iMac 2011 Upgrade

[rctneil]

Hi,

I have a mid 2011 27" i7 iMac which I love but thinking of performing some upgrades to.

I'm thinking of grabbing an extra 8Gb ram which which max me out at 16Gb and getting a Crucial M550 SSD (256Gb or 512Gb, undecided) to replace the internal drive. All my data is stored on an external 3Tb drive so the SSd would only be for OS and applications mainly.

I would like to install the SSD internally (I have watched SSD into iMac upgrade videos so I know how to do it and feel reasonably confident).

My question is, if I bought the ram and the SSD. The ram is a nice easy upgrade but could I use the SSD externally connected by USB to the machine temporarily to get the OS reinstalled and apps and then move it internally at a later date? Is this possible or not?

 

[macthefork]

The 2011 will take up to 32 GB RAM. (that's what I'm running in mine) Although 16 GB is likely adequate for most users.

The SSD can have the OS and apps installed on it as an external drive, then later installed internally. That's also what I did, to make sure the SSD worked properly before going through all that installation work. (am currently using a Crucial M500 480 GB drive) I did use a Seagate Thunderbolt adapter for this, rather than USB (which is USB-2 on the 2011, which will be very slow)

 

[rctneil]

Great, at least I know it's possible to use it externally for the time being. I know it's only USB2 but that will have to do I guess until I can get it installed internally as I don't wish to shell out £80 min for the TB adaptor which will only be used for a short while.

I thought the max was 16Gb. Wow. Looks like I can push even more performance out of my iMac then! YAY!


EDIT: Just double checked and the Apple site states the Mid 2011 27" iMac supports a max of 16Gb. Are you sure you're running 32Gb in yours?

 

[macthefork]

...EDIT: Just double checked and the Apple site states the Mid 2011 27" iMac supports a max of 16Gb. Are you sure you're running 32Gb in yours?

Absolutely. Apple has a habit of stating less RAM than the computer will take. It's also possible that at the time that Apple certified the 2011, 8Gb chips weren't readily available. Also, if you look at Crucial, OWC, or other sites that sell the RAM, you'll see that the 2011 indeed will accept and utilize 32GB.

 

[rctneil]

Fantastic thanks!