Good quote for a SSD install on 27" 2011?

[symber]

Hello. So, all this chat of fusion drives has gotten me a little green, so I've been considering upgrading my iMac with a SSD to boot the OS on.

Now, I've not opened one of these things before, and, frankly, the prospect of ballsing it up and writing off my beloved machine is too traumatic to contemplate, so I had a look around for AASPs to do it for me.

Anyway, got quotes back for the drive and labour of the following:

128 GB £178.80
256 GB £214.80
512 GB £398.40

The big one's probably out of my price range, to be honest, but for the other two, does that sound like a good price? Do you think it's worth paying for the labour, or do you think I should freakin' man up, rip the bastard open and do it myself?

Thanks for your time.

 

[martinm0]

Hello. So, all this chat of fusion drives has gotten me a little green, so I've been considering upgrading my iMac with a SSD to boot the OS on.

Now, I've not opened one of these things before, and, frankly, the prospect of ballsing it up and writing off my beloved machine is too traumatic to contemplate, so I had a look around for AASPs to do it for me.

Anyway, got quotes back for the drive and labour of the following:

128 GB £178.80
256 GB £214.80
512 GB £398.40

The big one's probably out of my price range, to be honest, but for the other two, does that sound like a good price? Do you think it's worth paying for the labour, or do you think I should freakin' man up, rip the bastard open and do it myself?

Thanks for your time.

Have you considered running an SSD from an external enclosure? I run mine from a Seagate Thunderbolt sled (granted these have some issues powering the larger 500GB+ SSDs), but overall I'm quite pleased with the speed and reliability of mine. Plus, it doesn't void the warranty (and you can take it with you to your next mac).

If the labour cost is minimal to have it installed, that's not a bad way to go. But I just go through machines so quickly that I like the external option since I can just pop it into the next mac (plus, you have two Thunderbolt ports so you won't fully block them up). Take a look at the Lacie Rugged Thubderbolt SSD. Comes with a Thubderbolt cable and USB 3.0 cables and a 256SSD for about $350 USD.

 

[symber]

Have you considered running an SSD from an external enclosure? I run mine from a Seagate Thunderbolt sled (granted these have some issues powering the larger 500GB+ SSDs), but overall I'm quite pleased with the speed and reliability of mine. Plus, it doesn't void the warranty (and you can take it with you to your next mac).

If the labour cost is minimal to have it installed, that's not a bad way to go. But I just go through machines so quickly that I like the external option since I can just pop it into the next mac (plus, you have two Thunderbolt ports so you won't fully block them up). Take a look at the Lacie Rugged Thubderbolt SSD. Comes with a Thubderbolt cable and USB 3.0 cables and a 256SSD for about $350 USD.

I'd not really thought of it. Comes in at £300 UK for the LaCie.

Is it stable to run OS off it? And do you have to pick which drive to boot from every time you turn it on? Finally, is it as fast as having it installed internally?

(Ha ha, this SSD on Amazon runs at an impressive 5,400 rpm! http://www.amazon.co.uk/LaCie-Rugged-Thunderbolt-External-Portable/dp/B009PMX74U )

 

[martinm0]

I'd not really thought of it. Comes in at £300 UK for the LaCie.

Is it stable to run OS off it? And do you have to pick which drive to boot from every time you turn it on? Finally, is it as fast as having it installed internally?

(Ha ha, this SSD on Amazon runs at an impressive 5,400 rpm! http://www.amazon.co.uk/LaCie-Rugged-Thunderbolt-External-Portable/dp/B009PMX74U )

I've had no issues running an SSD externally for the last year or two. If you clone or do a fresh install on the SSD you just have to select it as the Bootup Disk in Preferences and your good to go. Also, just note that you can't run Bootcamp from an external (officially), so Windows would need to be installed on the internal HDD still (some folks have made it work with an external, but I haven't had luck).

Haha. Funny when they copy over the specs for ANOTHER PRODUCT. Ahaha.