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Getting an iMac, have a question

rocknblogger

rocknblogger

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Apr 2, 2011
2,346
481
New Jersey
In the next 30-90 days I'll be purchasing a new iMac. When I do my MBP will mostly be used by my wife and if I go on the road.

So the iMac is going to be my workhorse and I will need all my apps and files on it. Will it be possible to just use Time Machine to restore everything I need? If not is there another way to do it?

What do you think the odds are that we'll see a refresh in May?

Thanks all in advance :)
 
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Yes you can use time machine but I recommend SuperDuper or CCC aka CarbonCopyClone
 
Orlandoech.com said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

Yes you can use time machine but I recommend SuperDuper or CCC aka CarbonCopyClone
Click to expand...
This is a bad suggestion. The OS install on the MacBook Pro could be missing stuff the iMac needs. (Also, think of this as a way to not carry leftover gunk from software upgrades.)

Use Time Machine and most everything will be restored, you will need to reinstall some apps and device drivers.

I just did a fresh install of Lion and restored my user data no issues from Time Machine from the old Snow Leopard install.
 
Yeah I'm thinking the Time Machine option is best.

Can I install an SSD myself? Or is that absolutely not possible?
 
rocknblogger said:
Yeah I'm thinking the Time Machine option is best.

Can I install an SSD myself? Or is that absolutely not possible?
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It's possible, I think it requires some special cables you'll need to get. However, is it worth the savings? And how much savings will there really be?

Adding memory to the iMac is very easy (3 screws as I recall on the plate covering the memory). Changing other parts inside the iMac is more involved. I suggest you find the directions for doing it yourself and see if it's something you feel comfortable doing.

When I get an iMac with SSD, I'll order it that way from Apple, I think it's worth the extra to save the hassle of doing it myself.
 
I hear what your saying but $500 seems like an awful lot of money for a 256GB SSD that from what I read is not that good.

With that said I'm still on the fence about it. I may just go ahead and order it with the 256/1TB option anyway.

As you suggest I will research the installation method to see if I want to mess with it. I'm not afraid to get my hands in there but I don't want to take the whole thing apart either.
 
Use Time Machine and SuperDuper or CCC. Time Machine is easy and it works.

However, one thing that SD or CCC can do is to create a clone of your iMac - you can schedule it to run every night. What a clone does is get you back up and running while your iMac is in the shop for repairs.

If your iMac crashes and needs to go in for repairs, you can boot the MBP off the cloned copy. This brings up the iMac desktop, documents, etc. Essentially, the MBP becomes the iMac - and you can just carry on your business. When the iMac comes back, you clone the external HDD back to the iMac and carry on with no interruptions. Obviously you are limited by the hardware that is available on the MBP.

I used my old MBP for 10 days while my octocore MacPro was in the shop. It was not pretty, but it worked.
 
Yeah I checked out that guide earlier and I don't think I want to do that to a brand new iMac. Maybe once AppleCare runs out.

This is why I hesitate buying an AIO computer. If one internal part goes you lose the whole thing for a period of time.

I would prefer a Mac Pro but they're just too expensive.
 
rocknblogger said:
I hear what your saying but $500 seems like an awful lot of money for a 256GB SSD that from what I read is not that good.

With that said I'm still on the fence about it. I may just go ahead and order it with the 256/1TB option anyway.

As you suggest I will research the installation method to see if I want to mess with it. I'm not afraid to get my hands in there but I don't want to take the whole thing apart either.
Click to expand...

Being supremely lazy I did order the 256/1TB option for my new iMac, and this thing is lightning fast. (I also upgraded memory to 16gb, but at least did that myself.) The best part is it is even quieter than my old iMac, which was no slouch in that regard.
 
karmamule said:
Being supremely lazy I did order the 256/1TB option for my new iMac, and this thing is lightning fast. (I also upgraded memory to 16gb, but at least did that myself.) The best part is it is even quieter than my old iMac, which was no slouch in that regard.
Click to expand...

That's good to hear. Quite is nice. And I think I made up my mind to go with the 256/1TB option and just be done with it.

Now I just have to decide if I want to wait for the refresh.
 
rocknblogger said:
That's good to hear. Quite is nice. And I think I made up my mind to go with the 256/1TB option and just be done with it.

Now I just have to decide if I want to wait for the refresh.
Click to expand...
How long can you afford to wait? I expect we'll see new iMacs in the next 2 to 4 months based on cycles and Intel processor plans. I know it can be tough when to wait when you're ready to buy, but sometimes the wait is worth it.
 
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