Well, thats a different perspective, I was leaning towards 512 SSD, your heads-up is starting to confirm doubts about fusion
Regards,
Gary
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I'm nearly there but undecided on 768GB SSD
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Regards,
Gary
Maybe I am just set in my ways... but I have an inherent dislike for having my boot drive being external. It is too easy to pull a cable inadvertently causing the computer to crash... risking data corruption. This can be partially mitigated with careful wiring including tie downs... but I have a strong preference for internal drives for OSX.
In any case... an external TB SSD will give good performance if you are willing to take the risk I mention above.
/Jim
+1.
Didn't feel comfortable bringing a brand new Imac in to replace the drive and not having it 5 to 10 business days and 80 an hour for repair.
I ordered the Seagate Thunderbolt adapter and cable and use the internal drive for Time Machine.
Bare Feats did a objective comparison of the performance of SSD vs Fusion Drive in the new iMac. Hopefully it will aid your decision.
Interesting, it certainly doesn't feel like that, particularly when working with large sized/collections of files. It felt amazingly slow when working with large video files (i.e moving them or loading them).
You will not get the performance you want with fusion drive. Fusion drive is only a software trick Apple uses to attract customers. You can have a typical HDD and a SSD and with few terminal commands you can have a Fusion Drive. I even have it to my hackintosh right now. You can find the infos how to create one on the Internet. I insist that the best option for speed and also for some storage is to buy the 1TB stock HDD and upgrade it by yourself to a 840 Pro or an OCZ vector. With these drives you will achieve write and read over 500mb/s... Besides that the installation is very easy and you will not lose your warranty. You remove the screen with a guitar pick and just unplug the stock HDD and put the SSD. There is an eBay seller that sells the original adhesive tape that Apple uses for the iMacs. In case that you need to go the iMac to an Apple Store, just follow the same procedure and put back the stock HDD. As far as you stick the adhesive tape carefully Apple will not understand anything. There is a whole thread here with videos on how to open and replace the iMac HDD. Last but not least, by replacing the stock HDD by yourself is way cheaper than buying a 512GB SSD from Apple.
The Ram is out of question. You must want to waste money if you upgrade them from Apple. 600$ for 32Gb when you can get better memory for about 200$ ? They must be crazy.
Hi there,
You are talking to a "switcher" here, the only Apple gear I have at the moment is the iPhone an an iPad
I,m not savvy with replacing computer parts so I would be entering into an expensive mistake on my part
To me, this is a large upgrade for me and hope I don't have to upgrade for some years to come,
Regards,
Gary
Just get the SSD from apple (size depending on how much you need) and call it a day.
Yes, pretty much settled on a 512GB SSD,
All the replies here have been a great help, they certainly have enabled me to make a more informed purchase
Many thanks to all who have contributed
Regards,
Gary
Ah thank you for that information! Will definitely need to consider this now if I purchase an iMac, the non-ssd nature of the Windows side might make me consider all SSD or wait for SSD to drop in price.
Funny, I've been inside 20 plus Macs over the years and have no fear of cracking a new one, BUT...this time around I was in the mood to take the small hit and as you say "Call It A Day"
The difference between the 400 or so up and down on my 512 and something a little faster doesn't get me any further down the Road when I'm in Photoshop & Lightroom, nor does it matter to me when I'm editing files off a 4TB UASP External HD.
That Said, I love the spirit of the Crack Open thread. Been there, and fully agree on fighting back when Apple glues things together for profit only
Funny, I've been inside 20 plus Macs over the years and have no fear of cracking a new one, BUT...this time around I was in the mood to take the small hit and as you say "Call It A Day"
The difference between the 400 or so up and down on my 512 and something a little faster doesn't get me any further down the Road when I'm in Photoshop & Lightroom, nor does it matter to me when I'm editing files off a 4TB UASP External HD.
That Said, I love the spirit of the Crack Open thread. Been there, and fully agree on fighting back when Apple glues things together for profit only
I never cracked open a computer so I wouldn't advise it to someone who does not know how/or want to because I know nothing about it.
You have my admiration brother.
Well it's easier these days with so many videos.
You can still hose 3 thousand bucks in a second if you're one of those types who have clumsy hands
I know people who are naturally steady and patient with their hands. I know others who destroy something just by handling it for a few days. Funny how that works.
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You can always upgrade the iMac later with an SSD with virtually no speed loss: you connect the SSD through Thunderbolt.
Advantages:
- scalability, you can buy the size which fits your budget and later increase it
- flexibility: you can connect the SSD to a future newer machine or different machine
- costs: cheaper than the internal Apple SSD
Disadvantages:
- slight speed loss compared to an internal (<10%)
- cable on the back of your mac
Advantages:
- scalability, you can buy the size which fits your budget and later increase it
- flexibility: you can connect the SSD to a future newer machine or different machine
- costs: cheaper than the internal Apple SSD
Disadvantages:
- slight speed loss compared to an internal (<10%)
- cable on the back of your mac
I doubt there's any speed loss. Thunderbolt is in part the PCI Express bus in an external format. You may find in some circumstances it even appears to be faster.
Your other points are all valid though.
However those that say what happens if you pull the connector out of your mac think of it like this:
The other day I was sat near the exit on a plane. I knew that at altitude if I pulled the handle on the emergency exit things would go drastically wrong. So I didn't.
Or if you change the cambelt or oil on your car do you leave the engine running? I turn mine off.
I treat any external mac drives in the same way. So far, so good. Just looking at that thunderbolt connector hasn't resulted in it jumping out of its socket just yet either.
I doubt there's any speed loss. Thunderbolt is in part the PCI Express bus in an external format. You may find in some circumstances it even appears to be faster.
Your other points are all valid though.
However those that say what happens if you pull the connector out of your mac think of it like this:
The other day I was sat near the exit on a plane. I knew that at altitude if I pulled the handle on the emergency exit things would go drastically wrong. So I didn't.
Or if you change the cambelt or oil on your car do you leave the engine running? I turn mine off.
I treat any external mac drives in the same way. So far, so good. Just looking at that thunderbolt connector hasn't resulted in it jumping out of its socket just yet either.
Good to know that you have never had an accident. That makes you the worlds most unique individual. You probably never bought a lottery ticket that wasn't the big winner.
My point is that humans make errors. There was a post a few months ago here on MR of a guy who's wife yanked the wrong cord... and his external was corrupted.
In my posts on this subject... I do add the disclaimer that risks can be mitigated by careful wire management including tie downs. That is a prudent thing to do. Still... I would prefer to keep my boot drive internal. Heck... I would love to keep 100% of everything internal... but I cannot buy the stock configuration of SSD/HDD that lets me achieve it. Hence... I have the 768GB SSD + Thunderbolt Pegasus external. I keep active clones of my external because I know that accidents can happen.
/Jim
No not won the lottery yet - but it is sad that yes we are forced to make a decision on internal disks at time of purchase. I think most people don't care too much about being stuck with the same processor and graphics card for the life of their imac. Most people won't even care that there is no optical drive, but the lack of any way to upgrade the internal harddrive or replace it (considering Apple consider it a consumable anyway) and lack of ram upgrade on the smaller imac is possibly a step too far.
I can see why this has been done on the Air and just about on the retina pro but why the imac?
Thanks to TB... you can have an external SSD and it will perform great. I still prefer my boot drive to be an internal SSD... but that is personal preference. External works fine.
Chances are the 768GB drive will never need replacing. Good SSDs are speced at their "conditioned" performance... not new out of the box. Once they reach their conditioned state... performance remains pretty constant.
In my case... the 768GB SSD with the Pegasus array is a great combination. I am looking forward to the day when I am 100% SSD... but that will take another few years. At that point, my 2012 iMac will be handed down to my wife... and 768GB is plenty for her.
/Jim