Looking for help upgrading a Mid 2011 iMac

[realhiphop]

My mom has a mid 2011 iMac with the following specs:
- OS Sierra
- 21.5 Inch
- 4GB DDR3 RAM
- 2.5 GHZ Intel Core i5 Processor

The computer has become painfully slow. Everything takes forever to load, and it feels like the computer needs a complete upgrade. Her use case is mostly to pay bills online, internet, but nothing super heavy processing wise.

She's open to all options, from the most expensive (getting the new iMac) to less expensive ones.

I'm looking for advice on the best route to take. If we went with the newest iMac, what specs should she get?

Thanks in advance.

 

[sigamy]

I have the 2.7 GHz version of this same machine. About two years ago my HD died and I got a 1TB SSD and a Thunderbolt enclosure. I boot from this external and use it for OS, apps and Photos. Huge upgrade.

I'm ready to upgrade as soon as new iMac comes but I still use this machine for HD and even 4K video editing.

See if you can find a Thunderbolt 1 enclosure. I'm not sure if the new Thunderbolt will work with your iMac.
1TB SSD:

Samsung SSD 860 EVO 1TB 2.5 Inch SATA III Internal SSD (MZ-76E1T0B/AM)

The SSD you trust: The newest edition to the world's best-selling SATA SSD series, the Samsung 860 EVO SSD is specially designed to enhance performance of mainstream PCs and laptops. With the latest V-NAND technology, this fast and reliable Solid State Drive comes in a wide range of compatible fo...

www.amazon.com

Then, get some RAM from here:

Memory Upgrades for Apple iMac 2011 Up to 32GB

Upgrade your 2011 iMac up to 32GB of memory for faster performance. Save money by trading in the original memory chips for a cash rebate.

eshop.macsales.com

 

[realhiphop]

I have the 2.7 GHz version of this same machine. About two years ago my HD died and I got a 1TB SSD and a Thunderbolt enclosure. I boot from this external and use it for OS, apps and Photos. Huge upgrade.

I'm ready to upgrade as soon as new iMac comes but I still use this machine for HD and even 4K video editing.

See if you can find a Thunderbolt 1 enclosure. I'm not sure if the new Thunderbolt will work with your iMac.
1TB SSD:

Samsung SSD 860 EVO 1TB 2.5 Inch SATA III Internal SSD (MZ-76E1T0B/AM)

The SSD you trust: The newest edition to the world's best-selling SATA SSD series, the Samsung 860 EVO SSD is specially designed to enhance performance of mainstream PCs and laptops. With the latest V-NAND technology, this fast and reliable Solid State Drive comes in a wide range of compatible fo...

www.amazon.com

Then, get some RAM from here:

Memory Upgrades for Apple iMac 2011 Up to 32GB

Upgrade your 2011 iMac up to 32GB of memory for faster performance. Save money by trading in the original memory chips for a cash rebate.

eshop.macsales.com

You think this is a better route to go vs. getting a brand new machine?

 

[sigamy]

You think this is a better route to go vs. getting a brand new machine?

The iMac is due for a refresh. The Buyers Guide here has it as a "DON'T BUY". So, do not buy a new iMac now unless you get an amazing deal. The update could come any day, or at WWDC this summer.

You can upgrade RAM and SSD for probably under $200. It's all depends on your budget and what you do on the computer.

 

[rc3105]

8 gig of ram is $35 and easy to install yourself, that'll give her a total of 12 which is adequate. 8 is bare minimum, only having 4 is probably why it's unusable.

Used 120 gig SSD are $20 on ebay (get an intel) or new 512GB Western Digital Green SSD is $52 at newegg. You can install it yourself with a $6 set of screwdrivers, or any decent tech can do it for you.

Install High Sierra with that ram/ssd and the machine will be usable for several more years.

 

[drowan]

"Install High Sierra with that ram/ssd and the machine will be usable for several more years."
Your statement interested me as I am thoroughly disgusted with all things windows but on a budget. I'm looking at a refurbished 2011 iMac, has 1tb storage and upgrading to 16-20 gb memory. I'm just wondering what kind of life expectancy I'm looking at. btw I have no idea what High Sierra is.

 

[rpmurray]

I'm looking at a refurbished 2011 iMac, has 1tb storage and upgrading to 16-20 gb memory.
Btw I have no idea what High Sierra is.

If that storage is on a spinner rather than an SSD then the iMac will be slow. Apple has modified the OS over the last several versions to work well on SSDs at the expense of a spinning HD.
High Sierra is macOS 10.13 (last version was 10.13.6). It the last version that officially runs on a 2011 iMac.

 

[rc3105]

Your statement interested me as I am thoroughly disgusted with all things windows but on a budget. I'm looking at a refurbished 2011 iMac, has 1tb storage and upgrading to 16-20 gb memory. I'm just wondering what kind of life expectancy I'm looking at. btw I have no idea what High Sierra is.

MacOS provides security updates for 3 years. Catalina is the current version, Mojave is 2 yrs old, High Sierra 3 yrs old, Sierra 4 years old. The summer/fall updates will be the last for High Sierra.

Once those updates stop sw vendors will start pushing folks to update. For example, after the last of the Sierra updates the cad sw I use began requiring High Sierra.


If you go with a 2012 iMac (which supports Catalina) you can count on at least 3 more years of updates than a High Sierra machine.

Definitely get something with an internal SSD to boot from. External usb storage for your files is cheap to add later. Plan on running at least 16 gig of ram.

 

[drowan]

MacOS provides security updates for 3 years. Catalina is the current version, Mojave is 2 yrs old, High Sierra 3 yrs old, Sierra 4 years old. The summer/fall updates will be the last for High Sierra.

Once those updates stop sw vendors will start pushing folks to update. For example, after the last of the Sierra updates the cad sw I use began requiring High Sierra.


If you go with a 2012 iMac (which supports Catalina) you can count on at least 3 more years of updates than a High Sierra machine.

Definitely get something with an internal SSD to boot from. External usb storage for your files is cheap to add later. Plan on running at least 16 gig of ram.

Many thanks for your input Ric, I'm looking at this now:
iMac 21.5-inch (Late 2013) Core i5 2.7GHz - HDD 1 TB - 8GB
no mention of SSD (?) and I do want to upgrade to 16GB is that something I may be able to do myself?
I have done minor changes or adds inside the case of older pcs.

 

[AppleZombie]

Jumping into this thread as I own a 2011 27" with 4gb of Ram on High Sierra. I don't use it to store much but it is still becoming painfully slow. I bought a 2020 MacBook Air to try to use it as a monitor, but that didnt work . So my research has brought me to buying an External SSD and booting the iMac from there, I don't feel like tearing down the computer because honestly I'd probably screw it up. Ive heard a Samsung SSD with a Lacie USB Thunderbolt connection should work. Anyone have that combination?

 

[Bryan839]

I have a LaCie Thunderbolt SSD as the boot drive on my 2011 27” iMac and it’s the best thing I ever got for it, it made it like a brand new machine

 

[AppleZombie]

I have a LaCie Thunderbolt SSD as the boot drive on my 2011 27” iMac and it’s the best thing I ever got for it, it made it like a brand new machine

Nice! How sensitive is the TB cable. I've read of drives that have stopped working because of the TB cable

 

[rc3105]

Ram upgrades you can do yourself.

An SSD in a thunderbolt case will run as fast as one installed internally. The TB case will probably be $100 by itself though, so if at all possible find a mac that already has an internal SSD.


edit: fwiw, I've benchmarked the same Intel 1tb ssd internally on my 2011 imac at 530MB/sec and in an external usb case off my 2013 macbook pro at 390MB/sec. With a 2013 iMac a cheap usb3 case could be fast enough.

 

[USB3foriMac]

Many thanks for your input Ric, I'm looking at this now:
iMac 21.5-inch (Late 2013) Core i5 2.7GHz - HDD 1 TB - 8GB
no mention of SSD (?) and I do want to upgrade to 16GB is that something I may be able to do myself?
I have done minor changes or adds inside the case of older pcs.

It was now said many times: without SSD, your system will be slow. I am using mid 2011 with SSD, and I have no complaint whatsoever on the speed. Yes, High Sierra will be end of support soon, but that';s why I'm eyeing an upgrade of the graphics card which will bring new support life to this revision of iMac.

Why do people sell their (partially even brand new) iMacs with HDD only? They are super slow. Slower than any old machine with SSD.
So do yourself a favour and DO NOT BUY ANY iMac WITHOUT SSD.
Even having the HDD inside the machine will slow you down, as your Mac will have to wait for the drive to spin up after sleep, for example. Sleep is super fast with SSD only, and much, much, much slower if the system is with HDD inside. I have 3 iMacs, one with HDD alongside a SSD, and this machine is the slowest, despite more RAM, and faster CPU (i7).

 

[Berenod]

It was now said many times: without SSD, your system will be slow. I am using mid 2011 with SSD, and I have no complaint whatsoever on the speed. Yes, High Sierra will be end of support soon, but that';s why I'm eyeing an upgrade of the graphics card which will bring new support life to this revision of iMac.

Why do people sell their (partially even brand new) iMacs with HDD only? They are super slow. Slower than any old machine with SSD.
So do yourself a favour and DO NOT BUY ANY iMac WITHOUT SSD.
Even having the HDD inside the machine will slow you down, as your Mac will have to wait for the drive to spin up after sleep, for example. Sleep is super fast with SSD only, and much, much, much slower if the system is with HDD inside. I have 3 iMacs, one with HDD alongside a SSD, and this machine is the slowest, despite more RAM, and faster CPU (i7).

Just as a side note:
Thing is, the iMacs from model "Late 2012" and after all have USB 3 ports, to which you can connect an external SSD while using very close to it's maximum rated speed.
MacOS boots perfectly from external drives. External USB3 cases are dirt cheap.

The 2011 iMacs do not have USB3, so the only possibility of externally using a fast drive is through Thunderbolt, and while it is very fast (double USB 3.0), the external TB cases or TB to USB3 adapters are very expensive (usually at least 100€/US$) and quite hard to find..

With both above solutions you can very easily work permanently of an external drive without losing much (or at all) any performance compared to using an internal SSD.

 

[drowan]

Learning a lot folks, and it IS much appreciated!

 

[AppleZombie]

Alright so I went ahead and bought 16 gb of Ram to install, a used Lacie Hard Drive with TB connection and A Samsung SSD. Wish me luck.