Possible upgrades for 08 C2D iMac (SSD, RAM. .)

[MrMorris]

I'm thinking of upgrading a few bits of my iMac, which is one of the previous models (still unibody, but the glass doesn't go all the way across the front).

First of all, SSD. How much speed difference should I expect, and are there any SSDs that anyone can recommend? I'm looking for either 250gb or 320gb. Also, and most importantly, how hard are they to install? If the process is too tricky I think I may pass.

Secondly, RAM. I upgraded my RAM when I first got my iMac from one to four GB, but I think I may have got some pretty slow stuff as I went for the cheap option and got it off Amazon. Is 667mhz the fastest RAM that my iMac can take?

Thanks.

 

[Hellhammer]

240GB SSD already costs about 500$ so you should really think twice is it worth it to upgrade your relatively old Mac with one. 60GB or 120GB SSD with external HD as storage would still be okay but I wouldn't start spending hundreds and hundreds for an SSD. Of course it's your money and that SSD can be reused in another computer in future but still.

Depending on what iMac you have, 667MHz may be the fastest you can get but the speed doesn't really matter.

 

[MrMorris]

Ahh, i never realised SSDs were still so expensive. I thought for some reason that they'd come down in price, to be honest I don't think it's worth it now.

Also, I just checked on Crucial and apparently 667mhz is the fastest my mac will take. I didn't realise speed doesn't make much of a difference, does it not?

 

[Hellhammer]

I didn't realise speed doesn't make much of a difference, does it not?

Speed will just increase the memory bandwidth but that's not the bottleneck nowadays. Only handful off apps will benefit from the higher bandwidth so in real world you wouldn't notice the difference

 

[biggd]

Speed will just increase the memory bandwidth but that's not the bottleneck nowadays. Only handful off apps will benefit from the higher bandwidth so in real world you wouldn't notice the difference

So your saying adding an SSD in a '07 iMac won't prolong the life of the Mac?

 

[Hellhammer]

So your saying adding an SSD in a '07 iMac won't prolong the life of the Mac?

Well, of course SSD would speed things up but I wouldn't go and spend 500$ on one. Like I said above, a small SSD (60-120GB) for OS X and apps and then external HD as storage is what I would do if I really wanted an SSD. You gain the benefits without spending a fortune. I don't see the point of spending 500$ on an SSD as that's worth nearly as much as the whole computer.