21.5 2012 iMac - Base Model 5400 rpm drive question

[udflyer]

I know for myself as a developer / power user I would not get this Mac.

However, I talked my father in law into getting a Mac instead of a new PC.

The $1299 iMac is the sweet spot from pricing for him.


He is an email, surfer, iPhoto, MS Word type of person.


Is this 5400rpm drive in this machine **that** bad.

For a lightweight user do you think he will see solid performance ?

Yes, I have tried them at the store, I was looking for data from someone who owns it and has used for a while


TIA.


Flyer

 

[trustever]

The HDD is a bit laggy when the mac starts up but afther let say a minute or max 2 everything runs smooth so I doubt your father will be disappointed at all..

 

[Arfdog]

Is this 5400rpm drive in this machine **that** bad.

For a lightweight user do you think he will see solid performance ?

Flyer

It's faster than the outgoing 7200 rpm model, so yeah, it'll be alright.

 

[azentropy]

It's faster than the outgoing 7200 rpm model, so yeah, it'll be alright.

No, it is not. At least in my own experience and Disk Magic benchmarks it is about 20% slower than the 1tb 7200rpm 3.5 drive in the 2011 iMac I had. I only had them side by side for a little bit, but the 2011 definitely booted faster, and launched my VMWare Linux VM images quicker although CPU intensive takes were faster with the 2012 iMac.

On the plus side it is silent and overall the 2012 iMac runs much cooler and is much more energy efficient than the 2011 model. For light users this is probably more of a benefit.

 

[passey]

I have the base 21.5" 2012 model the only real time you notice the slow speeds are
1) startup (which you don't use as you always put your mac to sleep).
2) opening big applications ie. photoshop. The basic apps safari email all open instantly.

For basic browsing I wouldn't pay for a faster drive.

On that note I did buy a 250GB SSD and have it externaly booting osx from but i use photoshop and editing software.

 

[udflyer]

Thanks everyone....

It will be a go.

1 more PC person converted !

Now if I could only get his "Quicken Home Inventory" data over to a Mac App.

That old school inventory program has no export capability !

 

[macalec]

Thanks everyone....

It will be a go.

1 more PC person converted !

Now if I could only get his "Quicken Home Inventory" data over to a Mac App.

That old school inventory program has no export capability !

That is wonderful! Congrats to him. Also I have the fusion drive in the new system, so it really mitigates the slower speeds from the drive.

 

[flavr]

No, it is not. At least in my own experience and Disk Magic benchmarks it is about 20% slower than the 1tb 7200rpm 3.5 drive in the 2011 iMac I had. I only had them side by side for a little bit, but the 2011 definitely booted faster, and launched my VMWare Linux VM images quicker although CPU intensive takes were faster with the 2012 iMac.

On the plus side it is silent and overall the 2012 iMac runs much cooler and is much more energy efficient than the 2011 model. For light users this is probably more of a benefit.

soooo....what are the benchmarks scores?

 

[azentropy]

soooo....what are the benchmarks scores?

From a similar thread...

On my 2012 2.9ghz i5 iMac I'm getting BlackMagic scores of right around 100MB/s Read and Write. On the 1TB 2011 2.8ghz i7 iMac I was getting scores around 130MB/s Read and Write.

 

[udflyer]

Thanks to everyone in this thread.

He did by the base iMac 21.5 and it is great for his needs.

I would have never guessed it had a 5400 rpm drive in there because it
is a peppy machine for his use cases

Slowest part is his AT&T Uverse since he has their cheapest tier.

Thanks again everyone!


flyer

 

[d0nK]

I've found all the 5400rpm 21.5" base models I've tried to beachball too much, even for basic things like managing and viewing photo's.
Terrible design decision.

Fusion should be standard.