iMac Move Up on the Horizon: Questions

[graylocks]

Thanks, all and especially Robert. so it seems that even if i go with a fusion drive i have external SSD options if i decide i want more speed and doing that would give me more of a boost than adding more RAM. correct?

i was at the Apple store today. i really think the 27" is too much for my office. it would be all-screen all-the-time. visually overwhelming.

[Robert M]

Graylock,

The fusion drive in the current 27" iMac 5K is a match for a typical 2.5" SSD in a USB 3.1 Gen 2 enclosure. The fusion drive will not be as fast as an NVME M.2 SSD in a USB 3.1 Gen 2 enclosure and it will be blown away by an NVME M.2 SSD in a Thunderbolt 3 enclosure.

I can't speak for how well these configurations will work for an iMac 21.5". However, I'd still be inclined to go with the external SSD. Lesson learned from jdc, who was instrumental in guiding me to the particular iMac I purchased at the end of August.

I don't know if the internal drive of the 2019 iMacs (or 2017 series which I commonly see as refurbs) is upgradeable. If yes, then putting the SSD into the iMac would result in the fastest boost. At that point, though, rather than spend the bucks for the internal SSD and the cost of installation, I'd just buy a Thunderbolt 3 SSD and be done with it. It'll be just as fast, cost less money and do the job nicely.

At some point, I may take the NVME SSD I'm using right now and move it into a Thunderbolt 3 box. At some point. Honestly, my 2019 iMac is running beautifully with it as an external boot drive connected via USB 3.1 Gen 2. Because of that, I can't justify the expense of a Thunderbolt enclosure, which, at the least, is about $150 to $200.

You'll likely want the RAM upgrade, regardless of drive. upgrading the iMac to 16 gigs might be just right and only cost about $40 to $50. I actually bought 2 qty 8 gig chips and ended up upgrading my iMac to 24 gigs total.

Robert

[RAMd®d]

I understand jdc is big on fusion drives.

I've seen one dissenting opinion here that mirrors mine, having a Late 2015 27" iMac with a 2TB fusion drive that doesn't feel special at all. Booting from an average EVO SSD via a USB3 enclosure and port noticeably perks it up.

When I switch back to the 'Macintosh HD' (I got bored with renaming the onboard drive) I'm again made aware of how pokey it is.

gl, I'm not sure of your budget. As you stated, your needs are fairly lightweight, but you do want a 'transparent' experience without beach balls, etc.

So with regards to your budget, paying for an iMac with Apple's flash storage (not really an SSD as we think of it) is pricey. And the more storage you need, the pricier it gets.

There are a few options:

if your budget allows, get a fair bit of flash storage -- 256-512G. Keep the OS on that and and most of your data and media on an old school spinner HD. A 4T external is cheap.

if you don't have a ton of data, and can afford some onboard Flash storage, get an external 1TB SSD and get a noticeably faster experience than the above. Solid state storage all around.

if the budget doesn't allow for Apple Flash, then get it with a 2T Fusion drive and at some point add a an external SSD and make it your boot drive. This can be done well after purchase.

if you get a T-3 iMac (Thunderbolt 3, standard on newer iMacs) then the NVME SSD (very fast SSD) is more on par (I'm not going to dot i's and cross t's here) with Apple OEM storage, and you could at some point make it a boot drive and speed up the iMac considerably, but to what end and cost. But it's an option that I'd pursue even though I have no need or ROI. LOL!

Options, yours to consider as you may.

One option you won't have is adding RAM to a 21" iMac. At some point that stopped being a possibility. Whether early models could do it, I don't know. My 2013 21" iMac doesn't have a access door, but I knew that going in. At some point I think Apple began soldering the RAM, so that really reduces the chances of getting added, realistically, to zero.

The 27", though visually overwhelming, does have an easy to access RAM compartment with four slots. But that's overkill for your described uses.

As you tend to keep your computer for awhile, I'd recommend 16G of RAM. My personal experience is that 8G just isn't enough for later OSs, even with USB3 ports, enclosures, and SSDs, unless maybe you only do email and Sudoku. Much more and I believe you'll find yourself collecting beachballs.

That may not be the case with an NVME SSD, but price and storage become a consideration.

It may be that a Fusion drive is all you need, no Flash storage, no external SSD. That's a call your budget will help you determine. I'd go with the most Flash I could afford, and 16G o' RAM, as pricey as Apple memory is, because once you buy, that's all there is. Any of the other options are doable post-purchase.

[graylocks]

thanks, RAMd®d. one more basic question i'm almost too embarassed to ask: when you say flash storage is that the same as SSD?

:coffee:

[Robert M]

Graylocks,

Some considerations. Flash storage and SSD, in this case, are synonymous. When you think internal SSD and internal flash storage, they are the same. You'll pay big bucks for it. How much storage you need for your boot drive is up to you and how you want to configure your machine.

I've done the OS and Apps on an internal drive and data and such on a separate drive configuration. I've done an everything is on the boot drive configuration. I prefer the latter. A boot drive with everything on it is much easier to manage in my experience. It makes backing up easier. Makes restoration easier.

The primary boot drive of all of my machines always has ample capacity for OS, Apps, data and spare storage. For backups, I clone the drive to an external (multiple clones, actually) and use Time Machine. Super easy. Over time, data I don't need regularly gets moved to an external "archives" drive. That drive gets backed up, too.

Prior to switching to the above configuration, I used the lower capacity boot drive for the OS and Apps and separate data drive configuration. I had to special configure key apps like iTunes and iPhoto (the Apple photo app at the time). Some apps prefer storing data on the boot drive instead of different locaiton (Apple Mail, for exam-ple). Ended up with data on the boot drive and on the data drive. That made managing the backups an nuisance. As the price of SSDs fell, I moved to a higher capacity SSD boot drive for everything (OS, Apps, Data, etc) and switched to the configuration I use now and have never looked back.

In regards to RAM, the 2017, 2018 and 2019 iMac 21.5" models have upgradeable RAM but it is a big pain in the butt. You're not going to want to upgrade it in the future. If you want more than 8 gigs of RAM, by the machine preconfigured with it and be done with it. If you go with a 21.5" iMac, go with at least 16 gigs of RAM at the minimum.

Upgrading the RAM in 2017, 2018 and 2019 iMac 27" models is super easy. Takes 5 minutes. If you go with a 27" model, get it with 8 gigs. You can easily upgrade it later and it won't cost you as much as buying the extra RAM from Apple. The 27" model I bought had 8 gigs of RAM out of the box. I added another 16 from OWC.

As for storage, buy the Mac with a fusion drive and run it off an external SSD. You'll save money and still have wicked fast storage. The type of external SSD depends on what you already have and/or are willing to purchase. All of the 2017 iMacs have Thunderbolt 3 ports which are compatible with USB 3 Gen 2. Any SSD you use as a boot drive should be connected to one of them. What type of SSD is dependent on what you already have or need to purchase (or build).

The 2014 iMac 27" at my office has a standard 2.5" SSD in a USB 3 Gen 2 enclosure as its boot drive. This iMac model has Thunderbolt 2 ports, which do not support bus-powered USB drives. The boot drive is connected via USB 3 to one of the iMacs USB 3 ports. It runs faster than the internal fusion drive and it's a very nice configuration.

The 2019 iMac 27" has a NVME M.2 SSD in a USB 3 Gen 2 enclosure as its boot drive. It's connected via USB 3 Gen 2 to one of the iMacs Thunderbolt 3 ports. Wicked fast. Although the internal fusion drive of the 2019 iMac has very fast reads (but slower writes) in comparison to previous fusion drives, it's outmatched by the NVME drive. If I move the NVME SSD into a Thunderbolt 3 enclosure, the speeds will blow past the fusion drive with ease. However, I'm pleased enough with the performance in the current configuration that I have no plans to move the NVME SSD into a Thunderbolt 3 enclosure. Not cost-effective.

Hope all of the above helps.

Robert