If you want to preorder the DockLite use coupon code Getcrumputing for a discount! Do note that Juicy Crumb is a startup Kickstarter project so I can’t personally guarantee their future operations. Regardless, a very cool project! What do you guys think? Huge thanks to Brilliant for sponsoring!
Luke - this is 'the' video for those of us who love to keep our old Macs hardware alive. A 5k iMac would indeed be the icing on the cake, and I for one can't wait to see if this could become a reality. 😀
I hope so bad that there is finally a solution to use my iMac 27" (2017) as my primary display with full resolution and 60 Hz with my Mac Studio. There is nothing out right now as a mod, right? I need it so bad
Gotta say Juicy Crumb looks good but it's about 50% too expensive for what it does. For that price, it's entering the 5k iMac display conversion price range. That board needs to be sub $200 at least
No wonder you did not mentioned the price… 386$ for this board makes it useless… for 50$ less you can have better, new Gigabyte M27Q. I would buy this board for around 100$, not more. Nevertheless- congrats and all the best to the team who came up with the idea! I like repair and use “retro” stuff.
Can’t afford studio display, so I bought an old iMac based on your previous videos to DIY it, loving the shape of those Mac and won’t waste it. This is definitely better option.
I have a SD and an old Thunderbolt. It is a nice screen and I like the new design, but as of picture quality the difference is not enormous. Not for 1.400 euro’s extra (I got the TB for 300). So don’t think you miss out on something for that amount.
NO question, this is a game changer for old iMacs. I'm a retired independent Mac consultant now and the number of duff 27" iMacs I've seen go to the parts bin because of that graphic chip or worse, is criminal. I really hope the make progress.
I’m really glad companies like JuicyCrumb exists, it at least saves all these iMacs from being e-waste!!! These iMacs sure make dope monitors (Not to mention the speaker and webcam functionality being retained too)! Can’t wait for the final product to be launched!
I'm not an Apple guy, but this looks like a really a really great project. I love seeing old hardware being repurposed, and this is such a fantastic example.
I’ve never commented before but wow this video was great. For someone who is currently disappointed with the lack of a 27 inch replacement M1 machine. This brings some hope. Putting an M1 or M2 Mac mini guts inside also sounds amazing. Thanks for bringing us this video.
LOL! I got tons of Apple products and my GF complains a LOT!! Now I know my issue could be a LOT worse :) /She literally wants to break up with me because of my collection/ Thanks dude, you have made me feel better!
This is brilliant! My 12 years old iMac 27" is one hand unable to update the OS and even Win10 on bootcamp is not running perfectly.. but it's still by far the best quality screen I have
This is such a cool and needed idea. I love the idea of breathing new life into these great screens. But the almost $600 price tag is going to make this a hard sell. That's the USB-C version which I think we all agree is the only way to really do this. Get this into production - and get the price down and this is a very cool idea. I have a 27" cinema display that I found at a thrift store for $15 but the power supply is toast. I built one to make it work and that monitor is still great. (aside from the dual DVI bullcrap)
@@Foggy404 Especially since while I have no doubt a lot of work went into it, the components do not seem to justify the means. You could get a replacement motherboard for less, which is ridiculous. They really need to fix this pricing.
Best thing to do is a grab a 2009 or 2010 27 inch iMac. These pre thunderbolt iMac are pretty universal when It comes to target display mode.... No OS restrictions and only requires a mini display port connection. My 15 inch 2015 MacBook Pro running Mojave, Big Sur, Windows 11, Monterey and Ventura all of these operating systems have been able to use the iMac as a display and use the speakers in the iMac. Ive also been able to connect an old dell laptop to the iMac and it was able to use the iMac as a display.
@@digitalrampage awesome! Really great to see the potential widespread re-use of this kind of hardware! I just sold my thunderbolt display to a coworker not long ago; great piece of hardware and a converted imac like this I can only imagine is even better and more versatile. With all the i/o egress on the back of the case I guess you could tie in a whole docking station type thing too but I’d imagine it would quickly drive up cost.
I successfully upgraded a 12.5” 2011 iMac to Ventura this week. AMD FirePro M5100 €45, WIFI card out of a newer MacBook Pro and an adapter to install the WiFi card into the PCIE slot. About 2 hours of time to get it all put together and installed with Opencore Legacy Patcher. Zero issues. The Juicycrumb board is very cool but it is still very expensive.
This is a great idea and it demonstrates the inherent problem with all in ones - the waste of good hardware while the various technologies become obsolete at different rates
I like the concept alot. If possible it would be great to reuse the existing ports in the Back to also function sort of as an USB-C Hub. And have only a USB-C cable run to your Computer.
This is INSANE! Thank you for sharing this. I will look into their work right away. This is awesome! Luke, it's so great that you partnered up with them. And I totally agree; doing this with a 5k iMac would be outstanding. It would render the Studio Display obsolete. Edit: A new era of modding old macs could start with Juicy Crumb!
@@lukemiani I did the conversion after your other video and had to tape the board and it came loose and there was no way to fix it so it rattled around in the iMac case. And then the eBay board went bad 😫and it's broken. By the way you crashed the juicycrumb site. They need to put you on their board.
Fantastic! Can you tell why it is needed to remove the discdrive? Especialy if you dont have an internal one, this could also be a nice opportunity to reduce an external one.
Great vid. Would definitely be interested in such an option - as I have a 2011 27” iMac currently collecting dust after the graphics card failed. But (in current climate) it all comes down to price - whether the reward is worth the effort and investment. But the thought of possibly turning my old (dead) iMac into a fully working (M1) powered system again - is even more interesting. Will be waiting to hear your followup in the new year...
The cheapest way of getting it going again would probably be to use another MXM gpu. Some nVidia Kepler cards seem to work quite well. But even though a 2011 with an upgraded gpu can run newer versions of MacOS (even Monterey/Ventura might work), you're still essentially using a 2011 machine, just with modern software sort of hacked onto it. An M1 would probably be way faster, overall more modern and arguably less finicky once everything's set up
This is great. I'm still using my 2010 27" iMac and I plan on replacing it with a mini. Good to know I can hopefully turn it into a secondary monitor. Thanks for this video, and the TH-cam algorithms that brought me here!
Go Linux with standardized PC parts. I started out on apple II's. Tired of apple dropping support, switching architecture, dropping video driver support. Multiple times they have left us with hardware so expensive we had to get loans, but it is now collecting dust.
I think they should add in an HDMI port and maybe even DVI-D to make it compatible with anything, not just Mac. It wouldn't really matter if the camera didn't work with HDMI, but they could always add USB3 out like a normal webcam.. just a thought. I had a 2011 i-Mac 27" and I kind of wish I had kept it now for a project like this. Although that nearly $400 price sticker will actually buy you a *REALLY NICE* 4K UHD monitor on Amazon. (ahem... with a full warranty)😉
Wow...mating an old 5K iMac display with an M1 Mac Mini logic board would be cool. This existing project of your gives me the same feels as when I built up a Commodore PET computer from more modernized 8-bit hardware. This retrocomputing/upcoming is fun stuff!
loved it! Wow, please keep us updated on that Mac mini kit. I'd love to try it on my old iMac 2011. The link to juicy Crumb systems doesn't work tho...
This is my plan for my 2014 iMac once the Apple Silicon transition is complete and there are no more Intel updates at all. Even at like 8 years old, I can’t find another comparable display, especially not at the price I paid for this. I hope some day to have an M1 Mac Mini driving this 5K display.
The idea sounds good, but is completely uninteresting given the prices for the DockLite and DockPro. First, both cost more than the residual value of the iMac, and second, the power consumption of the iMac's power supply is not economical for monitor use only. The 27" 2011 iMac "only" has a 2.5K display, but for the price of the DockLite you can already get a 27" LG 4K monitor with a much better picture and a higher resolution. And this monitor already has USB-C and a USB hub built-in. Of course, the power consumption of the LG monitor is only a fraction of that of the iMac. Therefore, nice idea and a nice project, but not interesting in terms of price and not practical since the buyer has to take care of the installation. // But I must admit that I would be interested in a 5K version if the price is right. The LG Ultrafine 5K monitor is simply expensive, and converting an iMac 2014 or 2015 for an external monitor would be interesting. Unfortunately, we also have the high power consumption of the iMac power supply again
I you happen to have an older iMac sitting around this looks good, and if they get this going for an 5K display iMac or the M1 upgrade mentioned even better. But maybe just better to get a APPLE Thunderbolt Display that has all the built-in features, are now fairly cheap used (got mine for $200 mint and boxed), and easy to find, and without any extra cost or opening up for repair. It is pretty amazing that a company is making new solutions for these, old tech is still worth saving.
I would immediately scrap the internals of my old iMac for that mac mini setup. But its a mid 2010... I wish Luke would have detailed what the connection issues were between the 2010 and 2011 iMacs which caused the conversion board not to work.
@@digitalrampage Glad to know a 2010 board would be made in the future. Was going to say depending on what function the 2010 and 2011s differed on I might be able to live with it but the screen interface is a pretty big no go! Thanks for the info!
@@JebMillenderKicking: Apparently, the 2010 and 2011 27" iMac’s are really very different inside. Someone further up the comments gave a proper explanation and comparison.
I love the idea of what they sell however it is too expensive for what you get by the time you factor in buying all hardware. You can buy a used apple display with all the same features that is newer for high $100's to low $200's
I love that you'e encouraging the refurbishing culture. There is something unique about reusing your old stuff and spending your time on upgrading it. And it's tons of fun and you can be proud of it at the end of the day.:)))
@Luke Miani - is there something you can do to stop this constant spam in your comments? :( Every time I comment your video, I ALWAYS get this telegram crap...:(
Despite Apple’s best efforts my 27” 2011 iMac is still going strong. I’ve upgraded the memory to 32 GB, added an SSD, and am running macOS 12.6.1 thanks to OpenCore Legacy.
Luke, I hardly ever look at your links and now I will be. If this company keeps creating ways to continue utilizing these old iMacs I am game. Any plans for 21" iMac mods?
Fantastic project. Was the display brightness adjustable from macos? Also including an ethernet port on the board would be genius. I agree having everything combined over one USB-C cable would be even better. Why not include power delivery in the mix (edit: their site mentions PD). That would really tick all my boxes.
Thanks for making a video about 2011 imac luke you made just the think i needed help with cause my 2011 imac display went out so you helped me thanks luke
I have thought about doing something like this for a while.. and still planing on doing it once I get my hands on a cheap broken iMac. But as I am quite budget constrained, my plan involves a display controller board, USB-hubs, hot glue and other stuff..
This is the plan when my 27” 2009 finally kicks the bucket… hard drive is getting close, but it’s still working great as a living room hub for printing and basic tasks 😅
Luke this is very cool. To clarify is because turning an old iMac into a 27 Cinema/Thunderbolt display? It’s the same screen as the Thunderbolt Display?
Looks good but the only thing I’d be concerned about is the price because whilst recycling Macs, PCs and components of your own is all previously sunken money and so is kind of nil cost (other than the potential sale price you could get for them), to make something work again is often not worth spending significant money on (
And this is pretty much why Ive never bought an iMac, and the Minis with a good display have been my go-to. It's great now the M1, M2 and Studio Minis are just as capable as the iMac and a good 5k screen can be bought fairly imexpensively. However it's great to see a project like this able to make one of these old iMacs usable for something again.
Any chance a conversion could extended to a late 2009 iMac. Mine still works fairly flawlessly, but I'm stuck running High Sierra.The screen has excellent resolution and the sound card is good enough. I would like to upgrade the hardware to allow a later OS to be loaded or whatever options exist to prolong my use of this still excellent computer.
I have two iMacs. A late 2013 and a Mid 2010. I am currently using the Mid 2010 as a display (the last of the iMacs that had the display mode feature). Both machines are getting up there is years, and not being able to afford a shinny new iMac right now is why I'm doing everything I can to keep them both in working order.
Whoah, Juicy crumbs webside was flooded of visitors and its down! Talk about making some traffic, haha. Great stuff, will reuse the old mac to greater purpose!
Can't see how this makes sense, since you can pick up a working Thunderbolt display on eBay for $200-$250, shipped. If we go with the Juicycrumb option (their website is down but the Kickstarter page shows you can get the board for AUS $299, which is about US $191.50 as of today. So yeah, it's slightly cheaper, but you still have an iMac if you buy the Thunderbolt display. And you can do it now, rather than waiting until April of 2023.
I love it! I have a 2011 that works fine downstairs unused, but could use it for a display instead. I hope they do the 5K as I have a Mid 2015 27" iMac that I am going to replace and having it as a screen would be great.
I'd expect it all to be a bit neater with a USB-C hub inside or built on the board. USB-C can be tricky to get the right chipsets for power and display etc, but not impossible. Hopefully in a new revision...
Absolutely the kind of mod I need. I need to upgrade my work mac to run software that now requires an OS I can't install. I usually just buy a new imac for home, then take the home imac to work. But my home imac is new. Much more sensible to buy a mini and use the perfectly fine screen on the old one.
I have just moved on from a 2011 iMac 27” to an M1 Mac Mini but cannot bear to part with the old girl. I’d seriously consider an internal conversion to Mac Mini guts which would give new life for another decade on an up date OS (OSes even)
If you want to preorder the DockLite use coupon code Getcrumputing for a discount! Do note that Juicy Crumb is a startup Kickstarter project so I can’t personally guarantee their future operations. Regardless, a very cool project! What do you guys think?
Huge thanks to Brilliant for sponsoring!
How many hertz have the display?
@@Flex200 60
kinda curious where u can buy imac for $100?
@@jamo8896 only?!
Can you overclock it?
@@Flex200 no
So glad Fancy Luke is alive and well.
Gregs2Gadget: 😳
😂
What an intro!
@mrbeast commented on my vid you don’t have any videos
Luke - this is 'the' video for those of us who love to keep our old Macs hardware alive. A 5k iMac would indeed be the icing on the cake, and I for one can't wait to see if this could become a reality. 😀
yes
Fingers crossed!
Absolutely
I hope so bad that there is finally a solution to use my iMac 27" (2017) as my primary display with full resolution and 60 Hz with my Mac Studio. There is nothing out right now as a mod, right? I need it so bad
@@Lomaxxx I have a 5k imac that is collecting dust. please allow me to use it as a monitor. Lol
Gotta say Juicy Crumb looks good but it's about 50% too expensive for what it does. For that price, it's entering the 5k iMac display conversion price range. That board needs to be sub $200 at least
As someone with 2015 5K iMac the screens on these things are amazing, great to see them being recycled, Good Job Luke!
OMG the pain of dissembling the iMac, just to have to put it all back together again. I felt for you there!
No wonder you did not mentioned the price… 386$ for this board makes it useless… for 50$ less you can have better, new Gigabyte M27Q. I would buy this board for around 100$, not more. Nevertheless- congrats and all the best to the team who came up with the idea! I like repair and use “retro” stuff.
Thanks for that info! I’m out!
Ehhh? The color accuracy (the expensive thing) isn’t quite there.
Not sure if they lowered the price but it’s now $250
It’s a custom made small run product, it’s going to be expensive just look at gba lcd screens
It's still a proof of concept. I'm sure the price will come down
Can’t afford studio display, so I bought an old iMac based on your previous videos to DIY it, loving the shape of those Mac and won’t waste it. This is definitely better option.
I have a SD and an old Thunderbolt. It is a nice screen and I like the new design, but as of picture quality the difference is not enormous. Not for 1.400 euro’s extra (I got the TB for 300). So don’t think you miss out on something for that amount.
NO question, this is a game changer for old iMacs. I'm a retired independent Mac consultant now and the number of duff 27" iMacs I've seen go to the parts bin because of that graphic chip or worse, is criminal. I really hope the make progress.
I’m really glad companies like JuicyCrumb exists, it at least saves all these iMacs from being e-waste!!!
These iMacs sure make dope monitors (Not to mention the speaker and webcam functionality being retained too)!
Can’t wait for the final product to be launched!
I'm not an Apple guy, but this looks like a really a really great project. I love seeing old hardware being repurposed, and this is such a fantastic example.
I’ve never commented before but wow this video was great. For someone who is currently disappointed with the lack of a 27 inch replacement M1 machine. This brings some hope. Putting an M1 or M2 Mac mini guts inside also sounds amazing. Thanks for bringing us this video.
I appreciate that! I'll make a video with the Mac mini conversion as soon as it's ready for primetime :)
Can’t wait to see that one! Especially now with the new M2 Mac minis available!
please do..my 2011 27 imac is starting to see its last legs and thinkin of gettin a mac mini 2 and use it as a monitor
Great video Luke! I still have 4 2011 iMacs ! They still are running strong! I have new ones too, but 2011's are still up to work horse standards!
Should keep that off the net
LOL! I got tons of Apple products and my GF complains a LOT!! Now I know my issue could be a LOT worse :) /She literally wants to break up with me because of my collection/
Thanks dude, you have made me feel better!
@@MrCooper83 does she? That’s a bit sad. Breaking up with someone over material things
@@MrCooper83 She doesn't understand technology and Mens' attraction to them!
I also have four working 2011 27's all with i7, 6970M, and min. 16GB RAM. Still great in 2022.
This is just awesome. Wish they had a version for a 2009 iMac tho.
This is brilliant! My 12 years old iMac 27" is one hand unable to update the OS and even Win10 on bootcamp is not running perfectly.. but it's still by far the best quality screen I have
That intro with the burning iMac gave me total TV Infomercial vibes lmao. Well done, Luke.
me too (lol).
This is such a cool and needed idea. I love the idea of breathing new life into these great screens. But the almost $600 price tag is going to make this a hard sell. That's the USB-C version which I think we all agree is the only way to really do this. Get this into production - and get the price down and this is a very cool idea. I have a 27" cinema display that I found at a thrift store for $15 but the power supply is toast. I built one to make it work and that monitor is still great. (aside from the dual DVI bullcrap)
According to their website, in US Dollars, the cards range from $243.37 to $439.46.
@@gernblanston5627 Which is still way too much for something like this
@@Foggy404 Especially since while I have no doubt a lot of work went into it, the components do not seem to justify the means. You could get a replacement motherboard for less, which is ridiculous. They really need to fix this pricing.
Agreed. At that price point I’m close to getting an Alogic Clarity 5k monitor.
I’ve fixed several iMacs, just replace the capacitors, works everytime!
Best thing to do is a grab a 2009 or 2010 27 inch iMac. These pre thunderbolt iMac are pretty universal when It comes to target display mode.... No OS restrictions and only requires a mini display port connection. My 15 inch 2015 MacBook Pro running Mojave, Big Sur, Windows 11, Monterey and Ventura all of these operating systems have been able to use the iMac as a display and use the speakers in the iMac. Ive also been able to connect an old dell laptop to the iMac and it was able to use the iMac as a display.
Should upgrade that machine so you can run Ventura natively
The edits deserve an award. You sir are a hero!
Would be cool if the optical drive could be kept inside the imac and used as a peripheral on the host machine
It can, with the Pro board! :)
@@digitalrampage awesome! Really great to see the potential widespread re-use of this kind of hardware! I just sold my thunderbolt display to a coworker not long ago; great piece of hardware and a converted imac like this I can only imagine is even better and more versatile.
With all the i/o egress on the back of the case I guess you could tie in a whole docking station type thing too but I’d imagine it would quickly drive up cost.
@@th0m yes, unfortunately the ports used on this mode are all bespoke by our favourite fruit company. Other models will be far easier
@@digitalrampage lol. Didn’t even consider that given the ubiquity of most of the ports, but sounds about right for apple. Jeez.
I successfully upgraded a 12.5” 2011 iMac to Ventura this week. AMD FirePro M5100 €45, WIFI card out of a newer MacBook Pro and an adapter to install the WiFi card into the PCIE slot. About 2 hours of time to get it all put together and installed with Opencore Legacy Patcher. Zero issues. The Juicycrumb board is very cool but it is still very expensive.
The intro, just perfection! 😁
This is a great idea and it demonstrates the inherent problem with all in ones - the waste of good hardware while the various technologies become obsolete at different rates
I like the concept alot. If possible it would be great to reuse the existing ports in the Back to also function sort of as an USB-C Hub. And have only a USB-C cable run to your Computer.
Exactly what I need for my damaged 2011 27" iMac that is collecting dust, definitely buying this.
This is INSANE! Thank you for sharing this. I will look into their work right away. This is awesome! Luke, it's so great that you partnered up with them. And I totally agree; doing this with a 5k iMac would be outstanding. It would render the Studio Display obsolete. Edit: A new era of modding old macs could start with Juicy Crumb!
Definitely would love to see JuicyCrumb do this with the 5k models, since the eBay boards are rather iffy at best
I’d love it just to be able to properly mount the board with the existing screw posts rather than using a bunch of tape!
@@lukemiani one thing I would love is if the ports could still work. For example the optical drive, SD card reader or thunderbolt connections.
@@lukemiani I did the conversion after your other video and had to tape the board and it came loose and there was no way to fix it so it rattled around in the iMac case. And then the eBay board went bad 😫and it's broken. By the way you crashed the juicycrumb site. They need to put you on their board.
Yes! To be able to turn my 5K iMac into a Studio Display without spending $1600 would be awesome.
The $600+ for the converter board not worth the investment in my opinion.
I agree totally, Luke. This is a great product, for all variations of iMacs. Keep those displays shining.
Absolutely interested in a 5K iMac version!
Great. And what about late 2009 ones ? Any chance to have at least the display working ?
Oh man. Wondering if I’d ever be able to do something like this with my old old 2002 iMac
Hope so
Fantastic! Can you tell why it is needed to remove the discdrive? Especialy if you dont have an internal one, this could also be a nice opportunity to reduce an external one.
Great vid. Would definitely be interested in such an option - as I have a 2011 27” iMac currently collecting dust after the graphics card failed. But (in current climate) it all comes down to price - whether the reward is worth the effort and investment.
But the thought of possibly turning my old (dead) iMac into a fully working (M1) powered system again - is even more interesting. Will be waiting to hear your followup in the new year...
The cheapest way of getting it going again would probably be to use another MXM gpu. Some nVidia Kepler cards seem to work quite well. But even though a 2011 with an upgraded gpu can run newer versions of MacOS (even Monterey/Ventura might work), you're still essentially using a 2011 machine, just with modern software sort of hacked onto it. An M1 would probably be way faster, overall more modern and arguably less finicky once everything's set up
Don’t bother
And Luke has crushed Juicy Crumb’s Website.
do you know if the board keeps utility of the cd drive? I actually like using it sometimes so i’d want to keep the functionality if i could
The Dock Pro version does
This is great. I'm still using my 2010 27" iMac and I plan on replacing it with a mini. Good to know I can hopefully turn it into a secondary monitor. Thanks for this video, and the TH-cam algorithms that brought me here!
Go Linux with standardized PC parts. I started out on apple II's. Tired of apple dropping support, switching architecture, dropping video driver support. Multiple times they have left us with hardware so expensive we had to get loans, but it is now collecting dust.
I really hope that M1 conversion makes it to market. I don't have any of the equipment but I would go out and buy it all just to do that project.
Same. If Apple won’t do it, we’ll do it ourselves.
Is that a Don Herdstfelt (yeah I spelled it wrong) cloud on the board packaging? Excellent.
I would buy a 5K iMac to make this upcycle. Excellent showcase, Luke!
What's the best place to find the replacement glass you used?
Great presentation and yes I'll be looking for an iMac 2011 to repurpose into a great "new" display for my 2015 MBP 15". Thanks for your efforts.
Same
found a 2008 imac at the dump with a bad graphics card. reflowed it with a heat gun, and still using it right now.
I think they should add in an HDMI port and maybe even DVI-D to make it compatible with anything, not just Mac. It wouldn't really matter if the camera didn't work with HDMI, but they could always add USB3 out like a normal webcam.. just a thought. I had a 2011 i-Mac 27" and I kind of wish I had kept it now for a project like this. Although that nearly $400 price sticker will actually buy you a *REALLY NICE* 4K UHD monitor on Amazon. (ahem... with a full warranty)😉
Wow...mating an old 5K iMac display with an M1 Mac Mini logic board would be cool. This existing project of your gives me the same feels as when I built up a Commodore PET computer from more modernized 8-bit hardware. This retrocomputing/upcoming is fun stuff!
They should do something like this but specifically designed to be use with any iPad logic board 🙌🏼
9:14 even luke himself, couldn’t runaway from his own sponsors😅
loved it! Wow, please keep us updated on that Mac mini kit. I'd love to try it on my old iMac 2011. The link to juicy Crumb systems doesn't work tho...
Not to the store - but if you backspace to the main url, without 'store', it loads suuuuper slowly, but does work.
One of their stretch goals was for this project on an iMac G4.... the table lamp macs.
This is my plan for my 2014 iMac once the Apple Silicon transition is complete and there are no more Intel updates at all.
Even at like 8 years old, I can’t find another comparable display, especially not at the price I paid for this.
I hope some day to have an M1 Mac Mini driving this 5K display.
Now that is so cool. Love that we can still use the old Mac as a display.
The idea sounds good, but is completely uninteresting given the prices for the DockLite and DockPro. First, both cost more than the residual value of the iMac, and second, the power consumption of the iMac's power supply is not economical for monitor use only. The 27" 2011 iMac "only" has a 2.5K display, but for the price of the DockLite you can already get a 27" LG 4K monitor with a much better picture and a higher resolution. And this monitor already has USB-C and a USB hub built-in. Of course, the power consumption of the LG monitor is only a fraction of that of the iMac. Therefore, nice idea and a nice project, but not interesting in terms of price and not practical since the buyer has to take care of the installation. // But I must admit that I would be interested in a 5K version if the price is right. The LG Ultrafine 5K monitor is simply expensive, and converting an iMac 2014 or 2015 for an external monitor would be interesting. Unfortunately, we also have the high power consumption of the iMac power supply again
I you happen to have an older iMac sitting around this looks good, and if they get this going for an 5K display iMac or the M1 upgrade mentioned even better. But maybe just better to get a APPLE Thunderbolt Display that has all the built-in features, are now fairly cheap used (got mine for $200 mint and boxed), and easy to find, and without any extra cost or opening up for repair. It is pretty amazing that a company is making new solutions for these, old tech is still worth saving.
I would immediately scrap the internals of my old iMac for that mac mini setup. But its a mid 2010... I wish Luke would have detailed what the connection issues were between the 2010 and 2011 iMacs which caused the conversion board not to work.
In the future a 2010 board will be made.
The 2010 is completely different in the way the screen interfaces
@@digitalrampage Glad to know a 2010 board would be made in the future. Was going to say depending on what function the 2010 and 2011s differed on I might be able to live with it but the screen interface is a pretty big no go! Thanks for the info!
@@JebMillenderKicking: Apparently, the 2010 and 2011 27" iMac’s are really very different inside.
Someone further up the comments gave a proper explanation and comparison.
I have a mid-2007 model what kind of upgrades can I look forward to doing?! I would like to use a juicy crumb logic board for my $30 iMac
Nice to see these displays getting a second life!!
My favourite video from Miani Vice thus far. 🎉
I love the idea of what they sell however it is too expensive for what you get by the time you factor in buying all hardware. You can buy a used apple display with all the same features that is newer for high $100's to low $200's
That is pretty slick to do this for a great form-factor display
I do love the work that went into this, but at the price they are asking it’s a bit rough. 150-200 yes…. 400+ is a tough sell
It’s a rip-off, honestly.
Yeah a little high priced to me.. if it was for the 5K iMac then it will be better..
nice idea but the price makes it totally uneconomical
+ AU$96 for postage to England. That’s insanely expensive.
No wonder I was scratching my head when you intially took apart a 2010 Mid 27" and said the JC board fits a 2011.......
This is actually cool! Also you destroyed their website :D
I love that you'e encouraging the refurbishing culture. There is something unique about reusing your old stuff and spending your time on upgrading it. And it's tons of fun and you can be proud of it at the end of the day.:)))
@Luke Miani - is there something you can do to stop this constant spam in your comments? :( Every time I comment your video, I ALWAYS get this telegram crap...:(
Despite Apple’s best efforts my 27” 2011 iMac is still going strong. I’ve upgraded the memory to 32 GB, added an SSD, and am running macOS 12.6.1 thanks to OpenCore Legacy.
Luke, I hardly ever look at your links and now I will be.
If this company keeps creating ways to continue utilizing these old iMacs I am game. Any plans for 21" iMac mods?
Fantastic project. Was the display brightness adjustable from macos?
Also including an ethernet port on the board would be genius.
I agree having everything combined over one USB-C cable would be even better.
Why not include power delivery in the mix (edit: their site mentions PD). That would really tick all my boxes.
Juicycrumb now got a M1 Mac Mini Bracket to install an Mac Mini in this iMac. I'd love to see a M2 Pro iMac with this mod :D
That Intro 🤣
Thanks for making a video about 2011 imac luke you made just the think i needed help with cause my 2011 imac display went out so you helped me thanks luke
You crashed their website
I have thought about doing something like this for a while.. and still planing on doing it once I get my hands on a cheap broken iMac. But as I am quite budget constrained, my plan involves a display controller board, USB-hubs, hot glue and other stuff..
This is the plan when my 27” 2009 finally kicks the bucket… hard drive is getting close, but it’s still working great as a living room hub for printing and basic tasks 😅
The purple is great, reminds me of old Sonnet upgrade cards in the PPC days.
A maxed up iMac 2011 + a reflashed Dell grapics board - metal compatible + OCLP = Imac Heaven
Are there any videos or guides to do this? Thanks!!!
I'd love to see them include the optical drive be cool to have that working
I'm very happy to see this. And very much hoping that Juicy Crumb moves on to tackling the 27" 5k iMacs. I have a strong interest in that. :)
Luke this is very cool. To clarify is because turning an old iMac into a 27 Cinema/Thunderbolt display? It’s the same screen as the Thunderbolt Display?
Looks good but the only thing I’d be concerned about is the price because whilst recycling Macs, PCs and components of your own is all previously sunken money and so is kind of nil cost (other than the potential sale price you could get for them), to make something work again is often not worth spending significant money on (
And this is pretty much why Ive never bought an iMac, and the Minis with a good display have been my go-to. It's great now the M1, M2 and Studio Minis are just as capable as the iMac and a good 5k screen can be bought fairly imexpensively. However it's great to see a project like this able to make one of these old iMacs usable for something again.
Any chance a conversion could extended to a late 2009 iMac. Mine still works fairly flawlessly, but I'm stuck running High Sierra.The screen has excellent resolution and the sound card is good enough. I would like to upgrade the hardware to allow a later OS to be loaded or whatever options exist to prolong my use of this still excellent computer.
I have two iMacs. A late 2013 and a Mid 2010. I am currently using the Mid 2010 as a display (the last of the iMacs that had the display mode feature). Both machines are getting up there is years, and not being able to afford a shinny new iMac right now is why I'm doing everything I can to keep them both in working order.
It would be great to be able to reuse the optical drive as well
Installing an ssd would be extremely handy. Even a couple would be amazing.
Would love a solution like this for the Cinema Display.
Excellent on all counts. Is there a way to fix the 2011 Macbook Pro graphic death mode - other than defeating the dead bit?
Backed the kickstarter some months back - keen to see this come to fruition.
I still use a mid-2010 iMac. Wonder what I can upgrade for it.
Will a late 2013 IMAC in good condition, be compatatible to use as a display with the new M4 Mac Mini?
Whoah, Juicy crumbs webside was flooded of visitors and its down! Talk about making some traffic, haha. Great stuff, will reuse the old mac to greater purpose!
Can't see how this makes sense, since you can pick up a working Thunderbolt display on eBay for $200-$250, shipped. If we go with the Juicycrumb option (their website is down but the Kickstarter page shows you can get the board for AUS $299, which is about US $191.50 as of today. So yeah, it's slightly cheaper, but you still have an iMac if you buy the Thunderbolt display. And you can do it now, rather than waiting until April of 2023.
*+AU$96* shipping.
This is awesome!! It reminds me of the purple g3/g4 upgrade cards that were produced a long time ago!
Love it . These older IMacs are tanks and powerful ones at that .
I love it! I have a 2011 that works fine downstairs unused, but could use it for a display instead. I hope they do the 5K as I have a Mid 2015 27" iMac that I am going to replace and having it as a screen would be great.
If it’s still in working condition you can just use it in target display mode. No modding needed.
I had a 2011 iMac 27 that had the graphics failure. I baked the board in my oven and it worked for years. I ended up selling it in 2017.
I'd expect it all to be a bit neater with a USB-C hub inside or built on the board. USB-C can be tricky to get the right chipsets for power and display etc, but not impossible. Hopefully in a new revision...
Absolutely the kind of mod I need. I need to upgrade my work mac to run software that now requires an OS I can't install. I usually just buy a new imac for home, then take the home imac to work. But my home imac is new. Much more sensible to buy a mini and use the perfectly fine screen on the old one.
I'd definitely be interested in this for the 27" 5k display. 1 cable ideally. Would pair perfectly with the Mac Studio
Don’t think that’s happening just yet.
Do we know if they will do the same thing for a 2013 model?
I have just moved on from a 2011 iMac 27” to an M1 Mac Mini but cannot bear to part with the old girl.
I’d seriously consider an internal conversion to Mac Mini guts which would give new life for another decade on an up date OS (OSes even)
This is so nice! I’ve seen many old iMacs rendered useless but still with the monitor parts in good state!