I am thinking of buying an iMac but was wondering why SSD prices are soo high. Would i feel the benefit of SSD if most of my graphics work is stored on an external hard drive?
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iMac w/ SSD, is it worth the money?
- Thread starter iwannaimac
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hmmmm
well if your storing all your graphics work on an external drive, you will still feel somewhat of a difference when using the iMac, however you wont feel the difference as often as someone whos doing editing right on their mac like me.
Otherwise the SSD in the iMac was the best decision i made, along with 12 gb of Ram. SUPER FAST. however i didnt do it through apple.com, i just bought a new 512SSD from New Egg
well if your storing all your graphics work on an external drive, you will still feel somewhat of a difference when using the iMac, however you wont feel the difference as often as someone whos doing editing right on their mac like me.
Otherwise the SSD in the iMac was the best decision i made, along with 12 gb of Ram. SUPER FAST. however i didnt do it through apple.com, i just bought a new 512SSD from New Egg
Yes, read
http://macperformanceguide.com
for more details, particularly on optimising a system for photoshop, etc.
Get a third party SSD, and external storage of either USB 3, thunderbolt, or esata nature and you'll notice.
Samsung 830 ssd for the boot disc, under 160 dollars
I use my iMac primarily as a music studio so installing a ssd was a great upgrade. Well worth the $$$ & time to install it.
My only experience with an SSD so far is my MacBook Air. The speed-up in boot and launch times and overall usability is great, and I can't imagine being without it. I'm planning on getting the highest capacity SSD available in my next iMac, hopefully this week.
Had a SSD installed in my 27" imac, personally felt the benefits, though welcome, were overrated for most part. I am probably not speed sensitive to appreciate the split second faster my apps launch. 
And since your imac will just be sitting there all day, that's half the benefits of flash storage nullified already.
Not sure how beneficial they are for graphics work though.
And since your imac will just be sitting there all day, that's half the benefits of flash storage nullified already.Not sure how beneficial they are for graphics work though.
The point isn't the storage space, its the increased performance on launching and running applications, and read/write speeds.
SSDs are beneficial for graphics work, as is maxing out your RAM. Do both and you will absolutely see differences.
Is a SSD worth the money? As storage space, no. From Apple as a from the factory option, no. For a sub-256 gig boot drive, bought from a 3rd party, absolutely yes.
You should run a lightweight system off the ssd, and your media on a separate disk. The faster the connection to this other disk, the better (i.e. Sata3, thunderbolt, USB 3.0, eSata, firewire 800). I think in addition to the increased read/writes to the system drive, the apps r/w to the external should be faster as well, though I'm not sure about benchmarks.
Barefeats.com or Macperformanceguide for examples of benchmarks with different variables.
Well, I really want to replace my HDD and put an SSD instead. However, from what I've seen so far (YouTube); the whole process of putting an SSD is a pain in the ass and I'm so afraid I will **** up or something. Are you a professional or just took the risk while reading how-to instructions? Do you know any easy methods that might help me do it just like you? Last but not least, do you know any places where professional can do the job for me? I know I ask many things, but I just want to figure out the safest and easiest way to do it. Thanks in advance mate!
If you're not comfortable doing it yourself, don't do it, find an Apple Certified tech (independent, not at Apple) to do it.
However, I don't think its that hard, just get the right tools, reference materials, and work slowly and carefully. Be ready to clean the glass and LCD for reassembly
ifixit.com, look at the guides and videos on youtube. They have a cute girl who demonstrates the techniques.