Should I wait for the new iMac?

[hfg]

From what I've read also is that the current iMac doesn't have Thunderbolt 2 – only the first Thunderbolt. Can anyone confirm this? And does anyone believe the next one will have Thunderbolt 2?

I'm not sure if that will be useful for me.

The thing is, I'll be going with a 256GB Flash drive. I'd like to get another external hard drive to "compensate" for this small storage (flash is so expensive!), and I'd like it to be thunderbolt, so that it's ultra fast.

I'll try to keep important things only on the Mac, but if I get to the point where I have to put "every-day" stuff on the external hard drive too (let's say a photo library for example), then it would be better if it was pretty fast. Kind of disappointed by this, I was 100% sure the latest iMac had Thunderbolt 2.

An single external hard drive isn't going to become "ultra fast" just because it is interfaced with Thunderbolt I or Thunderbolt II ... it is going to transfer data at its normal slow speed of around 130 MB/sec. Only if you create a large multi drive RAID-0 array are you even going to get close to utilizing a Thunderbolt interface with hard disks.

You can save a lot of money by just buying an inexpensive USB 3.0 hard disk for either the current or future iMac. You don't need Thunderbolt 2 unless you do extremely data intensive real-time transfers which your posts don't seem to indicate.

 

[Kayan]

My vote is to wait for new ones. Your only a few months away at worst and it'll likely have cheaper SSD memory, upd CPU, etc... For the same price. I can put up with my current 2009 17" MBPro for a little longer...

 

[Silly John Fatty]

Yes, I understand all that. I'm on an early 2008 iMac, maxed out at 4gb of ram, constantly running hot (probably from dust) and shutting down on me in the middle of something when it overheats. I "need" a new computer, too.

But, I realized that if I put a clip-on fan behind the computer, it keeps the temps cool enough so that It can be running all day without shutting down. Since I really want to wait for the iMac refresh before I buy a new one, and I can manage with what I have, I don't "need" it as much as I thought I did. I'm willing to put up with the slowness, inconvenience and hassle now to get something better down the line.

So spare me the nonsense of being from a different planet.

I'll do you a favor... reply to this and I won't answer so you can have the last word.

Well it's similar with mine, it's slow, it gets hot as well but it works for normal things. However, I can't work on big projects with Logic, which I need, because it makes me earn money. And I don't need to have the last word by the way…
Also what I didn't mention is, because of the Mac getting so hot sometimes, that it had a graphics card issue. I'm scared it will happen again and then I won't be able to sell it…

An single external hard drive isn't going to become "ultra fast" just because it is interfaced with Thunderbolt I or Thunderbolt II ... it is going to transfer data at its normal slow speed of around 130 MB/sec. Only if you create a large multi drive RAID-0 array are you even going to get close to utilizing a Thunderbolt interface with hard disks.

You can save a lot of money by just buying an inexpensive USB 3.0 hard disk for either the current or future iMac. You don't need Thunderbolt 2 unless you do extremely data intensive real-time transfers which your posts don't seem to indicate.

Yes that's what I read yesterday, what are does arrays you are talking about? I do work with large files (with Logic) all the time, so it would be convenient if it was as fast as possible.
From what I read, HDDs are more reliable than SDDs, and also they're cheaper as we know. I have a Western Digital 3T right now, I can't judge how fast it will be with USB3 or Thunderbolt at the moment, since I also have 1TB on my iMac right now, I only used it to store stuff and do backups, and not to put stuff on it that I use every day.

https://onedrive.live.com/view.aspx...046C2!240&app=Excel&authkey=!AIirA-I4jvTVWU4&

Source:
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/features/382882/which-external-hard-drive-usb-3-or-thunderbolt

Also I use software instruments that are up to 40GB and more sometimes, I think the 256GB Flash drive will be filled very quickly. I guess I'll have to go with a 512 one, just to put the stuff I need on it.

My vote is to wait for new ones. Your only a few months away at worst and it'll likely have cheaper SSD memory, upd CPU, etc... For the same price. I can put up with my current 2009 17" MBPro for a little longer...

That's what I'm scared of, that it will be much better for the same price. I don't think the SSD memory will be cheaper, or what makes you think this? I mean I know it gets cheaper with the years but still.

 

[DooDuh]

Yes, I understand all that. I'm on an early 2008 iMac, maxed out at 4gb of ram, constantly running hot (probably from dust) and shutting down on me in the middle of something when it overheats. I "need" a new computer, too.

hologram... I'm in nearly the exact same situation. Two months ago, my 2008 iMac started displaying the spinning beach ball, followed by a complete freeze within minutes of turning it on. It wouldn't even let me force quit. I took it into a local repair store (not an Apple Store) and was told: the hard drive passed all the tests... the operating system was probably "corrupted"... or there was a bad application. I was also told that the 2008 24" iMac was considered to have a "vintage" internal board and parts might not be available.

They were able to move all my files to an external hard drive, but every time they tried restoring them back into my iMac... the freeze problem persisted. I told them I didn't want to spend a lot of money fixing it because I was ready to upgrade to the 27".... so I paid them for the new external hard drive with, thankfully, all my stuff on it... and brought my empty 24" iMac home. Ironically... even though it's basically "empty"... I'm still able to surf just fine... without any beach balls or freezing. I'm typing this on it right now.

But... I am more than ready to purchase the 27". I'm leaning towards the 1 TB Flash... but I hate paying $1000 more for it... and if I were absolutely sure that the SSD price would drop in the 2014 model... I could probably wait for a few months. I don't want to... but I could.

 

[hologram]

... I could probably wait for a few months. I don't want to... but I could.

Exactly! I don't want to, either, but as long as my computer keeps chugging along I will. I'm also hoping the price of SSD's will come down with the refresh.

In addition to overheating, I was always getting spinning beachballs, too. I ran a little program called EtreCheck:

http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/48217/etrecheck

and it turned up a few Launch Daemons and a couple of other things that were running after I'd already trashed the original programs (especially CleanApp and Clean my Mac, which were generating hundreds of megabytes of files). I got rid of these, and my computer immediately became a little faster and more reliable.

Then, yesterday, I installed Mavericks 10.9.3 on top of 10.8.5, and now it's noticeably faster and more responsive. It feels like my comp got a couple of years younger. If it stays this way, and I keep the clip-on fan running behind it, I won't have any trouble waiting till Sept. or thereabouts. Even longer, if necessary.

And if it dies in the meantime, then I'll NEED a new one, and buy what's available now.