New iMac -- add RAM or ext SSD

First of all, if I were you I would have put that money toward a BTO machine and maxed out the CPU and GPU because you can't easily do either aftermarket.

At this point, you're probably better off with a RAM upgrade than you are with an external SSD.

 

SSD, totally. With the fastest connection you can afford. Usb3, firewire, firewire raid 0 (mini big disk).

 

my imac i7 and 4gb graphics, i recommend dual SSD 1 pcie and 1 ssd

i asked apple to put in more ssd, i used samsung 840 256gb

pcie is faster from apply but it is expensive

sata cable can not get anywhere, you have to ask apply to install it

i am very happy with iMac, it is like using the future computer really fast

 

What startup time? Don't turn it off, just put it to sleep.

 

If you don't need RAM yet, don't buy it yet.
Get the SSD -- it will make a HUGE difference in performance.

You don't have to spend extra money to use a thunderbolt-based external drive. The USB3 ports will work fine, and you'll get speeds that are equal to what you would see using thunderbolt.

Just BE SURE that the external enclosure or dock (see below) you buy supports something called "UASP" (USB attached SCSI protocol) -- this assures the fastest reads/writes with USB3, and relieves the CPU of USB management tasks.

Other than an "enclosure", you might also consider a USB3/SATA docking station. To see what these are, go to amazon and enter "usb3 sata dock" into the search box. They typically cost less than $25 and are very handy to have around.

I saw at least one post here from someone who picked up a 2.5" drive enclosure, put the SSD into it, and then used Velcro to attach it to the back of the iMac's stand. Very clean solution...

 

I have been using a 2.5 enclosure and a Samsung 840pro and it have been a big difference. Booting up, and overall usage. The case I am using is limited on speeds, so I am not even hitting the full potential of the SSD until I replace the enclosure. I have it Velcroed to the back as well and reformatted the internal drive to a bare drive and made the SSD my boot drive on USB3. I have been doing this for about a month and a half and have not had a single issue. This is the best Upgrade I have ever done!

Enjoy!

----------

Why is this important? I do not understand the wiki explanation. My Current enclosure do not have this I don't think. Would this be a performance increase?

 

Actually, someone suggested that to you in post #8 of this very thread.

I've put every Mac I've owned to sleep when not in use rather than shutting down. I can still say, unequivocally that the Fusion Drive on my latest iMac (first SSD-based Mac for me) has made me wonder how I ever put up with the HDD-only snail-speed of all those that came before it. It's not only about startup and shutdown, although it sure kicks butt that I can now do so when I have to in about 15 seconds from chime to desktop as opposed to several minutes. It's about the speed with which apps open and close and files are saved to disc. It's about the lack of noise of the HDD spinning up and down and clicking as it writes.

It's hard to imagine how much an SSD changes things until you've actually experienced it.

 

Yeah, I don't get this either. It's like saying a car that's good at dragracing should be avoided because it won't also be good at other things. Boot speed is one benefit of many of an SSD. It's just the easiest to demonstrate.

 

I would strongly recommend adding a 256gb or higher blade SSD in your iMac. Fuse and make a fusion drive. You can find plenty of blade ssd's for sale on ebay. Also, dont forget to check your local craigslist listing. Fusion drive can make a world of difference. And honestly, i care less about startup and shutdown time. I never shutdown my machine.
Adding more RAM may not give u significant improvements and i guess 8GB is more than sufficient for most needs.

 

This is what it looks like and it goes inside a different slot on your motherboard.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trk...tina+macbook+pro+blade+ssd&_sacat=0&_from=R40

buy any of these.

 

For future reference, all of the blade SSDs I see on eBay make reference to MBP-compatiblity but are these confirmed to work in the 2012 and later iMacs as well?

 

You dont really have to do anything to configure it. Boot up OS X mavericks from the installation media and launch disk utility. It will set up the fusion drive for you.

Yes, you have to open up the machine for this. Its really not that hard.

If you plan on taking this route, i would strongly recommend that go through this thread:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1507713

----------

Yes i confirm that they would work on 2012 and later iMacs. The only thing is, they have to be Apple made and not the OWC ones. They gotta to be the ones that are pulled out of factory installed system. Any apple made Blade SSD for Retina Macbook pros should (and will) work.