2020 iMac 27" Base Model Storage Advice

[philon13]

Hi All,

So I'm finally upgrading my late 2013 13" Macbook Pro and as I no longer need the portability I have decided to go for the 2020 iMac 27" base model with the 256GB SSD. My Macbook currently has a 512GB SSD as I import photos to the SSD for editing etc and only move them to an external drive once the client is happy and no further edits are required.

I've just bought a 1TB Samsung T7 USB C drive with the hope of using this as an extension of the boot drive. I plan on installing a few games as well as the adobe suit etc, has anyone got any experience with this type of configuration? My photos library is also well over 200GB so hoping to store this on the external SSD too, do you think I'll noticed much of a bottle neck or any performance issues?

Cheers in advance!

 

[Madonepro]

The base model, alongside having a 256GB SSD only comes with 8GB of RAM, from what you are describing as your work flow, you may need significantly more.
I am assuming your budget isn't quite up to increasing the spec, but you also don't mention what the 2013 MBP is spec'd too.

I recently updated my 13 MBP, and went through a similar thought process. Do I buy a desktop as I rarely go out and about with it, so thought about buy an iMac. Um'd and Ah'd for a while, settled on an i7 Mac Mini, and then paired it with an external monitor.

 

[philon13]

The base model, alongside having a 256GB SSD only comes with 8GB of RAM, from what you are describing as your work flow, you may need significantly more.
I am assuming your budget isn't quite up to increasing the spec, but you also don't mention what the 2013 MBP is spec'd too.

I recently updated my 13 MBP, and went through a similar thought process. Do I buy a desktop as I rarely go out and about with it, so thought about buy an iMac. Um'd and Ah'd for a while, settled on an i7 Mac Mini, and then paired it with an external monitor.

Thanks for the quick response!
Apologies, yeah it might help if i provided the Macbook Spec.
2.6 Dual-Core i5
8GB RAM
Intel Iris 1536
SSD 512GB

Up until recently the Macbook has served me well and has handled everything I've thrown at it, the main reason for upgrading it Lightroom and photoshop can be sluggish however still usable. I'm not doing anything crazy, just basic edits and recently it's mainly just been corrections for scanned 35mm photos.

As my Macbook has been capable up until now I'm confident that the specs even on the base 27" model will be a significant improvement. However, I do plan on upgrading the RAM in the near future.

My budget is around £2K so I did look at going for the 512GB version with the slightly faster CPU but when comparing the £200 extra for that to £170 for the 1TB external drive I thought it would be best to go for the extra storage and upgrade the Ram in a month or two.

 

[Madonepro]

The RAM would be thing that will make your system faster, so I'd stick with that plan if it were me.

 

[EugW]

Samsung T5 or T7 works very well with the USB-C iMacs. If you're on a budget, 256 GB for the internal SSD is fine. Even better would be the Samsung X5 Thunderbolt SSD, but that's considerably more expensive.

I would add another 16 GB of aftermarket RAM to the iMac to bring it to 24 GB total. It is not an expensive upgrade, but it gives a lot of breathing room for RAM usage. 16 GB can sometimes be a bit tight for what you describe.

 

[philon13]

Samsung T5 or T7 works very well with the USB-C iMacs. If you're on a budget, 256 GB for the internal SSD is fine. Even better would be the Samsung X5 Thunderbolt SSD, but that's considerably more expensive.

I would add another 16GB of aftermarket RAM to the iMac to bring it to 24 GB total. It is not an expensive upgrade, but it gives a lot of breathing room for RAM usage. 16 GB can sometimes be a bit tight for what you describe.

Thanks, I did see the Samsung X5 Thunderbolt SSD whilst doing some research however yeah it's a lot more expensive

As for the ram upgrade, could I buy 16GB (2x8GB) and use it alongside the standard 8GB then? It's been a while since I've paid any attention to hardware but from what I remember it was always best to use the same manufacture/speeds across the board rather than mixing and matching?

 

[EugW]

As for the ram upgrade, could I buy 16GB (2x8GB) and use it alongside the standard 8GB then? It's been a while since I've paid any attention to hardware but from what I remember it was always best to use the same manufacture/speeds across the board rather than mixing and matching?

I’ve been running 24 GB in my 2017 for 3 years now. Before that I was running 12 GB in my 2010.

Just get good RAM like Crucial or Samsung, with the exact specs necessary for that model.

 

[filmgirl]

As for the ram upgrade, could I buy 16GB (2x8GB) and use it alongside the standard 8GB then? It's been a while since I've paid any attention to hardware but from what I remember it was always best to use the same manufacture/speeds across the board rather than mixing and matching?

So the 2020 iMac is really sensitive to RAM. For optimal performance, you want to have the same brand and capacity across the system. There are no reports of anyone getting Apple stock RAM to work at full speed alongside third-party RAM. If you do get another RAM kit, if you want to run it at dual channel, it’ll run at a slower clock speed. That’s still preferable to the alternative of running full speed but single channel.

My advice is to skip the Apple RAM and get a 16 GB kit (8x 2) or a 32 GB kit (either 8 x 4 or 16 x 2), depending on your budget. I got four sticks of the Samsung 32GB modules and you could do two of those for ~$250.

 

[EugW]

So the 2020 iMac is really sensitive to RAM. For optimal performance, you want to have the same brand and capacity across the system. There are no reports of anyone getting Apple stock RAM to work at full speed alongside third-party RAM. If you do get another RAM kit, if you want to run it at dual channel, it’ll run at a slower clock speed. That’s still preferable to the alternative of running full speed but single channel.

My advice is to skip the Apple RAM and get a 16 GB kit (8x 2) or a 32 GB kit (either 8 x 4 or 16 x 2), depending on your budget. I got four sticks of the Samsung 32GB modules and you could do two of those for ~$250.

I saw that but I will reserve judgement on that for the time being. The problem is no one posts the exact specs of their RAM when posting their results. No mention of RAM timings or SPD entries etc. Without these it’s very difficult to know if the exact right RAM has been purchased, regardless of the vendor.

I will concede that the 2020 iMac is indeed sensitive for RAM, but nonetheless so far the vast majority of posts out there don’t tell us if their mixed RAM tests actually used properly matched RAM. Just posting RAM speed and saying they bought it at OWC is not good enough.

 

[Resident Guru]

Hi All,

So I'm finally upgrading my late 2013 13" Macbook Pro and as I no longer need the portability I have decided to go for the 2020 iMac 27" base model with the 256GB SSD. My Macbook currently has a 512GB SSD as I import photos to the SSD for editing etc and only move them to an external drive once the client is happy and no further edits are required.

I've just bought a 1TB Samsung T7 USB C drive with the hope of using this as an extension of the boot drive. I plan on installing a few games as well as the adobe suit etc, has anyone got any experience with this type of configuration? My photos library is also well over 200GB so hoping to store this on the external SSD too, do you think I'll noticed much of a bottle neck or any performance issues?

Cheers in advance!

You'll be fine. I did something very similar. I have a very large Photos library (1.2tb). I purchased the 512GB SSD model iMac. I was able to use a 2TB SSD in a USB-C enclosure with the iMac. I then created a folder named pictures and set that as my iCloud photos library and set it to download originals. It took a couple days but I know have my full Photos library downloaded onto that SSD and it works beautifully. I have also tried World of Warcraft from the external and couldn't tell a speed difference from the internal SSD. It's just a SATA SSD but I'm still getting write speeds of 450MB and reads of 500MB over USB-C.

 

[philon13]

You'll be fine. I did something very similar. I have a very large Photos library (1.2tb). I purchased the 512GB SSD model iMac. I was able to use a 2TB SSD in a USB-C enclosure with the iMac. I then created a folder named pictures and set that as my iCloud photos library and set it to download originals. It took a couple days but I know have my full Photos library downloaded onto that SSD and it works beautifully. I have also tried World of Warcraft from the external and couldn't tell a speed difference from the internal SSD. It's just a SATA SSD but I'm still getting write speeds of 450MB and reads of 500MB over USB-C.

Amazing thanks! The Hard drive is arriving today and my iMac should be here tomorrow so that fills me with confidence.

 

[PBG4 Dude]

Amazing thanks! The Hard drive is arriving today and my iMac should be here tomorrow so that fills me with confidence.

I’m using a Sandisk 2TB USB-C SSD with 1/2 for windows and 1/2 for macOS and so far its working without issues. Get roughly 500MBps read speeds and 300MBps writes. Not as fast as the internal drive, but plenty fast enough to work.

I copied my photo library from my 2017 MBP to this SSF and it took 8 minutes. Copied the same file to my backup hard drive and it took 45 minutes so definitely am happy with the SSD’s performance.

 

[SkiHound2]

Thanks for the quick response!
Apologies, yeah it might help if i provided the Macbook Spec.
2.6 Dual-Core i5
8GB RAM
Intel Iris 1536
SSD 512GB

Up until recently the Macbook has served me well and has handled everything I've thrown at it, the main reason for upgrading it Lightroom and photoshop can be sluggish however still usable. I'm not doing anything crazy, just basic edits and recently it's mainly just been corrections for scanned 35mm photos.

As my Macbook has been capable up until now I'm confident that the specs even on the base 27" model will be a significant improvement. However, I do plan on upgrading the RAM in the near future.

My budget is around £2K so I did look at going for the 512GB version with the slightly faster CPU but when comparing the £200 extra for that to £170 for the 1TB external drive I thought it would be best to go for the extra storage and upgrade the Ram in a month or two.

The ram is user upgradeable and you can buy it much cheaper than the Apple upgrade costs. If you look at the Adobe sight they basically recommend 12gb or more. I'd add at least some additional ram. Other world computing is one reliable source. And I'd think about upgrading to the 512gb SSD, especially if your Macbook had 512. I use a Samsung T5 as my primary photo storage. I use Carbon Copy Cloner to back the T5 up to a cheap spinner. When I import photos I often import to the main drive because it's even faster than the T5. But you can easily work from the T5 as your primary photo catalog. And I'm not sure you could tell the difference working from that or from the primary drive. The 256gb SSD is probably workable, especially if you keep all your images on the T5. I just think the 512gb upgrade gives you more head room if you can swing. I'd say adding some ram would be the first upgrade if you're using LR and PS extensively. Last I looked 16gb was only around $70 and 32 gb (2 16gb sticks) was around $120 or so. The upgrade is easy and doesn't void the warranty or anything. You can find instructions all over, including on Apple's site.

 

[filmgirl]

I saw that but I will reserve judgement on that for the time being. The problem is no one posts the exact specs of their RAM when posting their results. No mention of RAM timings or SPD entries etc. Without these it’s very difficult to know if the exact right RAM has been purchased, regardless of the vendor.

I will concede that the 2020 iMac is indeed sensitive for RAM, but nonetheless so far the vast majority of posts out there don’t tell us if their mixed RAM tests actually used properly matched RAM. Just posting RAM speed and saying they bought it at OWC is not good enough.

Apple updated their documentation to explicitly state that for best performance, you should use the same capacity and the same brand for the 2020 iMac. You’re welcome to do what you want to do but a bunch of us have tested this explicitly (and many of the posts do show exactly the RAM type, the timings, etc.) and I have yet to see anyone maintain full speed dual channel with the Apple RAM and a paired kit from any vendor. Including Micron/Crucial kits paired with Apple RAM with Micron markings.

It appears you can mix sizes (if paired properly in dual channel) from the same brand — but the Apple RAM is going to run slower when paired with anything else and that’s just how it is. It’s probably not a big deal, just something to budget for.

 

[EugW]

Apple updated their documentation to explicitly state that for best performance, you should use the same capacity and the same brand for the 2020 iMac. You’re welcome to do what you want to do but a bunch of us have tested this explicitly (and many of the posts do show exactly the RAM type, the timings, etc.) and I have yet to see anyone maintain full speed dual channel with the Apple RAM and a paired kit from any vendor. Including Micron/Crucial kits paired with Apple RAM with Micron markings.

It appears you can mix sizes (if paired properly in dual channel) from the same brand — but the Apple RAM is going to run slower when paired with anything else and that’s just how it is. It’s probably not a big deal, just something to budget for.

What are the exact timings required anyway? I'm curious. I haven't seen it posted, but maybe I haven't looked in the right places.

I don't think you can read the SPD entries from macOS, but you can do it from Windows.

 

[pldelisle]

What are the exact timings required anyway? I'm curious. I haven't seen it posted, but I guess I haven't looked in the right places.

CL19.
See https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/memory-upgrade-compatibility-list-for-imac-2019-2020.2248911/