5 ms·

I have a 2010 iMac that's unbearably slow at the moment, and since I suspect that the hdd is the reason I'm considering upgrading to a 1TB SSD (since I don't wa

by m_eiman 10y ago

I have a 2010 iMac that's unbearably slow at the moment, and since I suspect that the hdd is the reason I'm considering upgrading to a 1TB SSD (since I don't want less storage space).. But including installation, that's roughly $400. And spending $400 to prolong the life of an iMac with a fairly crappy GPU seems a lot. But on the other hand a new iMac (with a non-Intel GPU) is $2000 or more. Hard decision!

r00fus 10y ago
Would that $400 investment increase your resale price somewhat (probably not 1:1, but you will get utility out of it). Alternatively, just buy whatever's on sale for small SSDs and do a fusion-drive on it.
- m_eiman 10y ago
  I'll keep the iMac until it gives up the ghost completely, so resale value isn't a parameter. It's more a question of "will the $400 give it enough longer life to make more sense than buying a new one now". Perhaps I should go with a 500GB SSD and transfer the movies and whatever else is taking up space to the server. And then buy a new iMac once they put the next-gen GPUs in them.
  - Alphasite_ 10y ago
    Why not a hundred dollar ssd and a drive upgrade kit for $50, so you can keep your current drive as well? Or fit a new 3TB drive while you're at it.
- imtringued 10y ago
  What 1TB SSD costs $400? The 512GB SSD I bought merely cost me $120. The 1TB Model costs a slightly more than twice that. So far I've been completly disappointed with my purchase. Compared to my 3TB HDD I've spent more money yet only see a 2x improvement in speed compared to my HDD for sequential loads. Sure it now boots much faster but that's hardly worth the money I've spent on it.
  - SyneRyder 10y ago
    I was just about to say I've never seen 1TB SSD's anywhere near that cheap - Apple in Australia still charges $800 to add a 1TB SSD to a MacBook Pro. But I see Amazon now sells SanDisk X400 1TB SSDs for $230 USD. Alas, everyone still seems to recommend Samsung Evo if you want reliability (I do), and $330 for a 1TB EVO 850 is still a little more than I want to pay. (Especially when a 2TB spinning disk selling for $95 now.)
beachstartup 10y ago
get a smaller one for your OS + common apps and a used nvidia gpu from a newer mac. an ssd is a completely different paradigm. it's night and day, even on an old sata bus. this shoudn't even be a question. hdd computers are completely unuseable to me now. i sat down at one the other day and i thought it had crashed and almost rebooted it, but it was just chugging the disk.
- m_eiman 10y ago
  Hard to switch GPUs in an iMac, isn't it? I have considered switching out both the HDD and the DVD drive to get space to build a Fusion drive, but I kinda want to keep the DVD drive; it's the only one we have in the house. Hm. Maybe I should build a Fusion drive and add an external optical drive...
  - beachstartup 10y ago
    not really. it's just a pci card. just make sure you get one with a mac compatible firmware.
    - m_eiman 10y ago
      It's just a PCI card, buried beneath 51 disassembly steps: https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iMac+Intel+21.5-Inch+EMC+2389+GPU+Card+Replacement/6272 https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iMac+Intel+21.5-Inch+EMC+2389+G... A bit more complicated than I'd like :)
      - beachstartup 10y ago
        i was referring to mac pros. i don't use imacs because of this reason.

by m_eiman 10y ago

r00fus 10y ago

Would that $400 investment increase your resale price somewhat (probably not 1:1, but you will get utility out of it). Alternatively, just buy whatever's on sale for small SSDs and do a fusion-drive on it.

m_eiman 10y ago
I'll keep the iMac until it gives up the ghost completely, so resale value isn't a parameter. It's more a question of "will the $400 give it enough longer life to make more sense than buying a new one now". Perhaps I should go with a 500GB SSD and transfer the movies and whatever else is taking up space to the server. And then buy a new iMac once they put the next-gen GPUs in them.
- Alphasite_ 10y ago
  Why not a hundred dollar ssd and a drive upgrade kit for $50, so you can keep your current drive as well? Or fit a new 3TB drive while you're at it.
imtringued 10y ago
What 1TB SSD costs $400? The 512GB SSD I bought merely cost me $120. The 1TB Model costs a slightly more than twice that. So far I've been completly disappointed with my purchase. Compared to my 3TB HDD I've spent more money yet only see a 2x improvement in speed compared to my HDD for sequential loads. Sure it now boots much faster but that's hardly worth the money I've spent on it.
- SyneRyder 10y ago
  I was just about to say I've never seen 1TB SSD's anywhere near that cheap - Apple in Australia still charges $800 to add a 1TB SSD to a MacBook Pro. But I see Amazon now sells SanDisk X400 1TB SSDs for $230 USD. Alas, everyone still seems to recommend Samsung Evo if you want reliability (I do), and $330 for a 1TB EVO 850 is still a little more than I want to pay. (Especially when a 2TB spinning disk selling for $95 now.)

beachstartup 10y ago

get a smaller one for your OS + common apps and a used nvidia gpu from a newer mac. an ssd is a completely different paradigm. it's night and day, even on an old sata bus. this shoudn't even be a question. hdd computers are completely unuseable to me now. i sat down at one the other day and i thought it had crashed and almost rebooted it, but it was just chugging the disk.

m_eiman 10y ago
Hard to switch GPUs in an iMac, isn't it? I have considered switching out both the HDD and the DVD drive to get space to build a Fusion drive, but I kinda want to keep the DVD drive; it's the only one we have in the house. Hm. Maybe I should build a Fusion drive and add an external optical drive...
- beachstartup 10y ago
  not really. it's just a pci card. just make sure you get one with a mac compatible firmware.
  - m_eiman 10y ago
    It's just a PCI card, buried beneath 51 disassembly steps: https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iMac+Intel+21.5-Inch+EMC+2389+GPU+Card+Replacement/6272 https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iMac+Intel+21.5-Inch+EMC+2389+G... A bit more complicated than I'd like :)
    - beachstartup 10y ago
      i was referring to mac pros. i don't use imacs because of this reason.