bought my mid-08 iMac for $899 on sale when the 09 iMac came out. all I've done to it is open it up and install an SSD into it about six months ago. still works great, no desire/need to replace it anytime soon.
what does this do
I could tell my hard drive was about to die (made a lot of clicking noises, randomly crashed, etc.) so I bought an SSD to replace it. the SSD is basically just a lot faster since it has no moving parts, all flash memory. so my iMac now starts up in like 8 seconds and applications open super fast. video rendering was also a shitload faster when I made the #SWP video.
I do make sure to keep a backup on a time machine running a normal hard drive because the SSDs are prone to weird crashes and stuff so it's a good idea to make sure you have a regular backup handy. the normal hard drives are still more reliable than SSDs.
fair warning, opening up the iMac and getting access to the hard drive is kind of a pain in the ass. not too bad though, anyone of above average intelligence can do it.
