iMac 27 5K, need advice, fast...

[c0ppo]

Greetings,

I have a chance to purchase new iMac 27 (Kaby Lake), with i5-7600, 575, 8GB of RAM. And that config will suit my needs perfectly (Unity, corona, Xcode, Android Studio, Windows in parallels for .NET development).

But only thing that I really hate is - Fusion Drive. And just one 1tb model (so 32gb of ssd if I'm not mistaken?). And as far as I get it, upgrading the iMac with more SSD isn't possible? Or is it?

I could buy a thunderbolt 3 enclosure, put SSD in that, and create MacOS and boot up like that. I don't really care about additional cables, but is it worth it? How fast would my SSD really be? 300-400 mb/s?

Problem is, in my own country, Apple products are really expensive. This config listed here is about 3000 euros. I could get this 4 days old iMac for 1900 euros, from a friend.

Only problem is... Is it worth it? Could I expect an custom SSD from OWC any time in the future? I have no problem opening up iMac and upgrading it myself, I'm fairly confident in myself doing that since I have opened up a lot of them at my work (models from 2009 - 2015).

 

[czacha]

You can upgrade iMac and put SSD. You can change SATA one it is easy and it takes about 5-10 minutes. But you will loose warranty

 

[c0ppo]

You can upgrade iMac and put SSD. You can even change both drives - SATA one is easy and it takes about 5-10 minutes. To swap PCI-E one you need to take out mother board. In both cases you will loose warranty anyway.

I know I can take out SSD, but I thought it was propraitery, and that as of yet, no one makes those for 2017?
For the warranty part, I'm willing to take the gamble.

 

[czacha]

EDITED: Looks like I'm wrong in this post

In my opinion (but I didn't check) PCI-E is PCI-E. If you can s wap 3.5'' drive with any other drive so why not PCI-E one? There is no glue ... You can even swap CPU if you want

 

[justperry]

In my opinion (but I didn't check) PCI-E is PCI-E. If you can s wap 3.5'' drive with any other drive so why not PCI-E one? There is no glue ... You can even swap CPU if you want

Be careful with what you say, it's not the first time Apple uses a propriety connector, it has in most of their laptops, it might have a different connector here too.

 

[czacha]

Be careful with what you say, it's not the first time Apple uses a propriety connector, it has in most of their laptops, it might have a different connector here too.

Really? Those PCI-E drives on Macbooks aren't standard SSD drives? You can't switch to Samsung PCI-E? Oh ..

 

[justperry]

Really? Those PCI-E drives on Macbooks aren't standard SSD drives? You can't switch to Samsung PCI-E? Oh ..

The next link was from last year, I am pretty sure Apple still uses different connectors this year too, OWC is probably one of the only ones which makes SSD's compatible with Apple.

Samsung’s insanely fast new SSDs won’t work in your MacBook


Edit: BTW, they are expensive too.

 

[c0ppo]

Really? Those PCI-E drives on Macbooks aren't standard SSD drives? You can't switch to Samsung PCI-E? Oh ..

Nope, you can't just swap apple pci-e ssd for a samsung one. I wish I could...

Nahh, I already contacted my friend, and I said I'm not buying the iMac. I'm gonna purchase one for sure, but will wait for an offer with built in SSD. I know I can swap HDD for SSD, but that is SATA, and I wouldn't see speed gains like I would if iMac had built in pci-e SSD.

It's a shame apple is so cheap and greedy. If I do BTO, I would wait 1-2 months for the iMac, and pay a hefty price compared to most EU countries, not to mention USA. I will just buy iMac from ebay when a right offer is on the market.

But thanks for your help guys.

 

[justperry]

Nope, you can't just swap apple pci-e ssd for a samsung one. I wish I could...

Nahh, I already contacted my friend, and I said I'm not buying the iMac. I'm gonna purchase one for sure, but will wait for an offer with built in SSD. I know I can swap HDD for SSD, but that is SATA, and I wouldn't see speed gains like I would if iMac had built in pci-e SSD.

It's a shame apple is so cheap and greedy. If I do BTO, I would wait 1-2 months for the iMac, and pay a hefty price compared to most EU countries, not to mention USA. I will just buy iMac from ebay when a right offer is on the market.

But thanks for your help guys.

You won't notice a lot of difference in between SATA or PCIE in normal use except when you have to copy large files like in video editing.

 

[SaSaSushi]

Really? Those PCI-E drives on Macbooks aren't standard SSD drives? You can't switch to Samsung PCI-E? Oh ..

Apple uses proprietary blade style SSDs. One could replace the HDD component of a Fusion Drive with a 2.5" SATA SSD (in a mounting bracket) but not standard PCI-E SSDs and it would not perform anywhere near as fast.

 

[c0ppo]

You won't notice a lot of difference in between SATA or PCIE in normal use except when you have to copy large files like in video editing.

Well, I get to use almost all of Apple lineup at my job. But the difference isn't just in copying large files, it's also when starting apps, etc. But I do agree, not difference like hdd vs sata ssd, but then again, I really want the best. I would just hate myself if I've purchased this iMac, and in a month or two a great deal shows up on ebay

P.S.
For removing HDD and installing sata SSD, I also need to order and purchase heat sensor. Too much hassle and losing warranty vs spending some more and getting it all

 

[justperry]

Well, I get to use almost all of Apple lineup at my job. But the difference isn't just in copying large files, it's also when starting apps, etc. But I do agree, not difference like hdd vs sata ssd, but then again, I really want the best. I would just hate myself if I've purchased this iMac, and in a month or two a great deal shows up on ebay

P.S.
For removing HDD and installing sata SSD, I also need to order and purchase heat sensor. Too much hassle and losing warranty vs spending some more and getting it all

FFS, they really still have that Temperature sensor on the HDD, wasn't aware of that.

I agree, if you want the best then the only solution is a PCIE SSD.

 

[jjxt1]

I would buy the SanDisk Extreme 900 external SSD which uses USB3.1 Gen2 interface (USB-C). It's a bit more expensive than SATA SSD but u got double of the speed. Have a look.