How Much Does a Person Need? Really!

[Beachguy]

How much do I need? As much as I can afford.

What does NEED have to do with it, unless you need MORE than what you have?

 

[yjchua95]

Can you send me a link on which hd-patu3s to get and which ssd?

The HD-PATU3 and HD-PATU3S are identical, but the S version has an SSD in it. I wouldn't recommend the S version because it's got a Crucial M4 SSD in it, which is slower than if you buy the regular HD-PATU3 and put a Samsung 840 Evo in it.

If you're okay with opening up the drive yourself, I recommend buying the 500GB HD-PATU3, take it apart, and put a Samsung 840 Evo SSD.

Note that it can only handle SSDs that are 256GB or smaller due to power issues, although your mileage may vary between different brands. I came across a thread with someone who had absolutely no problem with a 500GB 840 Evo SSD in it.

You can look up the drive on Amazon or Buffalo's site.

 

[marzer]

A few of my friends and I mulled over options in current Macs weighed against real world needs.

Attached is the About This Mac info screen on my new machine.

Somewhat modest. Certainly not an i7-powered iMac.

I ran some tests to answer these questions —

Do I need Fusion Drive?

Would I benefit from an ext. SSD Boot Drive?

Would I benefit from more RAM

Here's some numbers I clocked the iMac I now have with the a spinning HD:.

Wake up from sleep mode - :06 sec

Aperture start :03MS

Word start :04

Acrobat Pro start :04

PhotoShop :08
Apple Pages :12

Boot time from power on :45

I also looked at Activity Monitor to see what the RAM and CPU were doing.
RAM use was 5.3Gb (out of 8Gb onboard) with the following programs running simultaneously:Aperture, PhotoShop, InDesign,Word. So about 60% utilization factor.
My friend who is a Mac troubleshooter advised that RAM in excess of 8Gb is a waste. Another friend who is the founder of the 2nd largest MUG (Mac User Group) in America confirmed this. "Don't waste your money unless you are doing one of these three activities: Gaming, Video Editing or Movie Streaming.




View: original size

So, I am more than happy with what I've got. Furthermore, OWC is not getting my more of my money; at least not this week.

Sorry, but like 9 out of 10 of these threads, you are asking the wrong questions. Instead of asking what YOU need (which really only you can answer for yourself, so sayeth the Zen master ), try explaining what activities are hindered or prevented by your current setup. Then people can provide solutions to specific problems.

If your current machine performs everything you NEED without hinderance then I'd suggest you NEED nothing more for now, regardless of other peoples opinions.

However, if you WANT for the sake of wanting, well then: Step 1, determine how much money is burning a hole in your pocket. Step 2, ...