Keep iMac with 1TB Hard Drive, or exchange for new one with SSD?

[boombox15]

I have had my 21.5 inch iMac for 1.5 weeks, and it is the base $1299 model, with a 1TB Hard Drive. But, now I am trying to decide if I should return it to buy a new one with an SSD. I know that hard drives are slow, and the iMac lags behind my early 2013 15 inch retina MacBook Pro in terms of responsiveness (upgrading to new 13 inch retina MacBook Pro within a month).

So, I have until November 10 to return. If I do, I think I will go for 256GB Flash Storage. I really did want it to begin with, but shipping times back then were just a little too slow.

Thoughts? Should I keep or return?

 

[postalp]

.....

 

[boombox15]

One of the best upgrades you can make is going ssd. These computers use the PCI bus to connect instead of sata2 or 3, which increases the potential speed even more. The 1TB hard drive you have wouldn't compare to the ssd. The hard drive is the biggest bottleneck in your system, so yes it would be very wise to upgrade to the ssd. External storage for music/movies, etc. is cheap now anyways.

It's only an extra $200, so I don't see why I shouldn't do it. Or, for the same amount of money, should I do the fusion drive?

Also, for my uses, using all of the preloaded apps, downloading more from the mac app store, use iPhoto and iMovie for editing and making projects, making documents in iWork, and editing photos in Aperture, would I notice a difference? If I wouldn't then I'll stick with what I have now.

 

[postalp]

.....

 

[aham23]

after 10 days with a based 21.5 i returned it for a BTO with 16 gb ram and 1TB fusion. it should be delivered this week.

 

[boombox15]

after 10 days with a based 21.5 i returned it for a BTO with 16 gb ram and 1TB fusion. it should be delivered this week.

Let me know when you get it. Let me know if it's worth it and if it is something I should do. I'll stick with 8GB of RAM, but would go to 256GB Flash Storage.

Thanks!!

 

[aham23]

will do, but it is not being delivered until 11/1. the one thing i wanted to be blown away with was the perceived "speed" of the iMac and i really wasn't. cant wait....

 

[boombox15]

Just did a disk speed test. The current 5400RPM Hard Drive gets around 90MB read speed. By contrast, my early 2013 15 inch Retina MacBook Pro (Upgrading to Haswell next month) gets around 430MB read speed.

The choice is clear, go with 256GB PCIe flash! Sending it out tomorrow, and should be ready to order the new one within a week.

 

[boombox15]

Ok, my refund showed up a couple of days ago, and now I am trying to decide if I should order now, or wait until Black Friday. I know that the computer will likely be $101 off as usual, but how much would the price of the SSD be reduced by?

It would be the 21.5 inch iMac with 2.7GHz, 8GB RAM, and 256GB Flash

 

[toddzrx]

If you're ordering direct from Apple, I'm pretty sure they don't discount options; just the base cost of the computer.

On a side note: I will never own a machine that doesn't have an SSD as its primary drive. The performance hit with a spinner is just too big. I use one for media storage, but no way will I put the OS, apps, and non-media files on a spinner.

 

[boombox15]

If you're ordering direct from Apple, I'm pretty sure they don't discount options; just the base cost of the computer.

On a side note: I will never own a machine that doesn't have an SSD as its primary drive. The performance hit with a spinner is just too big. I use one for media storage, but no way will I put the OS, apps, and non-media files on a spinner.

Yeah, 90MBs read speed is just not something that should be present in 2013. The PCIe storage I read can get up to 750MBs and that's just fast. Also, is it true that higher capacity SSD's get faster speeds? Would 512GB be faster than 256GB?