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Help me decide/spec a new iMac

campyguy said:
See my post and associated link here:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/ssd-worth-the-upgrade.1970957/#post-22866250

I'm not a huge fan of CNet, but our tests of the Pro were borne out. I'm still a fan of the EVO but IMHO it has its place. There just aren't any better consumer storage SSDs than the 850 EVO or any better consumer OS SSDs than the 850 Pro.

My only other comment on this bit is that, if you can hold out a bit longer, don't buy just yet. I haven't seen any posts here in MR, the 48-layer design of the EVO is already shipping and the PRO is almost out - the sales on the the EVO are on the already-outdated 32-layer design of the EVO. If you can get a screaming deal on an 850 EVO or PRO then go for it - I'm waiting...
http://www.thessdreview.com/feature...en-48-layer-3d-v-nand-performance-comparison/
http://www.anandtech.com/show/9652/...llout-4tb-850-pro-1tb-850-evo-m2-more-in-2016
Click to expand...

I probably can because I still have to find someone to do the swap for me - I rang the local authorised repairer and they were rude and horrible on the phone not to mention that I cannot book in and will have to hand them my main iMac for 3-5 days!!!! After speaking with them, I don't trust them with it for even 3-5 minutes.... There is a couple of other authorised repairers I will check out.

I also talked with a friend to see if he was game to help me DIY but he was a bit intimidated by getting the screen glass off. I'm hoping an authorised mac repairer has some experience doing this stuff, has the equipment and preferably a dust free (or more dust free than my house) environment.


So I've been googling a bit but cannot figure out if the new 850 Pro would replace the existing 256gb SSD or whether it takes the slot of the 2TB 720 rpm macintosh HD2? This makes a difference to size I would get. IF I get a big enough one, could I then just operate everything from one drive?

Also, if I turn on file vault, will that protect my data while it is in the shop? (I will of course have my time capsule and carbon copy clones here at home for recovery but do I need to erase one or both hard drives first for security?)
 
appleisler said:
So I've been googling a bit but cannot figure out if the new 850 Pro would replace the existing 256gb SSD or whether it takes the slot of the 2TB 720 rpm macintosh HD2?
Click to expand...
Personally, I'd not open up a brand new iMac, the risk of damaging it is high, and reading between the lines, it seems this not something in your comfort zone (or your friends), I'd definitely look for a computer repair shop that does Macs.

As for your question, the SSDs in iMacs are a blade type, so you cannot replace the SSD with the 850, you'll need to remove your spinning hard drive and put in the SSD in its place.
 
appleisler said:
So I've been googling a bit but cannot figure out if the new 850 Pro would replace the existing 256gb SSD or whether it takes the slot of the 2TB 720 rpm macintosh HD2? This makes a difference to size I would get. IF I get a big enough one, could I then just operate everything from one drive?
Click to expand...
The Apple SSDs use a proprietary PCIe slot (and are consequently a lot faster than a standard SATA III SSD), so it would be replacing the 2 TB HDD which uses a standard SATA connection.
Also, if I turn on file vault, will that protect my data while it is in the shop?
Click to expand...
Yes, that should be enough to keep your data safe.
 
appleisler said:
I probably can because I still have to find someone to do the swap for me - I rang the local authorised repairer and they were rude and horrible on the phone not to mention that I cannot book in and will have to hand them my main iMac for 3-5 days!!!! After speaking with them, I don't trust them with it for even 3-5 minutes.... There is a couple of other authorised repairers I will check out.

I also talked with a friend to see if he was game to help me DIY but he was a bit intimidated by getting the screen glass off. I'm hoping an authorised mac repairer has some experience doing this stuff, has the equipment and preferably a dust free (or more dust free than my house) environment.


So I've been googling a bit but cannot figure out if the new 850 Pro would replace the existing 256gb SSD or whether it takes the slot of the 2TB 720 rpm macintosh HD2? This makes a difference to size I would get. IF I get a big enough one, could I then just operate everything from one drive?

Also, if I turn on file vault, will that protect my data while it is in the shop? (I will of course have my time capsule and carbon copy clones here at home for recovery but do I need to erase one or both hard drives first for security?)
Click to expand...
I'm all in with maflynn on finding a suitable - and not rude - tech to perform any work on the newer iMacs, which we do here. The 2TB drive would be the one to swap out; what we do here with our PCs and Macs is to use the smaller drive as the OS/app drive and the larger drive for data - in our PCs, for instance, we're generally running 250-500GB PCIe drives as our OS/app drive and far-more cost-effective SATA SSDs (generally 1 or 2TB, all 850 EVO drives - which gives me opportunity to chime in more in a bit) for caching and data, backed up to an internal NAS-grade drive - which makes me miss my Mac towers a bit :sniff:...

I'll back off my recommendation of an 850 Pro if it's not going to be used as an OS/app drive, and go with the cheaper but just-as-solid 850 EVO, which we also use and are just as happy with for storage. A friend of mine had her iMac's HD pulled, put in an 850 PRO, installed the OS and apps on the 850 PRO, and uses the PCIe SSD as a cache/swap file destination - for Photoshop and AutoCAD (water field design using huge SHAPE files, imported into AutoCAD) that beast just flies, but I'll take the credit for making that suggestion to her :smug grin:.

Agreed with redheeler about FileVault - this popped up on Macworld just a few days ago:
http://www.macworld.com/article/307...t-worrying-about-insecure-data-on-an-ssd.html
 
Get another maxed out iMac! Buy once, cry once is my motto on buying tech.

You seem to have done that before and you were very happy with the results. :)

Resale will be higher too. CPU and GPU resale is negligible however buyers fiend over an SSD.
 
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appleisler said:
I probably can because I still have to find someone to do the swap for me - I rang the local authorised repairer and they were rude and horrible on the phone not to mention that I cannot book in and will have to hand them my main iMac for 3-5 days!!!! After speaking with them, I don't trust them with it for even 3-5 minutes.... There is a couple of other authorised repairers I will check out.

I also talked with a friend to see if he was game to help me DIY but he was a bit intimidated by getting the screen glass off. I'm hoping an authorised mac repairer has some experience doing this stuff, has the equipment and preferably a dust free (or more dust free than my house) environment.


So I've been googling a bit but cannot figure out if the new 850 Pro would replace the existing 256gb SSD or whether it takes the slot of the 2TB 720 rpm macintosh HD2? This makes a difference to size I would get. IF I get a big enough one, could I then just operate everything from one drive?

Also, if I turn on file vault, will that protect my data while it is in the shop? (I will of course have my time capsule and carbon copy clones here at home for recovery but do I need to erase one or both hard drives first for security?)
Click to expand...

You can do it yourself: it's easy.

Get this kit: https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/DIYIMACHDD11/

And follow this instruction: https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iMac+Intel+27-Inch+EMC+2429+Hard+Drive+Replacement/7555

Make sure you install the In-line Digital Thermal Sensor Cable or the fan will spin out of control.
 
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afctee said:
I'd be too scared to do this, AND, I work in IT...
Click to expand...

I got a part time job at my University.

My university mostly use Windows PC, but have a couple of computer labs that uses Macs (specifically the Slim Unibody iMac).

The TI department obviously wasn't going to the pay ridiculous price that Apple wants for 1TB SSD, so the department had us upgraded the iMacs with 1TB SSDs that it was able to sourced at a much more cost affordable price (1/5 of the price).

Anyway, there was a problem with one of the iMac and it had to be sent in for repair. We just swap out the SSD for the original hard drive and the repair went fine. When it came back, we just swap the SSD back.
 
afctee said:
I'd be too scared to do this, AND, I work in IT...
Click to expand...
Agreed, the risk is too high, and I used to sell/repair computers back in the day. Apple makes it hard to open these up and I'd rather not risk damaging the computer of my warranty.
 
maflynn said:
Agreed, the risk is too high, and I used to sell/repair computers back in the day. Apple makes it hard to open these up and I'd rather not risk damaging the computer of my warranty.
Click to expand...

It's actually easy.

On the Unibody iMac (non-Slim) all you need is suction cups to lift the glass panel and the screen is held in by screws that need to be remove.

On the Slim Unibody iMac, the display is hold on by adhesive strips. Once the strips are cut, the display can be remove. Sure, it's big and make of glass, but I assumed that you have moved a glass table before without breaking it, and this is similar.
 
The 2011 iMac is not hard to take apart, as long as you do it slowly and carefully. The hardest part is to get the motherboard to fit in place after you've moved it out, but that is just a matter of wiggling it.

And sucksion cups are not needed. Personally I don't like to use them, as it is much easier just to use your nails and hands, as it gives you more control.
 
My 2011 27 in iMac still runs great and personally I'm inclined to wait for either the next Mac Pro or, failing that, the next iMac. Some upgrades and sleuthing of the current iMac might keep you happy until Apple offers the next iMac/Mac Pro. Here are some thoughts on that:

Sluggishness and beachballs can be many things including slow/dying HD or possibly too many daemons running in the background. My steps would be:
  1. Download Etrecheck to find out if you have unexpected/unwanted background processes
  2. Run Apple's hardware test to see if there is any issue. If you have other tools ( TechTool Pro and Smart Utility come to mind ) use them to evaluate the HD.
  3. Install an external SSD. You can connect it via a sled and a Thunderbolt cable. It will boot and this will avoid opening your iMac. This is what I use but there is probably something newer and less expensive ( edit: newer version here )
 
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tubeexperience said:
On the Unibody iMac (non-Slim) all you need is suction cups to lift the glass panel and the screen is held in by screws that need to be remove.

On the Slim Unibody iMac, the display is hold on by adhesive strips. Once the strips are cut, the display can be remove. Sure, it's big and make of glass, but I assumed that you have moved a glass table before without breaking it, and this is similar.
Click to expand...
This is a little project that is suited for some people, and for some people, it is not.

I don't do this type of thing not only because I do not like the process, but also because I give myself a slight chance of messing it up, something I do not want to do.

An issue I've seen with people attempting this is they can end up with particles of dust stuck behind their screen.

I find it very reasonable that could happen, those little particles are small and there's always a possibility some are flying around when you're performing this.

If even one particle ended up there I would not be thrilled.

I understand the perceived upsides to this, but there are risks.
 
i am in the same boat - minus the tax write off issue :)

However I have a base 2011 iMac 2.5 and upgraded the RAM to 16GB and that made the biggest difference - though an SSD would be even better. I "dabble" in photography, so that is what my machine is used for. The lack of USB 3.0 is killing me as all my external HDDs are USB3.

I called a local Mac shop, and the labor to swap out the HDD is $120ish, plus the parts, etc. So if I did an SSD (in place of the optical drive) AND the main HDD, it would be at least $500. But then i am still working with a 5 year old computer.

So i am going looking at the late 2013/2014 27" iMac with the i7. I bet i could get $400-$500 for my computer, so the upgrade wouldn't cost too much.

And i agree, my iMac is THE BEST computer i have owned. I had a then new maxed out 2011 MBP.
 
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