Advice on upgrade (iMac Late 2012)

[domdom83]

Hi!
I decided to go for a 21.5" iMac on refurb. I got the basic configuration Quadcore i5 2.7GHz, 8gb and 1Tb 5400rpm hard drive.

I wanted to have the advices on upgrades I can make to it....
I'm thinking about going to 16gb of ram in the next few weeks... Will it change something? Has anyone done it?
And then I'm thinking about getting an SSD (Samsung 840 Evo 500gb). Is that a good idea? Is it compatible with the machine?

D.

 

[MrGimper]

Hi!
I decided to go for a 21.5" iMac on refurb. I got the basic configuration Quadcore i5 2.7GHz, 8gb and 1Tb 5400rpm hard drive.

I wanted to have the advices on upgrades I can make to it....
I'm thinking about going to 16gb of ram in the next few weeks... Will it change something? Has anyone done it?
And then I'm thinking about getting an SSD (Samsung 840 Evo 500gb). Is that a good idea? Is it compatible with the machine?

D.

You won't be able to upgrade the RAM unless you want to pull the machine apart. There is no external access like there is with the 27"

And external SSD in a USB 3 enclosure would provide a significant upgrade as a primary drive.

 

[xxBURT0Nxx]

like MrGimper said, unless you want to tear the iMac apart and remove the screen, you will not be able to upgrade the iMac.

That said, more RAM is always good. An SSD drive will probably be the biggest single performance upgrade you can make to a computer that still has a spinning HDD.

If you want to take it apart, check out guides on ifixit... they have great teardowns for a lot of apple products.

 

[domdom83]

I've checked on ifixit and upgrading the ram doesn't seem to be that difficult if you know what you're doing. I've found a video on YouTube explaining how to step by step.
But is it worth it? Anyone?

 

[MrGimper]

I've checked on ifixit and upgrading the ram doesn't seem to be that difficult if you know what you're doing. I've found a video on YouTube explaining how to step by step.
But is it worth it? Anyone?

Obviously your warranty goes out the window. Is it worth it? ;-)

 

[xxBURT0Nxx]

you lose the warranty, you risk breaking your screen, you have to try to put it back together exactly replacing adhesive. Sure it can be done, but I personally wouldn't do it.

Are you running such extensive tasks that 8gb of ram is not enough for you anymore?

I would use the computer until it is not fast enough and/or out of warranty. At that point, either sell and buy a new machine, or upgrade to SSD and more RAM.

just my .02 but if you aren't having problems now, why risk breaking your machine just to say you have more ram?

 

[domdom83]

You won't be able to upgrade the RAM unless you want to pull the machine apart. There is no external access like there is with the 27"

And external SSD in a USB 3 enclosure would provide a significant upgrade as a primary drive.

Best solution I think

----------

you lose the warranty, you risk breaking your screen, you have to try to put it back together exactly replacing adhesive. Sure it can be done, but I personally wouldn't do it.

Are you running such extensive tasks that 8gb of ram is not enough for you anymore?

I would use the computer until it is not fast enough and/or out of warranty. At that point, either sell and buy a new machine, or upgrade to SSD and more RAM.

just my .02 but if you aren't having problems now, why risk breaking your machine just to say you have more ram?

You are probably right. I'll go for an external SSD for the moment as a first upgrade.
I've read about that somewhere.
Over USB or thunderbolt? Which is better?

 

[AaronM5670]

USB3 SSDs are cheaper and more widespread than their Thunderbolt equivalents and in real-world usage you won't notice the difference in terms of speed or anything else.

 

[bluescale]

I would at least wait until you are either out of warranty, or run up against a limitation with your current hardware. When/if you do decide to install more RAM, that'll obviously be the same time to install the new SSD.

I wonder if you can drop in a wireless AC card as well.