Apple's New 27-Inch iMac Supports Secondary Solid State Hard Drive

[MacRumors]

Several MacRumors readers have pointed out that Apple's new 27-inch iMac released today offers support for dual hard drives: one traditional Serial ATA in 1 TB or 2 TB capacity and one 256 GB solid state drive (SSD). Alternatively, customers can opt for a single 256 GB SSD, as described on the iMac features page.

To give your iMac a real performance boost, configure your 27-inch iMac on the Apple Online Store with an optional 256GB solid-state drive. You can choose it as your only drive or have it installed in addition to the built-in hard drive, allowing you to store the operating system, critical applications, and important files on the solid-state drive and your other files on the hard drive. Because solid-state drives have no moving parts, the computer can access data at over twice the speed of hard drives. Which makes starting up your iMac and launching applications faster than you ever thought possible.

The new offering marks the first time Apple has offered dual hard drives as build-to-order options for its iMac line, taking advantage of the space available in the 27-inch iMac's chassis to squeeze in another drive bay. The SSD options do not come cheaply, however, with a simple swap of the standard 1 TB traditional drive for a 256 GB SSD coming in at a $600 price premium. Customers looking to add the SSD as a second drive on top of the 1 TB traditional drive will find themselves looking at a $750 price boost.

Article Link: Apple's New 27-Inch iMac Supports Secondary Solid State Hard Drive

 

[azdude]

This is awesome.

I bought a 27" i7 only two months ago, and I've been giving serious thought to ripping my optical drive out so I can install a 2.5" SSD in there as a boot/apps/scratch drive. I'll probably end up doing this soon.

I wonder how the internals were rejiggered to make room. Logic board shrinkage, I guess?

 

[Eidorian]

Now it's time for the tear downs.

 

[doctoree]

And then, one day after warranty, just the screen goes kapuuuttt and there goes your 3000 dollars machine...

 

[shardey]

Finally. I wonder what differences the inside of this iMac are.

 

[kirky29]

Awesome.
I'd love to have a Mac Pro, and would love to have an SSD HDD, I can't imagine the speed!

 

[the-oz-man]

Wow, I really want this on my 2009 iMac. Too bad.

 

[Theclamshell]

That is pretty awesome, it seems apple did a nice job with this update

 

[nfrankli]

Come on apple a 256GB SSD is ridiculously large, especially at these ~$3/GB prices. A 128GB drive would be a lot more palatable and give similar performance and usability.

 

[nagromme]

Optimum plan for the technically-inclined:

* Cost-effective, big 1TB (or more) drive now.

* Then, after warranty ends, self-install an additional solid-state drive. They’ll be cheaper by then!

And then, one day after warranty, just the screen goes kapuuuttt and there goes your 3000 dollars machine...

Nah, I’d probably just pay Apple to fix the screen. Or toss an external display on, and put the iMac on the floor as the world’s thinnest tower. Out-of-warranty failures always carry a cost—even if the screen that dies is external.

And this is a $1699 machine, not a $3k machine, FYI. And this $1699 computer-plus-screen costs about the same as a 2560-pixel screen alone from other companies! So with those units, maybe just your screen dies... but it cost as much as a whole Mac + screen

Of course, those other screens use fluo backlights, and they probably WILL go kapuuuttt. Apple’s LED system is longer-lasting.

All-in-ones have disadvantages. And advantages too! Cable clutter and wasted space aren’t always good

 

[redbotsoftware]

Two drives, just what I've been waiting for!

 

[ModestForumName]

What's the benefit of having a SSD along with your HDD? aside from extra memory?


EDIT: Just saw that. #mybad

 

[slicecom]

Nah, I’d probably just pay Apple to fix the screen. And this is a $1699 machine, not a $3k machine. FYI.

All-in-ones have disadvantages. And advantages too!

It's easily over $3000 for those of us who don't want base model machines.

 

[andiwm2003]

so the 2TB upgrade costs $150 and the 256SSD costs $600. But doing both upgrades at the same time costs "only" $900. What am I missing?

 

[giosaccone]

What a good thing!

 

[slicecom]

What's the benefit of having a SSD along with your HDD? aside from extra memory?

SSD's are WAYYYYY faster. The system loads up in under 20 seconds, iTunes opens in 1 second etc. Everything is way snappier.

 

[Lord Vader]

256 GB SSD is not worth 600 bucks.

 

[Jaro65]

so the 2TB upgrade costs $150 and the 256SSD costs $600. But doing both upgrades at the same time costs "only" $900. What am I missing?

$150

 

[davidwarren]

What's the benefit of having a SSD along with your HDD? aside from extra memory?


EDIT: Just saw that. #mybad

The blazing speed of the ssd and the capacity of the hdd.

 

[andiwm2003]

so the 2TB upgrade costs $150 and the 256SSD costs $600. But doing both upgrades at the same time costs "only" $900. What am I missing?

$150

ah, yes I see. That answers it........

Seriously, the second drive bay is $150? or what else do I get for this $150?

 

[314631]

SSD's are WAYYYYY faster. The system loads up in under 20 seconds, iTunes opens in 1 second etc. Everything is way snappier.

Yes it's easily the best upgrade for the vast majority of Mac users. People get excited about faster RAM, CPUs, and graphics cards, but its the hard drive that has been dragging our systems downs forever.

 

[antic]

so the 2TB upgrade costs $150 and the 256SSD costs $600. But doing both upgrades at the same time costs "only" $900. What am I missing?

I suspect that they are an all in one module, otherwise why not just have the option to add 256SSD to an already fitted 1TB drive

 

[Yamcha]

Good to know, but expensive as hell, I'm assuming its one of the faster ssd's? You can actually get a SSD for $98CAD now, but obviously its the budget ones, but they still perform faster then normal HD's..

 

[cube]

The SSD is not a secondary drive. It is the primary drive. The hard disk is secondary.

 

[nagromme]

Yes it's easily the best upgrade for the vast majority of Mac users. People get excited about faster RAM, CPUs, and graphics cards, but its the hard drive that has been dragging our systems downs forever.

I keep swearing I will NEVER buy another spinning platter. This is not the 1970s!

But price keeps me coming back to HDs