About to pull the trigger on a 27" iMac desktop for graphic design / photo editing. Processor: 3.1 i5 or 3.4 i7? $200 difference. RAM: 4GB standard. Upgrade to 8 or 12 by buying from NewEgg or get 8GB from Apple? (No qualms about doing it myself). Extra 4GB from Apple $200, from NewEgg maybe $60. Video: plan on purchasing w/ 2GB option. $100 additional. Big question: Solid State additional drive option? Quite expensive @ $540 for 256GB SSD with 1TB 7200rpm conventional. Worthwhile or not? Benefits a noticeable difference? Thanks all!
For your stated use, get the most memory you can afford, ditto for the fastest processor. Solid state drives are IMO infinitely better re propensity to crash. No moving parts beats a rapidly spinning disk any time. Memory is cheap and very easy to install. Don't forget a 2 or 3TB backup drive
Go with the SSD, it doesn't move which is beneficial as less moving parts tend not to break and it can be faster.
Processor: If heavy video rendering is your preferred use than it might be worth to get the faster one. In the last 20 years I always took the smallest ones in the actual range. Even in the office ordering new Macs every 3-4 years for about six people doing DTP I took the smallest ones, seldom felt lack of speed. RAM: As much as possible. But prices from Apple are ridicoulous. Upgrading is simple. In the end it depends on your budget... Solid state: No need on iMac. It may be intersting on an mobile Mac, but not on the desk. Moving parts have no relevance here anymore, you'll hardly hear or recognize them at all. Of course they're slightly faster in reaction, but that doesn't compensate the price IMHO. MORE IMPORTANT: Backup drive and let Tme Machine do its job...
I disagree. With the new Operating Systems having built in SSD management algorithms, A Solid State drive is unequivocally a reliability boost, nevermind the boost in speed. No matter how careful you are to keep your HDDs dust free, you will inevitably lose sectors due to dust over time. Having the OS on a smaller SSD with the bulk of his picture/video editing data on a conventional capacious HDD will be the current ideal situation. Can't agree more there
^^^ good advice from enzymatic. If you can I would specify to have an ocz agility 3 solid state drive for your OS. It is worlds of difference in speed, quality and reliability. 90GB for your OS works well for me. 12 seconds boot times are really nice.
Hmm, pretty high number of reviews with problems on NewEgg - freezes, BSODs, having to flash firmware, etc. Speed ratings are AMAZING! More research needed as I wasn't thinking properly: I was thinking the biggest SSD I could afford but I don't really need that big - may go for 120GB and install it myself.
Hmmm, the plot thickens: just read some stuff on everymac.com with info from Other World Computing that Apple have made it very difficult to add a SSD to a machine that wasn't ordered with one from the factory. "OWC also discovered that the "Late 2009" -- and subsequently introduced "Mid-2010" -- models use a "connector that seems to use the drive's internal sensors" rather than an external sensor like earlier 20-Inch and 24-Inch Aluminum iMac models. This means that the most straightforward way to upgrade the hard drive is to "replace the drive with another model from the same manufacturer that [OWC or another third-party has] confirmed works properly with this thermal sensor cable". OWC provides a list of compatible drives. Readers have shared reports that taping an external temperature sensor to a hard drive or SSD that does not have an internal sensor will work in these models, but this method could be risky when data is important. As again found by OWC, if an SSD is not installed at the time of purchase in the 27-Inch "Mid-2010" models -- the iMac "Core i3" 3.2 27" and "Core i5" 2.8 27" -- the connector cables and mounting bracket are not present. It still is possible to install a 2.5" SSD in addition to the hard drive if an SSD is not installed initially it's just a bit of a "hack" as one will have to find a way to mount it place. It also is worth noting that if a 27-Inch "Mid-2010" iMac is configured with an SSD, but without a hard drive, the hard drive temperature sensor is not present either."
Really, all you need as far as an SSD right now is a drive big enough to hold the operating system and any application files that would benefit from the additional speed. Data can remain on the HDD. IMO, 120GB is the sweet spot... and if I could afford the drive, I'd grab one in a heartbeat. Apple is notorious for stuff like that. They really don't want their customers giving them the go around and installing better hardware on their own. These days, adding a new hard drive to a PC could be done in 5 minutes by a brain dead squirrel. On a Mac you have to do hours of research to make sure that what you want to do is possible, are there particular components that won't work, how do you even open up the case, etc. (a bit of a jab at Fast_Ian just to make sure he's reading to give his input )
You want it to work?..... Pay the darn money and Apple will make sure it does. Cheers, Ian EDIT; The exception to this is your own RAM upgrade - They're not gonna rape me that badly!
Since I still have no Mac with SSD (even MacBook with HDD) I havn't considered this in my first move. Havn't realized that you have the chance of a combination of both, SSD+HDD in an actual iMac. Of course you're right, boot time will benefit. Regarding the dust/lose sectors, I havn't experienced that. I was surprised how little dust I found in my actual iMac/MacBook after 1-2 years. That was another topic when PowerMacs were standing on the floor... but depends on the 'housekeeping'... Of course, that's another topic, but there's is a simple solution for that: BTO at Apple.
I'm thinking about picking a 27" up as well in the next month or so. I haven't used my MacBook as a laptop since I got my iPad, I think I'd be better off with getting the extra power/screen size out of the iMac. I'll be buying refurbished, you can save a fortune doing that and your computer will basically be new.
*Personally*, FWIW, YMMV, my 02c, not for use by children, no guarantees, etc Nope! - If it's gonna break, it's probably gonna do it inside 30 days. After a year, it'll just keep on going is my philosophy..... Particularly as this is a "desktop" system - Laptops, *may* be justifiable, particularly if you travel, but the iMac - I'd use the $ to get me more RAM..... Cheers, Ian
I'm doing the SSD through Apple but for those who may be interested Other World Computing is now offering an upgrade service. Send your iMac to them and they will upgrade it to as many as 3 solid state drives as large as 480GB each while retaining the optical drive. They also offer memory upgrades up to 32GB, an e-sata port on 27" iMacs only and one or two other tweaks. At some point they say they will offer upgrade kits to Apple Certified installers.
Good choice on the SSD - I have a 256 in both my MBP and my wifes Imac 21inch. There is no performance upgrade better than an SSD and in 3 - 5 years, the old spin disk will be non-existent. On the apple care question, you have 1 year I believe to elect it, so if you get a few months in and are looking to keep it for 3 years, you can get it. You can also look at MacMall and a few other places and get it for a discount on what you would pay directly when you buy the machine. I decided to get it for my wifes Imac since the kids use it, and a good chance that they will knock it over when messing around it. I paid 180 for an extra two years. My thought on my MBP, if it breaks I will get a new one... The Imac is a great machine....
