crwdns2936637:0crwdne2936637:0 crwdns2853008:0crwdne2853008:0 crwdns2918746:0crwdne2918746:0

Model A1311 / Late 2011 / 3.1 GHz Core i3 processor / Education only model

crwdns2934591:010crwdne2934591:0 crwdns2934593:0crwdne2934593:0 | crwdns2947278:011crwdne2947278:0 crwdns2947270:0crwdne2947270:0

crwdns2933897:0crwdne2933897:0

Upgrade hardware and OS

Hi all,

Looking to upgrade my iMac. The wife bought a new one and accidentally deleted the OS High Sierra so it now has the flashing folder with a ?. I was wondering what I would need hardware wise to upgrade it to make it a bit faster for using photoshop for editing pictures. Also, would I be able to upgrade to Catalina?

I’m newer to the Mac world so please be gentle :)

Thanks in advance!

Here is the link to my model

Apple MC978LL/A Intel Core i3-2100 - 3.1GHz, 4GB, 250GB 21.5in Screen,Silver (Renewed) https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07F8BM4LY/ref=...

crwdns2934089:0crwdne2934089:0 crwdns2934093:0crwdne2934093:0

crwdns2934109:0crwdne2934109:0

crwdns2853045:0crwdne2853045:0 crwdns2853046:0crwdne2853046:0
crwdns2889612:0crwdne2889612:0 0
crwdns2947414:01crwdne2947414:0

It is a picture of a file folder with a question mark on it it happens at start up and it is a white screen with the older flashing on it

crwdns2934271:0crwdnd2934271:0crwdne2934271:0

crwdns2934285:0crwdne2934285:0

crwdns2933313:01crwdne2933313:0

crwdns2934221:0crwdne2934221:0
crwdns2931211:0crwdne2931211:0 crwdns2931215:0crwdne2931215:0 crwdns2934225:0crwdne2934225:0
crwdns2934057:0crwdne2934057:0

crwdns2933897:0crwdne2933897:0

Boot the machine up and hold down the Option & R keys to see if you have a working repair portion. If so run Disk Utilities. This failing, you can also attempt an internet system reinstall from the repair partition.

This was the bottom of the line iMac (educational model). Maximum operating system is high Sierra 10.13

It shipped with 2GB of RAM and a 250GB Hard drive. You can RAM it up to 16GB and install a SATA II 3.0 Gb’s SSD. It’s worth about $250 now.

Here’s how to replace the hard drive:

iMac Intel 21.5" EMC 2638 Hard Drive Replacement

As to upgrading it please look at my answer here:

What cpu can I upgrade my iMac to?

crwdns2934105:0crwdne2934105:0

crwdns2853045:0crwdne2853045:0 crwdns2853046:0crwdne2853046:0
crwdns2889612:0crwdne2889612:0 2
crwdns2934285:0crwdne2934285:0

crwdns2934229:0crwdne2934229:0

Kram2718 crwdns2934231:0crwdne2934231:0
crwdns2936625:0crwdne2936625:0:

crwdns2936751:024crwdne2936751:0 0

crwdns2936753:07crwdne2936753:0 0

crwdns2936753:030crwdne2936753:0 6

crwdns2942667:0crwdne2942667:0 211