon W-2000 (W 1st gen), Skylake
• 32GB PC4-21300 Desktop ECC, 512GB Max (256GB via Apple)
• AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 8GB, 64 or 64X 16GB HMB2
• SSD Gen 5B Dual Setup – 1TB, 2TB, 4TB
• 10.14 High Sierra to 10.15 Catalina / Current (forever?)
• Whatever your budget is
• Original MSRP – 4999, 5799, 6599, 7399

If its not obvious, I want an iMac Pro. However it is fucking expensive as hell and a bitch to upgrade. The “Workstation” iMac, doesnt have MXM GPUs like the previous models, its soldered to the board. Gone is the 3.5″ HDD bay, which is on its way out. The system has a dual Gen 5A SSD blade setup, it might be something similar to RAID 0 but ofc Apple says its not. The dual fan setup might be nice, but Apple went full design aesthetics for thinness, and there is plenty of wasted space that the speakers use… it best sound bomb. Anyways, with how the RAM, Storage & GPU is setup, the cooling won’t be symmetrical even tho Apple uses diagrams to say it is, one side will be hotter than the other, but at least the CPU will be cooled by both fans. Seeing how the “Trash Can” Mac Pro ended up, I think Apple will tout this design and beam how great this design is, while they obviously will make amends to a FUCKING superior machine, yet not say it. With all that bullshit said, Get whatever GPU you can, and maybe consider upgrading the processor two or three years later, and upgrade the RAM I guess. It is kinda sad how expensive these machines are, but looking a the current Mac Pro, it might be a discount.