I have a 2009 27" i7 iMac. It came with 8gb of ram (max 16) and a 1tb HDD.

I eventually upgraded the ram to 16 and then began investigating going to 32 and discovered it was possible but the ram type was very specific. Anyway, now, despite what Apple says it runs 32GB of ram.

Then I mustered the courage to crack it open and replace the Dvd rom with a SSD and upgraded the HDD to a 2 while I was at it.

It's a very fast machine (the fastest 2009 27" iMac on Geekbench actually).

But the monitor is beginning to go and there's been a few times that it hung super long on a random reboot or would hesitate to turn on that I am beginning to think the thing is on its way out.

So last week after a month of trolling the refurb bin on the site I pulled the trigger on a retina i7 with ssd,4gb,16gb.

And boy is this machine fast. Super snappy. The SSD hooked up via PCIe when compared to my 2009 and the SSD hooked up via ye ole sata is in itself a huge difference.

But with them side by side doing my daily routine and even hard core work mode (professional in creative) I'm a little hard pressed to say the upgrade is justified.

So I'm returning the new retina. The ole 2009 iMac still has a lot of life left in it yet and the fact that I can crack it open and access the internals in a few seconds (after much practice) compared to the adhered versions of today means that once the power supply, screen, etc dies I can replace it myself.

So there you have it.. 2009 and still kicking. The screen is fading. The power supply is dying. But the rest of it still works and that stuff (thanks to fleabay) is a much cheaper replacement (when/if) than buying a brand new one.