Any way to get a refurb iMac and SSD?

[DieBeachballDie]

...without sitting here watching the store and hoping a BASE 27" with a 256 pops up?

Looks like i'll be getting a refurbished 27" iMac pretty quick here, but after reading post after post, thread after thread, you guys have me paranoid about old technology. ALL the refurbs (that i can afford) have the basic HHD. Far as i know, you cant have a refurb modified before you buy it? it comes as-is? So no SSD. IF i could afford a $2500 computer, i'd get the 256 SSD, but i cant. The refurbs will run me $1750-1850 all-in... i barely even have that.

I dont need a huge HD, i like the speed, and i'd like the piece of mind. I'd really like the SSD 256. I COULD pay an extra $200 on top of the refurb price (lil' over 2K total), but thats the utter limit.What are my options? Do i HAVE any options? New ($2500) is absolutely out.

Is it really worth the extra $650-750 for the flash?

Can i have it upgraded down the line (without spending a fortune)?

If i just buy an external SSD down the line will that solve the issue? Sounds a bit too easy.


A lot of questions i know, but hopefully not too redundant.

 

[duke02]

...without sitting here watching the store and hoping a BASE 27" with a 256 pops up?

Looks like i'll be getting a refurbished 27" iMac pretty quick here, but after reading post after post, thread after thread, you guys have me paranoid about old technology. ALL the refurbs (that i can afford) have the basic HHD. Far as i know, you cant have a refurb modified before you buy it? it comes as-is? So no SSD. IF i could afford a $2500 computer, i'd get the 256 SSD, but i cant. The refurbs will run me $1750-1850 all-in... i barely even have that.

I dont need a huge HD, i like the speed, and i'd like the piece of mind. I'd really like the SSD 256. I COULD pay an extra $200 on top of the refurb price (lil' over 2K total), but thats the utter limit.What are my options? Do i HAVE any options? New ($2500) is absolutely out.

Is it really worth the extra $650-750 for the flash?

Can i have it upgraded down the line (without spending a fortune)?

If i just buy an external SSD down the line will that solve the issue? Sounds a bit too easy.


A lot of questions i know, but hopefully not too redundant.

You can replace the drive after the fact, but as somebody who just fried their iMac, I personally wouldn't recommend it. Poke around and keep tabs. When I bought my refurb, there were 256gb, 512gb, and 1tb ssd's. I always advise people to buy more storage than you think you need. Also, the wiser members here may have a better answer on this, but I figure since ssd's have a finite number of writes, the larger the drive, the less any one block may get written to and may last longer.

And an SSD is totally worth it. Totally transforms the performance. In everyday usage, you'll notice it way more than a processor or just about any other upgrade aside from RAM

 

[DieBeachballDie]

To clarify, i DONT have the extra $6-700 to add it now. And i highly doubt a base model 27" refurb with a 256 SSD is going to pop up anytime soon. Guess i'm stuck.

What am i likely to pay someone down the line to upgrade to a 256 SSD?

Or maybe just buy the base 27" with the HHD for now, sell it in a couple years for something with the SSD... Maybe the base 27" will have retina and SSD as standard in a couple years anyways...

 

[redheeler]

To clarify, i DONT have the extra $6-700 to add it now. And i highly doubt a base model 27" refurb with a 256 SSD is going to pop up anytime soon. Guess i'm stuck.

Be patient, one will appear eventually.

What am i likely to pay someone down the line to upgrade to a 256 SSD?

You can always add one later with an external enclosure, but my advice is still to wait.

 

[dyt1983]

Buy Fusion drive version now and unfuse the drive. Then you'll have a 128GB SSD. If you need more in the future, the 256GB drives go for $200-250 now (and probably less in the future), and $20-30 for stuff to take apart the iMac and reassemble it.

 

[DieBeachballDie]

Redheeler, that seems a very specific thing to wait for... i'm not so sure. Besides, i need one pretty quick.

Buy Fusion drive version now and unfuse the drive. Then you'll have a 128GB SSD. If you need more in the future, the 256GB drives go for $200-250 now (and probably less in the future), and $20-30 for stuff to take apart the iMac and reassemble it.

The Fusion upgrade is the same price as the SSD, and there are no more of those installed in BASE model 27" refurbs than SSD's.

Again, it seems just a bit too specific a need to expect to find one pop up refurb or used, so i guess the question has been answered. Probably just going to buy the refurb with the 1TB HHD, and if i absolutely need the upgrade i'll likely just sell it in a year or two (while it still holds value) and buy a better version. Buying refurb now will give me even better selling value later too because i save so much now.


I think i just need to switch my mindset from buy a supercomputer now and keep it for 10 years to buy a base model now and swap it for another in two years like a lot of people here do.

Thanks for the replies.

 

[dyt1983]

edit: To remove personally identifying info not relevant to the conversation.

 

[DieBeachballDie]

When I posted that suggestion, there were a few 27" models with fusion drives at or less than $1849. I checked before posting and double checked after seeing your price requirements. I believe one was in the <$1700 range, but that may have been a 2012 model... but I didn't see a year requirement. I think the 2013 with 8GB RAM and fusion drive was around $1850 too. This was the US store.

So if they were there during a random check, it would suggest that they are there more often than just that. I would try using one of the refurb trackers to try and get one in the next few days.

If you don't see them, then maybe you just have bad luck or bad timing or something, and so the best bet would just give up like you said.

(Thread fades away while being played off by "Deteriorata (Fluke of the Universe)" in the background)

I suppose i should mention i'm in Canada... so add a pile to everything. $1850US becomes probably $2300Cdn by the time i own it (after tax). Upper range for me is likely about $1500US... so again, unlikely to find a 27" w SSD down there.

 

[phpmaven]

There's this one:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/G0MS5LL/A/refurbished-27-inch-imac-34ghz-quad-core-Intel-Core-i7

It's not a pure SSD but a 1TB Fusion drive which many on these forums say performs very well.

 

[DieBeachballDie]

There's this one:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/G0MS5LL/A/refurbished-27-inch-imac-34ghz-quad-core-Intel-Core-i7

It's not a pure SSD but a 1TB Fusion drive which many on these forums say performs very well.

Heh... thats a $2500 computer where i am. No chance. I could get exactly what i want new for that money. My budget tops out around $1800-1900Cdn (all in) unfortunately. I could fudge that another $100 for EXACTLY what i want here, but finding one seems unlikely.

 

[phpmaven]

Heh... thats a $2500 computer where i am. No chance. I could get exactly what i want new for that money. My budget tops out around $1800-1900Cdn (all in) unfortunately. I could fudge that another $100 for EXACTLY what i want here, but finding one seems unlikely.

This ones a bit closer to your budget, and it's on the CA store:
http://store.apple.com/ca/product/G...e-i7?afid=p231|camref:ikJa&cid=AOS-CA-AFF-PHG

 

[DieBeachballDie]

This ones a bit closer to your budget, and it's on the CA store:
http://store.apple.com/ca/product/G...e-i7?afid=p231|camref:ikJa&cid=AOS-CA-AFF-PHG

Heh... well, closER... but still miles away.

Anyways, its moot. Just pulled the trigger on a refurb 27" (2013), just the base model. Pretty much all i can afford, well... far more than i can afford really, but i did it regardless. Paralysis by analysis was setting in... If its not everything i need i can always upgrade. If anything, it'll show me what i need and dont need in a computer. I've probably learned more in the last 5 days than i did in 9 years of using my last one. Should have it mid-week.

I'll be getting a superdrive and an external HHD ASAP. I'm hoping this comes with the larger keyboard, if not i'll be upgrading that too (i like my numberboard).

I also have an older Photoshop (3-4 years old?) i was never able to use, that i hope works on this one. Maybe my old Simcity 4 and Civ3 will work on it too so i have something to do when the wifi is down. I'm not enough of a gamer to actually spend money...