I really want the new Imac 27" with 3.4Ghz i7 and GTX 680M, and upgrade/change the Memory and SSD by my self to keep it cheap as possible. Do you think it will be possible to change the standard 7200 hard drive with a 256GB SSD? I have all my storage on an USB hard drive, so I dont need the fusion drive and the 768 SSD is too expensive.
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Imac 27": Replace the 7200 HDD with a SSD?
- Thread starter mixart
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it is possible BUT it's not easy to do. you will have to heat gun the screen edges because the screen is now glued to the back size of the imac.
this is for the 21.5 imac but i doubt it will be any different for the 27
http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/iMac+Intel+21.5-Inch+EMC+2544+Teardown/11936/1
easiest thing would be: get the buffalo external SSD enclosure put a nice 256GB SSD in there and connect it via thunderbolt. you will get the full SSD speed and won't have any trouble with voiding the warranty
If the 27'' internals follow those of the 21 it's highly unlikely you can go for the SSD without some rather serious DIY work, and obviously invalidating the guarantee. Either go Fusion or save for a small Thunderbolt SSD from where to boot on later on.
Agree that SSD pricing and sizing options are a bit "thank you, but no thank you".
I did not know that it was possible to boot from an external SSD. I will seriously consider that instead, if the other thing will be too difficult.
Is it possible to disable the internal hard drive without too much trouble, when I am booting from an external SSD with OS Mountain Lion and other software? Just to keep it less noisy and heat.
This will be my first Mac computer, so it is new to me.
Is it possible to disable the internal hard drive without too much trouble, when I am booting from an external SSD with OS Mountain Lion and other software? Just to keep it less noisy and heat.
This will be my first Mac computer, so it is new to me.
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yes! just go to system preferences -> System Startup disk. you can just set the HDD as the main HD and use the other hdd as your downloads HD or whatever
From what the info look, definitely the external boot disk seems the way to go for you. Replacing the internal HDD will likely be something seriously hard to do, and will for sure invalidate the guarantee.
Bear in mind that external SSDs are not this cheap yet, unfortunately (albeit not as crazy as the Apple full SSD option). I will probably be purchasing one around Spring, hoping for prices to go down a bit and sticking to fusion for the time being.