Buying a new iMac, replacing the HD?

[baterax]

Hi!

So, I want to get a new iMac, but with an SSD.
Except, the price of it straight from Apple is too high.
So, I wanna buy one from newegg and replace the internal hard drive in the iMac.
How hard is it? Is it safe? Do I void the warranty?
I mean, I know it's easy enough to add RAM to it, but I'm not sure about the HD.
Maybe I'll buy the HD and bring the iMac to an Apple store and have them do it?

Thanks!

[GimmeSlack12]

It's not really possible anymore, mainly due to a proprietary cable that Apple uses for hooking up the hard drive. Other than that, these new iMacs seems to be a little more tricky than previous models since the glass/plastic screen is glued to the monitor. Finally, it does void your warranty.

I'm an experienced DIY'er and even I am planning on doing the following: get the SSD or a Fusion Drive from Apple and deal with the price.

[justperry]

Originally Posted by baterax

Hi!

So, I want to get a new iMac, but with an SSD.
Except, the price of it straight from Apple is too high.
So, I wanna buy one from newegg and replace the internal hard drive in the iMac.
How hard is it? Is it safe? Do I void the warranty?
I mean, I know it's easy enough to add RAM to it, but I'm not sure about the HD.
Maybe I'll buy the HD and bring the iMac to an Apple store and have them do it?

Thanks!

Good luck with that.

Depends if you are handy, if so it should not be that hard to get inside.
Void the Warranty, probably.

To GimmeSlack12 Is that so(proprietary cable)?

[simsaladimbamba]

Since the RAM is harder to replace than the HDD, and it will void the warranty, as you have to reglue the display, it might be worth considering getting a USB 3.0 enclosure for 2.5" SATA HDDs and putting the SSD in there.

http://www.macrumors.com/2012/12/01/...l-microphones/

[GimmeSlack12]

Originally Posted by justperry

To GimmeSlack12 Is that so(proprietary cable)?

I will confirm, but I was just chatting about this same topic for the 2011 iMac and people were claiming this. I did a quick search and this was the case for those models. I don't expect anything to have changed.

I was just looking at iFixIt's teardown of the 21" iMac (the new one), and the glued monitor adhesive must be "reapplied" to put the thing back together! This alone scares me enough to just leave the iMac in one piece!

EDIT: I read closer on iFixit's teardown of the hard drive and cannot see if there's that cable used anymore, the interesting thing here is that 2.5" hard drives are being used. So I suppose the cable isn't proprietary anymore, but again I would not bother attempting to open this thing up. Replacing that adhesive to put the screen back on seems like a nightmare.

[zhandri]

you can get a new thunderbolt external SSD. it will deliver full SSD speed.

[baterax]

ARGH.

With the SSD straight from Apple, the price of this iMac goes up to $3,649.00.
This is absurd.
For that, I can just get a damn Mac Pro...
Except, they are super outdated right now, and there's no release date for the new ones, right?

Damn. Suggestions?

EDIT: The thunderbolt option, I don't know, because I kinda wanted the BOOT drive to be SSD.

----------

It also looks like there are no external SSD ones larger than 128? I might be wrong there. Newegg doesn't have anything larger than that as external. Hmmm.

[simsaladimbamba]

Originally Posted by baterax

EDIT: The thunderbolt option, I don't know, because I kinda wanted the BOOT drive to be SSD.

Which is possible via Thunderbolt and USB 3.0, thus the recommendations.

Hell, I can boot my Macs from USB 2.0 and Firewire HDDs.

How to format a new HDD to install Mac OS X onto (or make a bootable copy onto)

----------

Originally Posted by baterax

It also looks like there are no external SSD ones larger than 128? I might be wrong there. Newegg doesn't have anything larger than that as external. Hmmm.

There are 256 GB, 480 GB and 512 GB SSD out there (under Internal SSDs), 256 GB can be had for as low as 150 € for a Crucial M4.
Just get an enclosure to your liking, USB 3.0 enclosures will be cheaper than Thunderbolt ones, and put it in there.

[justperry]

Originally Posted by GimmeSlack12

EDIT: I read closer on iFixit's teardown of the hard drive and cannot see if there's that cable used anymore, the interesting thing here is that 2.5" hard drives are being used. So I suppose the cable isn't proprietary anymore, but again I would not bother attempting to open this thing up. Replacing that adhesive to put the screen back on seems like a nightmare.

That's why I asked, I saw the picture on iFixit and it seemed to be a regular SATA connector.

[baterax]

Awesome.

Sounds like it's resolved!

Thanks!

[zhandri]

Originally Posted by baterax

ARGH.


EDIT: The thunderbolt option, I don't know, because I kinda wanted the BOOT drive to be SSD.

----------

It also looks like there are no external SSD ones larger than 128? I might be wrong there. Newegg doesn't have anything larger than that as external. Hmmm.

yeah it's possible to use them as the main boot disk! and there are some new ones coming out the next weeks. lacie already has a 500GB SSD drive but it's pretty expensive. i think buffalo is coming out with a 256GB version soon.

Edit:
this is the 256GB from lacie
http://www.amazon.com/9000352-Rugged-Thunderbolt-380MBps-Transfer/dp/B009HQKR0Q/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1354549235&sr=8-2&keywords=thunderbolt+SSD

this is the buffalo one
http://www.buffalo-technology.com/en...table-ssd.html

[mihai.ile]

The buffalo one seems a really pretty unit. Now someone just needs to sell an aluminum adapter that can be mounted on the back of the iMac foot and a cable that shoud be no longer or shorter than just to connect the drive to the usb or thunderbold port on the iMac.

[simsaladimbamba]

Originally Posted by mihai.ile

The buffalo one seems a really pretty unit. Now someone just needs to sell an aluminum adapter that can be mounted on the back of the iMac foot and a cable that shoud be no longer or shorter than just to connect the drive to the usb or thunderbold port on the iMac.

Like this?

[mihai.ile]

I was thinking more of something that would be able to hold the drive in a more vertical position just behind the foot with some purpose made cable to the iMac but this shelf is not too bad either. Somehow this shelf it just not seems to be up to the iMac design.

[OlMighty]

I know the RAM is accessible on the 27 at least, but is the hard drive theoretically replaceable on either, (accepting the lack of a compatible adaptor etc)?

[tuccillo]

You can get Westmere processors on the MacPro. One generation behind but still very capable - they use 1333MHz memory - very good memory bandwidth and lots of core - a bit pricey perhaps.

Originally Posted by baterax

ARGH.

With the SSD straight from Apple, the price of this iMac goes up to $3,649.00.
This is absurd.
For that, I can just get a damn Mac Pro...
Except, they are super outdated right now, and there's no release date for the new ones, right?

Damn. Suggestions?

EDIT: The thunderbolt option, I don't know, because I kinda wanted the BOOT drive to be SSD.

----------

It also looks like there are no external SSD ones larger than 128? I might be wrong there. Newegg doesn't have anything larger than that as external. Hmmm.

[Zackmd1]

Originally Posted by baterax

Hi!

So, I want to get a new iMac, but with an SSD.
Except, the price of it straight from Apple is too high.
So, I wanna buy one from newegg and replace the internal hard drive in the iMac.
How hard is it? Is it safe? Do I void the warranty?
I mean, I know it's easy enough to add RAM to it, but I'm not sure about the HD.
Maybe I'll buy the HD and bring the iMac to an Apple store and have them do it?

Thanks!

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1499082

Go to page 3 and continue reading to page 4. Your answer is there. The hardest part will be opening up the imac and re-sealing.