To upgrade SSD... Or not?

[aware]

Hi, i'm deciding whether upgrading the Fusion Drive to SSD is a wise choice for the new iMac. I know that upgrading to SSD is a no brainer but hear me on this. If i upgrade the SSD through Apple, i can get the 256GB.... Or, i can get a 512GB SSD for roughly the same amount of money if i upgrade myself. So what is your choice? To upgrade SSD through Apple... Or not?

 

[theapplehead]

Hi, i'm deciding whether upgrading the Fusion Drive to SSD is a wise choice for the new iMac. I know that upgrading to SSD is a no brainer but hear me on this. If i upgrade the SSD through Apple, i can get the 256GB.... Or, i can get a 512GB SSD for roughly the same amount of money if i upgrade myself. So what is your choice? To upgrade SSD through Apple... Or not?

I'd do it myself. It's a fairly simple process and to get the extra storage would be completely worth it. Just look up an ifixit guide first and you'll be set.

 

[eatmyjustice]

I voted yes... primarily because I don’t want to deal with the “hassle” and I’m able to easily afford it at this point in my life. I think your poll results are going to be fairly subjective.

 

[macduke]

If you’re on the fence buy the smallest SSD you can afford. It’s worth it. I dealt with the 512GB on the 2017 5K iMac at work for a little over half a year and it was manageable with an external drive to archive projects and media. I priced out a custom 4TB (2x2TB) SSD with dual M.2 enclosure the other day for 550MB/s combined or ~1100MB/s RAID 0 and I think it was only around $600 total so if you want to DIY a 1TB in a single enclosure for extra storage that is way faster than a HDD but still much slower than the built-in SSD then you could go that route at some point. Disclaimer that I haven’t tried this yet but lots of people on the forums have. I have two Samsung T5s which are tiny portable SSDs that I currently use to store RAW photos and other stuff so I can work on editing photos while on lunch at work. I love them but they are very expensive and if I had to do it again I’d try DIY first.

 

[adamk77]

 

 

[Fishrrman]

Lemmmme get this straight...

You're going to buy a NEW iMac, and then open it (and break the warranty) to install a different drive?

That's crazy.

Also be aware that ANY SATA drive you install (in place of the HDD) is only going to run at SATA speeds -- far far FAR slower than a factory-installed SSD will run (the factory drive will be 4-5 times faster).

If you can't afford to buy a 512gb internal SSD, get the 256gb SSD.
Then, when you have more money, plug in either:
- A USB3.1 gen 1 SSD (such as Samsung T5)
- A USB3.1 gen 2 SSD (you have to buy the case and nvme drive and put this together yourself)
- A thunderbolt3 SSD (such as the Samsung X5 -- but these are $$$)

But again -- change out the fusion drive HDD for an SSD on a BRAND NEW iMac?
That's just nuts.

 

[aware]

Here are some pros and cons i thought of:

Upgrade SSD through Apple:
Pros
1. Faster SSD
2. Keeping the warranty

Cons
1. Paying double for the same amount of memory
2. Not possible to have dual memory drive as lacking of SATA connector?

Keeping Fusion Drive and upgrade SSD yourself:
Pros
1. Paying same amount for double the memory
2. Possible to have a dual SSD setup by combining a SATA SSD and PCIe SSD for more memory?

Cons
1. Slower SSD if only upgrading the hard drive and possible OS issues
2. Voiding the warranty