Was the iMac 11,2 (Mid-2010) available with SSD?

[mj_]

A friend recently gave me an iMac 11,2 (Mid-2010) for inspection. She works for a non-profit, and the iMac was donated to them a couple of years ago but they have never used it because they did not know the password and kept it in storage until now. I was able to reset the password and take a closer look at the iMac - to my surprise, it was already fitted with a 128GB Samsung SSD and 8GB of RAM.

Her current PC at work is an older Dell PC with a 500GB hard disk drive (around 300GB used), so I intend to upgrade the iMac with a 500GB or 1TB SSD depending on how much money they are willing to invest. My main concern is the temperature sensor. Does anyone know whether Apple used to sell this particular iMac (she's got the 3.6 GHz i5/8GB RAM model) with SSDs or just hard disk drives? According to System Profiler, the SSD reports as Samsung SSD but I couldn't find a specific model number. If the previous owner fitted that SSD retroactively it should already have a temperature sensor installed, if not I'd have to purchase one separately. The fan is very noticeable on the iMac, but it does not run at full speed from the start (in fact it is completely off during boot and only starts to spin after sitting on an idle desktop for around 10-15 minutes) so I'm guessing there must be some sort of temperature sensor installed.

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

Yes, the 27" had an option for a 256GB SSD, the 21" had none. But it did not have a 128GB option, so it must have been retrofitted in your case.

You can always install an application that can read its disk temperature, and see if it reports something.

 

[mj_]

Sorry, forgot to add that it's the 21,5" model. I should be able to take another look at it this afternoon to take a look at the disk temperature reading, thanks.

 

[nambuccaheadsau]

The 11.2 21.5" model came in 512GB, 1TB and 2TB 7200rpm drives only.

 

[mj_]

Thank you both. That means the previous owner must have fitted the SSD retroactively.
Which would also explain why it registers as "Samsung SSD" and not "Apple SSD".

I'll try to figure out more later today when she's back from work.

 

[nambuccaheadsau]

Apple have never made SSDs, but used other brands including Samsung. Now a later ,model that came with an SSD/Blade Drive installed when new would show it as an 'Apple' drive.

 

[mj_]

I was able to take another look. According to Macs Fan Control the SSD did not report a temperature but the fans were running at low speeds by and large.

 

[ronharp]

I was able to take another look. According to Macs Fan Control the SSD did not report a temperature but the fans were running at low speeds by and large.

Hi MJ. Pretty newby here but have done really extensive research in recent months re upgrading drives for my mid 2010 Imac. I put a 500gb SSD in my 11,3 mid 2010 Imac and loved the speed but having been a PC person from the beginning and then Windows and, even worse, having my favorite program be only windows with no hope of ever having a mac version I ended up putting in a 1tb SSHD to have room to install boot camp windows and using the 500gb SSD externally so far. What I'm getting to here is this Imac will work with pretty much any HD, SSD or SSHD you might want to put in it. As far as the temp sensor on an SSD is concerned the many, many videos I've watched and even some conversations on this forum vary as to whether you even need a temp sensor on the SSD. There are software sensors(some free) that do the job if your fans run all the time. Another thing to consider if money is tight for your friend the SSHD. It is quite a bit less than the SSD but faster than the HDD.