$750 is not as bad as I would have expected from Apple. The MSRP on many of the 256 GB SSDs on the market is about $700. Though from time to time you can find them for as little as $525 at Newegg.
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Apple's New 27-Inch iMac Supports Secondary Solid State Hard Drive
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Let's wait and see how user-serviceable the new model is.
*waiting eagerly for the guys at iFixit
*waiting eagerly for the guys at iFixit
Nice as the new iMac is, I don't see anything that should change the fundamental choice of laptop vs desktop?
Only thing you can't get is >8gb, dual HD, and quad core, and only the latter is likely to improve performance for some very specific multi-threaded apps.
Try taking your 27" iMac on the plane
Having said that, would love to own one in addition to my MBP, if only I had a reason!
I have an SR MBP, and I absolutely love it. Earlier this month I bought a refurb i7 and it is an incredible machine. Now that I have the power and larger screen in the iMac when the time comes to upgrade my laptop, the 13'' MacBook will probably be the direction we will go. Since I got the iMac my wife uses my MBP more then I do.
Apple's offerings for SSD + HDD are not that bad. Take into account the cheapest 256GB SSD found on Newegg.com goes for $519.99 and it's a non-brand called Wintec. Otherwise, the next step is Crucial at $525.00 ($100 off original price) and then the rest are in the $600 range.
So, it is not bad of a price for Apple. I originally thought Apple was shafting people as usual, but this time, they are fine.
Would people buy this? Yes. Although even more people would buy the option if Apple offered a 128GB SSD + HDD combo at a cheaper price point.
So, it is not bad of a price for Apple. I originally thought Apple was shafting people as usual, but this time, they are fine.
Would people buy this? Yes. Although even more people would buy the option if Apple offered a 128GB SSD + HDD combo at a cheaper price point.
Give it another 2 years and the internal SSD will be double the storage for 1/3 price. That's the time I buy. Can't wait until this spinning drive stuff is put into the trash. Kiss Blu-Ray and most all opticals goodbye around 2015-say hello to SSD/Flash Drives/USB disks/somesuch for all software.
How do SSD's fare when they break? Regular drives can break and even suffer physical damage and I (as a limited knowledge home user) can throw the drive in a caddy and start recovering files.
I always imagine that if an SSD craps out, that's it - game over. Or at the very least, some bloody expensive third-party recovery service.
Is that right?
I always imagine that if an SSD craps out, that's it - game over. Or at the very least, some bloody expensive third-party recovery service.
Is that right?
If a mechanical hard drive suffers physical damage to the platters, putting it in an external enclosure will make no differenceit's still hosed.
As for recovering data from an SSD, I don't think there is an SSD failure scenario quite analogous to typical HDD failures.
lol, I've been saying this for what feels like years. Sadly $150 3tb, 4tb, 5tb spinning drives will be the norm when 512GB SSD's are finally $100.
Unrelated: I always wondered if you took the old Laserdisk size and made it a blu-ray, how much space would that hold?
It'll be interesting to see how the SSD's are installed into the machine to see how easily it can be done yourself down the line; as pointed out 256gb is a lot if you're only going to have the OS and apps on it, if you plan to move home-folders, or large folders like movies, to the larger drive then there's really no need for such a big SSD, 128gb or even 64gb would probably be plenty, and way more cost effective.
Sounds great. I just wish that thing had more than a FW800 port for I/O options. I'd love to save a BOAT LOAD of cash and max out an iMac for $3000 (instead of $4000 Mac Pro and NO monitor) and have at least one more FW800 port, eSATA port, and/or Express Card 34 slot.
Not that I am whining, I love the iMac totally, even the all-in-one-ness it has. I just need that Express Card slot to get it over the Mac Pro.
Not that I am whining, I love the iMac totally, even the all-in-one-ness it has. I just need that Express Card slot to get it over the Mac Pro.
Fair play, cheers mate.
It only takes one loss of something important, to realise how important taking a bunch of regular backups is.
Really...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ption=&Ntk=&CFG=&SpeTabStoreType=&srchInDesc=
IDK about you but to me it looks like most of the 256 GB SSD's there cost more then $600.
so the 2TB upgrade costs $150 and the 256SSD costs $600. But doing both upgrades at the same time costs "only" $900.
The 2TB upgrade costs $150 more than the 1TB drive, and the 256GB SSD costs $600 more than the 1TB drive.
Each upgrade, individually, is priced on top of giving back the 1TB drive that is included by default.
When choosing two upgraded drives, the first one is priced on top of giving back the 1TB drive that is included by default, and the second one is priced by itself.
Since the second SSD is almost certainly a 2.5 inch drive, that's probably impossible right now.
We won't know for certain until iFixit cracks open a new 27" iMac. I give it about a day...
If I were to get this, I would want the OS and commonly-used apps (iTunes, Safari, MS Word, etc.) to be installed on the SSD, both for reasons of speed of launching and because SSDs have a limited write capacity. I would install the apps themselves on the SSD and the files that I would write to (and rewrite) on the HD.
My question is, would the OS come pre-installed on the SSD or would I have to manually install it on there and then delete the copy on the HD after restarting with the SSD as the startup disk?
My question is, would the OS come pre-installed on the SSD or would I have to manually install it on there and then delete the copy on the HD after restarting with the SSD as the startup disk?
I understood the pricing structure perfectly, it's pretty simple. I'm not quite sure how you managed to make it so complicated and confusing. I can't make heads nor tails of this explanation.
No, a $3000 machine with a broken screen is still worth $2000 (either by scavenging expensive components like the SSD, selling the broken machine or fixing it in order to make it again worth $3000).
You have a point that repairing the display on an iMac is more expensive than on non-all-in-ones. But the difference is hundreds of dollars.
You have a point that buying an SSD from Apple carries a premium. But that is only a few hundred dollars. Equally, the alternative, buying the SSD yourself and pay somebody to put it in, is not for free. Maybe $150-200.
You have a point that buying an SSD now will lead to relative large depreciation over the next couple of years. But that is an unavoidable fact of life and completely independent the type of computer you are using it in.
You make it sound as if buying an iMac with an SSD is a potentially very expensive affair by waving that $3000 figure when in fact the only extra cost the combination SSD+iMac carries is really what you have to pay somebody to put it in.
I could use the SSD for boot Mac OS and then bootcamp the 1TB with 250GB for windows and leave the rest for time machine. I think it could be a very good way to have bootcamp without compromised the main drive, just as a Mac Pro.
$750 is not that expensive if you consider the performance you get from a wicked fast drive.
Well if you configure the basic 27' iMac with 3.60 i5, 1TB+SSD, ATI 5750 for 2800... sound a good deal for me.. that dual core at 3.6 should render nice performance numbers. That place it $50 above a quad i5 with the 1TB+SSD option that is $2750
I think Apple did a good job, at least on the 27" realm there is a lot to upgrade/configure in my opinion and creates more value for an already nice product.
$750 is not that expensive if you consider the performance you get from a wicked fast drive.
Well if you configure the basic 27' iMac with 3.60 i5, 1TB+SSD, ATI 5750 for 2800... sound a good deal for me.. that dual core at 3.6 should render nice performance numbers. That place it $50 above a quad i5 with the 1TB+SSD option that is $2750
I think Apple did a good job, at least on the 27" realm there is a lot to upgrade/configure in my opinion and creates more value for an already nice product.