External SSD solution for older iMac?

[Truthfulie]

We have 21" mid 2011 iMac at work and it's showing some sign of age. Unfortunately, they aren't ready to throw out the machine. So we are probably going to do minor upgrade to the machines. More RAM and external SSD. I thought about getting Seagate TB adaptors, but I don't think our company
want to deal with three different warranties(SSD, adaptor and cable) if something goes wrong with it. So I am looking for a pre-built external SSD with TB connection (lack of USB 3.0 makes TB the only choice).

I've been looking at this one.
http://www.amazon.com/Transcend-256...&qid=1420253591&sr=1-6&keywords=transcend+ssd

Does anyone have any experience with them? or any other suggestions?

 

[yjchua95]

We have 21" mid 2011 iMac at work and it's showing some sign of age. Unfortunately, they aren't ready to throw out the machine. So we are probably going to do minor upgrade to the machines. More RAM and external SSD. I thought about getting Seagate TB adaptors, but I don't think our company
want to deal with three different warranties(SSD, adaptor and cable) if something goes wrong with it. So I am looking for a pre-built external SSD with TB connection (lack of USB 3.0 makes TB the only choice).

I've been looking at this one.
http://www.amazon.com/Transcend-256...&qid=1420253591&sr=1-6&keywords=transcend+ssd

Does anyone have any experience with them? or any other suggestions?

Transcend is a pretty good one. I have a 960GB Transcend JetDrive USB 3 external SSD and it absolutely flies without TRIM (USB doesn't support TRIM). I'd expect the same from their TB drive.

As a boot drive on an external SSD, my LaCie Rugged Thunderbolt enclosure works really well as well with a Samsung 840 Evo inside it. The plus side is that TRIM can be enabled for it.

 

[bassjunky]

I recently just bought my first iMac, mid-2011 27" i5. I bought the same Transcend drive you posted to use as a boot drive and it flies. I'm really happy with the performance.

I booted off the internal drive for a few days before the Transcend arrived, and there's no comparison after booting off an SSD, even externally through Thunderbolt. I've heard internal installations are even faster, but I'm not willing to pull apart my iMac yet.

Upgrading the RAM and an SSD make it feel like a new machine.