Real advantage of having a SSD?

[enigma2k]

Ok what I have read so far is that with a SSD you can boot up the Mac much faster and the apps also start faster than using a HDD.

But what exactly is this good for if most users (if not all) never turn their iMac off and thus don't have to boot it.
And if you just wake it up you don't even have to reopen your apps. Most users use the same apps everyday and just can leave them all open using Spaces.

The only real advantage that would come to my mind is that it is completely silent.

A big disadvantage for me is beside the price that you should not write/delete too much on it as this would speedup the degradation process of the SSD.

 

[JayX]

I think you're overestimating the amount of people who leave their machines on constantly, but I do think there is overlap between people who run boxes 24/7 and those most likely to install an SSD. There's a computing mentality where any speed increase is deemed worthy, and in a lot of systems now a 7200 RPM platter hard disk is the bottle neck.

 

[mmomega]

I don't see how reduced power consumption , reduced temperature and increased speed is a disadvantage. Sure at the moment SSD's cost more per GB but that has never been a problem for be because I have always had my home folder on a separate HDD externally.

 

[firestarter]

It helps with all file access, so it's not just booting up and opening apps.

That said, if you have lots of memory (so your apps don't have to swap to disk) and you also leave everything running, then you're correct, SSDs won't give you a big benefit.

 

[uller6]

SSD in Imac

SSDs are awesome because they have much higher random read and write speeds than traditional spinning hard drives. So you can open about 5 programs at once without any slowdowns. Also, I record music and I don't have the money to pay the premium for the mac pro. Since the iMac has only 1 firewire port, I would like to run my operating system from one disk (ssd) and then record to a second internal disk (HDD) on the SATA bus for increased speed. I say take out the optical drive and put an SSD in instead - this will give you the best of both worlds!

 

[MacHamster68]

hmm yes ,what are ssd's good for , the ones people buy are pathetically small for a desktop , on a desktop i would not chose less the 500gb which gets already expensive i you want a ssd , so most buy the small 32,64 or 128gb but doing so they still rely on the "slow" harddrive

so i ordered a WD velocity raptor 10000rpm 600gb harddrive and the higher speed is really noticeable , booting faster , waking up faster and apps launch faster too and because of the icepack its really cooler running about 5 degree celsius cooler then the original 250gb 7200 drive that was in it

http://www.techpowerup.com/119446/WD_Launches_Newest_VelociRaptor_The_Fastest_SATA_Hard_Drive_With_Twice_the_Capacity.html

 

[300D]

But what exactly is this good for if most users (if not all) never turn their iMac off and thus don't have to boot it.

Everything. The only reason SSD hasn't made hard drives completely obsolete is cost per GB.

 

[Stealthipad]

Other that the advantages of speed a SSD will last much longer that any conventional drive that is forced to live inside such a HOT environment of a iMac. Heat is the number one killer of hard drives and a SSD could care less! I have been using a 256GB SSD in my laptop and love it!

To me they are well worth the investment just for the boot up speed and overage performance boost while running.

 

[George Knighton]

Ok what I have read so far is that with a SSD you can boot up the Mac much faster and the apps also start faster than using a HDD.

But what exactly is this good for if most users (if not all) never turn their iMac off and thus don't have to boot it.
And if you just wake it up you don't even have to reopen your apps. Most users use the same apps everyday and just can leave them all open using Spaces.

The only real advantage that would come to my mind is that it is completely silent.

A big disadvantage for me is beside the price that you should not write/delete too much on it as this would speedup the degradation process of the SSD.

I have an SSD on my Macbook and a spinner on my iMac.

There is a huge advantage in opening everything with the SSD. Starting the system, applications, big files, everything.

But you're right. There is a point at which the price premium for the SSD and the current size limitations make them less desirable. I went with a spinner on my iMac because it seemed to me 1 TB would be a perfect balance, allow me to have 240 GB Windows partition and the rest Mac.

And you're also correct that I'm one of those people who leave the thing on most of the time, and just wake it from sleep with most applications already loaded.

I *do* notice that when I have to load and render a huge PDF (I help with legislation), there is a perceivable (but not annoying) delay opening the file on the iMac. But these files are absolutely HUGE, and I do not find it especially annoying.

We're at a stage of development where people aren't really going to agree that there is an obvious choice, and you'll just have to balance your preferences the way that I did.

 

[J&JPolangin]

iMac's need to have the case redesigned so that you can install/upgrade your HDD bays easily as a DIY mod!

I got a 20" iMac about a year ago as the 21.5" models were coming out as that's as powerful as I needed that "machine to be"... it came with a small HDD by today's standards and I hooked up a FW external to it with not much of a performance hit if any... that way if my iMac needs to go in for repair, I'm not sending much of my personal info in with the machine as most of "my" files are stored on the external FW drive...

If they redesigned the cases as I mentioned above (like a laptop is already) then I could see having huge internal drives inside iMac's but as it stands right now, I like not having to "crack open" my iMac to change out a drive if I want to keep my files secure.

As far as SSD's, I have a 64Gb WD scorpio blue, Intel 80Gb G2 and Crucial 128Gb model in various machines I use and the size doesn't bother me with the networked/portable HDD's I have access to...

 

[Stealthipad]

iMac's need to have the case redesigned so that you can install/upgrade your HDD bays easily as a DIY mod!

I got a 20" iMac about a year ago as the 21.5" models were coming out as that's as powerful as I needed that "machine to be"... it came with a small HDD by today's standards and I hooked up a FW external to it with not much of a performance hit if any... that way if my iMac needs to go in for repair, I'm not sending much of my personal info in with the machine as most of "my" files are stored on the external FW drive...

If they redesigned the cases as I mentioned above (like a laptop is already) then I could see having huge internal drives inside iMac's but as it stands right now, I like not having to "crack open" my iMac to change out a drive if I want to keep my files secure.

As far as SSD's, I have a 64Gb WD scorpio blue, Intel 80Gb G2 and Crucial 128Gb model in various machines I use and the size doesn't bother me with the networked/portable HDD's I have access to...

I agree, it would be nice to have an easy opening to change out drives. I would not mind a few vents for air circulation in the back of the iMac. It might ruin the "look" but the guts could be cooler with more ventilation

 

[MacHamster68]

the original iMac g5 was perfect for replacing/changing parts ,lay it on the screen side , turn 3 screws on the bottom a couple times (they had a stop and did not come out) a slight lift on the stand and everything was in front of you ,ready with some basic tools to upgrade ,without voiding warranty , even if you just did want to clean inside
but apple wants to sell their "upgrade" stuff so they made it nearly impossible for consumers who are not used to working on electronic equipment, and dont have special tools in the kitchen cupboard like torx to upgrade their iMac and the thread of loosing warranty ...
Good news are the new iMacs are so advanced now that cleaning inside is not necessary any more and we all live in a clean dust free environment anyway so there is never ever the need for the consumer to open a iMac