256gb iMac?

[flyersgl]

I am wondering if it makes sense to save $$$ and buy a 256gb iMac and plan to store most of my files (including lots of photos) on external SSD drives. Are there people who do that as their regular set up? I currently have a 2015 27" iMac with 1tb storage, about 1/2 of which is in use. I own two 4tb drives so I was thinking to keep documents and files on one of them and use the other for time machine back-ups. Does this make sense? What compromises will I be making?

I CAN afford to buy up, however, I don't think this iMac will be my long term solution. Will eventually upgrade my 2017 MBP (which just got a free battery and keyboard replacement and is still performing well) and buy better monitor when prices come down (I hope!) so I don't want to overspend on the iMac today.

 

[za9ra22]

I use external drives for almost all my storage, so 256 would work for me since that would provide enough space for everything I need onboard. But I went for a 512 instead, not because I thought that would solve a problem, but because it allows for work I'm doing to be all local on the system, before offloading it for storage.

I think I'm better off that way - now my iMac is up and running in use, I'm at 195Gb used on the drive. However, if I had opted for the 256, I could reduce that by at least 100Gb just by offloading my iTunes folder!

 

[mj_]

Of course you can do it. It really depends on the drive's performance, and since external SSDs can perform just as well as internal ones these days (think Samsung T7 or X5) there isn't really much keeping you from saving a buck or two on internal storage. However, keep in mind that the entry-level iMac only has two Thunderbolt/USB-C ports hence your overall connectivity will be fairly limited, especially if 50% of your ports will be permanently used by an external storage device.

 

[flyersgl]

Thanks for your thoughts. After thinking through several options, I just ordered a Samsung T7. I think the first thing I am going to do is see if I can set it up to completely replace the hard drive in my 2015 iMac (awful 1TB fusion). If I can get more life out of that machine and its gorgeous screen that would be the best solution. (I am currently using an SSD as a boot disk, but that SSD is small and came out of my 2011 MBA so that is its own disaster waiting to happen!)

If I can't get some better performance out if that iMac, I will order the yellow one (4 ports) and use the T7 to augment the 256gb internal.

 

[Surfman]

Thanks for your thoughts. After thinking through several options, I just ordered a Samsung T7. I think the first thing I am going to do is see if I can set it up to completely replace the hard drive in my 2015 iMac (awful 1TB fusion). If I can get more life out of that machine and its gorgeous screen that would be the best solution. (I am currently using an SSD as a boot disk, but that SSD is small and came out of my 2011 MBA so that is its own disaster waiting to happen!)

If I can't get some better performance out if that iMac, I will order the yellow one (4 ports) and use the T7 to augment the 256gb internal.

I just sold my late 2015 27” iMac, was going to put a SSD In it. Decided to sell while still value some in it, got $1500AUD for it and the SSD would of cost me near $500 installed, wouldn’t of attempted it myself.
I was using a about 300gb so would get the 512 if i get another one. just using my new 12” iPad for now.

 

[flyersgl]

I just sold my late 2015 27” iMac, was going to put a SSD In it. Decided to sell while still value some in it, got $1500AUD for it and the SSD would of cost me near $500 installed, wouldn’t of attempted it myself.
I was using a about 300gb so would get the 512 if i get another one. just using my new 12” iPad for now.

That's a great resale price! I bought this iMac in Apple refurb store and it was always a bit laggy. I think I got a lemon and should have maybe addressed in it earlier days. I have sold other Apple devices to individuals but feel uncomfortable selling this one if I can't represent that I think it is still a good computer. Trade in value is about $450 US which is of course low, but if I can't make the external SSD thing work, that is probably the path I will take.

 

[Warped9]

I was thinking about this as well. I have a 500GB SSD on my 2011 (of which I’m presently using less than 200GB) and it works fine for me. I was thinking of popping for a 1TB SSD on a new iMac, but maybe it’s unnecessary if I have an external SSD for backup and extra storage. You can pick up an external cheaper than what Apple will charge for another 500GB of storage.

 

[svish]

You can get a 256GB iMac and use external drives to store data. External drives like the Samsung T7 are very good.
This will be cheaper than buying higher storage capacity iMac.

 

[mdgm]

If you want to boot a M1 Mac off an external you would need to get a TB3 drive though such as the Samsung X5. The T7 is USB-C so can't be used as the boot disk for a M1 Mac.

You could hook up the 2015 iMac to a TB(1/2) cable to an Apple TB3 to TB2 adapter -> TB3 dock -> TB3 NVMe drive.

 

[4sallypat]

Base M1 iMac here - just like my base M1 Mini.

256GB is sufficient for me as I store & archive my files in many different areas:

• 1 TB external SSD (TB3-2)
• Unlimited Google Drive
• 500TB VPN server (NAS)
• Apple iCloud

 

[flyersgl]

If you want to boot a M1 Mac off an external you would need to get a TB3 drive though such as the Samsung X5. The T7 is USB-C so can't be used as the boot disk for a M1 Mac.

You could hook up the 2015 iMac to a TB(1/2) cable to an Apple TB3 to TB2 adapter -> TB3 dock -> TB3 NVMe drive.

A question for you - why is a TB3 dock needed? Is it for power?

 

[mdgm]

Yes. The Apple TB3 to TB2 adapter is the only bi-directional one and it doesn’t supply power to peripherals so if you use a bus powered drive a dock will overcome that problem.

 

[Abazigal]

I am wondering if it makes sense to save $$$ and buy a 256gb iMac and plan to store most of my files (including lots of photos) on external SSD drives. Are there people who do that as their regular set up? I currently have a 2015 27" iMac with 1tb storage, about 1/2 of which is in use. I own two 4tb drives so I was thinking to keep documents and files on one of them and use the other for time machine back-ups. Does this make sense? What compromises will I be making?

I CAN afford to buy up, however, I don't think this iMac will be my long term solution. Will eventually upgrade my 2017 MBP (which just got a free battery and keyboard replacement and is still performing well) and buy better monitor when prices come down (I hope!) so I don't want to overspend on the iMac today.

I think it's definitely doable. I have used about half the storage on my 256gb MBA (including dropbox files and such).

 

[Kiimora]

I ordered the mid -model M1 iMac, my usage is mainly academics & productive tasks. All my photo / music libraries & docs are stored in iCloud , I plan to use an external SSD if needed. I also have the M1 iPad Pro as my secondary device running other apps.

As my first foray into iMacs I am keeping it clean, hence no junk apps this time as I did with my previous Windows AIOs