Hesitating on returning 27 iMac

[b00st4ddicted]

Hi all,

Please try and convince me to keep this iMac because I am really loving it. I originally went with a 13 MBA to edit photos for my newly born daughter. After 4 returns due to dents and wifi issues, I've decided to go with an iMac. Pushing my budget I went with 27 i5 gtx675 1tb. Coming from MBA I am spoiled with the flash drive. I wanted a fusion drive or SSD but it was out of my budget. I will also be running bootcamp for gaming sake. Is it possible to use an external SSD to boot both osx and windows 8? If so any recommendation on the external drive and also how do I go about installing osx and bootcamp on it. Thanks in advance!!

 

[maflynn]

If you're loving it, why do you want to return it

If you like it, keep it.

 

[b00st4ddicted]

If you're loving it, why do you want to return it

If you like it, keep it.

I am afraid it might not last long enough without SSD. Spending over 2k is a lot of money to have it last for 2 years =\ Wish I make more money ha!

 

[GoCubsGo]

I am afraid it might not last long enough without SSD. Spending over 2k is a lot of money to have it last for 2 years =\ Wish I make more money ha!

An SSD does not extend the life of any machine.

 

[talmy]

I am afraid it might not last long enough without SSD. Spending over 2k is a lot of money to have it last for 2 years =\ Wish I make more money ha!

If you are concerned about it lasting because of being left behind in technology, in two years time add an external Thunderbolt SSD. If you are concerned about the drive breaking in two years, get AppleCare or just have the drive replaced (I had the drive in a 4 year old iMac replaced by Apple and it cost about $250).

 

[d0nK]

Yeah, sucks.
That's why I'm waiting for Apple to upgrade the hardware in the iMac's.
Hope they hurry up.

I don't care about the new Haswell CPU's; they can keep them. I want updated GFX cards and fusion drive as standard.

The 660M with 512MB RAM in the 27" seems miserly to me and there is no way I'm going back to a non-SSD booting desktop after 6 years, lol!

BTO price gouging I do not care for.

 

[maflynn]

I am afraid it might not last long enough without SSD. Spending over 2k is a lot of money to have it last for 2 years =\ Wish I make more money ha!

The machine will last > 2 years without an SSD. That's not to say you want an iMac with an SSD but given the price per gigabyte I'm not sure its a viable option at the moment. SSDs over 256gb are still very expensive.

 

[kazmac]

agree

If you are concerned about it lasting because of being left behind in technology, in two years time add an external Thunderbolt SSD. If you are concerned about the drive breaking in two years, get AppleCare or just have the drive replaced (I had the drive in a 4 year old iMac replaced by Apple and it cost about $250).

Very good advice

The HD in my 2010 21.5" iMac is still going strong and I've notice the machine runs much faster with Mountain Lion installed. It's not SSD fast, but it's a huge difference from working with Snow Leopard for almost 3 years.

 

[Chabba]

Have you looked at refurbished iMacs? I saved about $500 on my current generation refurbished 27".

 

[KaraH]

I am afraid it might not last long enough without SSD. Spending over 2k is a lot of money to have it last for 2 years =\ Wish I make more money ha!

I have been buying apples and macs since the late 70s. I have only once had a problem within a decade of buying a machine (long before then you will upgrade anyway) and it was under applecare at the time. They were all still running when I finally decided to recycle them.

The machine will last > 2 years without an SSD. That's not to say you want an iMac with an SSD but given the price per gigabyte I'm not sure its a viable option at the moment. SSDs over 256gb are still very expensive.

Do you mean an SSD or fusion reduces the expected life of a machine? What is the expected life of the current generation apple is using?

edit: Ah, it looks like SSDs have a much shorter life than HDDs according to the web. Is that what people have experienced with the ones apple is using?

 

[RUGERMAN]

speed- longevity

Very good advice

The HD in my 2010 21.5" iMac is still going strong and I've notice the machine runs much faster with Mountain Lion installed. It's not SSD fast, but it's a huge difference from working with Snow Leopard for almost 3 years.

I'm not sure what some of you guys are doing to be so worried about speed on machines that are a couple of years old. I have a late 2009 iMac that still runs great. I usually have 6 - 7 windows open in Safari, Excel, Word, mail, Calendar and Parallels with two tax programs open. I have a low tolerance for frustration but I have no problem with the speed of my iMac. Maybe games are another story but that's not something I do.

 

[kazmac]

I'm not sure what some of you guys are doing to be so worried about speed on machines that are a couple of years old. I have a late 2009 iMac that still runs great. I usually have 6 - 7 windows open in Safari, Excel, Word, mail, Calendar and Parallels with two tax programs open. I have a low tolerance for frustration but I have no problem with the speed of my iMac. Maybe games are another story but that's not something I do.

I do not play games, but I've tried out Macs with SSDs and I've noticed a huge improvement in application responsiveness in my iMac's standard HD since upgrading to Mountain Lion. It was enough to make me notice and I usually have Word, several tabs in Safari, Pixelmator, movie playback in quick time and possibly a screenplay app open. For me to notice such a difference is huge especially since upgrading to 12GB of RAM did not initially improve my system's responsiveness. My iMac felt like it was slowing down, now it doesn't.

So I am not quite sure why you presumed I am a gamer when I was simply mentioning to the OP that the new OS might make the applications on his base 27" HD run faster than he expects.

 

[Arfdog]

I am afraid it might not last long enough without SSD. Spending over 2k is a lot of money to have it last for 2 years =\ Wish I make more money ha!

2 words. Fusion Drive. Get it, it is basically a 1 TB (or 3 TB) SSD for much, much less. It will future-proof you.