Pulled the trigger on a new iMac

[Mixolydian]

Mac Mini's are aawesome little machines. I have mine in a rack mount. It's very easy to upgrade the RAM.

 

[sxr7171]

Man has a point. If it's going to be a shiny pretty pile of junk for housewife-grade computing, it might as well be a fast-ish one.

It was immensely annoying though that with the new iMacs I can no longer order a non-Fusion HDD + SSD option. I don't need a 768Gb start SSD, so I went for 512's (with a 256/256 OS split) and had to buy external TB drives even just for a couple of Tb.

Yeah that's a problem on both fronts.

1. SSD is essential in any high end/expensive computer.

2. I strongly prefer SSD + HDD over Fusion drive.

 

[sxr7171]

That makes 0 sense...

Clearly you have plenty of money if your going to buy the Haswell model after JUST BUYING the 2012 iMac.

Why would you settle for a 5400 rpm drive and complain about it when you HAVE money and are buying an overpriced Mac in the first place?

So what exactly are you going to do with this iMac when you get the new one? Sell it?

Oh people will buy it. Many are obsessed with Mac's and they will pay high price, I know. They will not however pay close to what you paid because it's still 'used' and it's lost value the minute you unboxed it.

Let this be a lesson.

If your going to spend thousands on a Mac you go all out on nearly everything.

Mac's are only getting thinner, which means they solder parts to the logic board and you cannot swap things out. They use mobile chips so there is little to no chance of upgrading.

You have money, clearly... You could have gotten even a small SSD and the machine would be good for a few years. Then you could use an external as media storage.

Big mistake.

I don't think it has to do with being a Mac so much as it does with being a non-upgradable computer. You have to make sure the basics plus anything you would want during its life are in there when you order it.

 

[Tegeril]

It makes no sense you got a worse drive and are complaining about it.

The only statement you've made in this thread that makes sense.

On topic: Fusion drive is pretty fantastic. We just added 4 27" iMacs to our office all with that and it's quite glorious. That and the iMac is pretty fantastic hardware to use and look at.

 

[Tegeril]

Yeah that's a problem on both fronts.

1. SSD is essential in any high end/expensive computer.

2. I strongly prefer SSD + HDD over Fusion drive.

With #2, out of curiosity, why? Just minute control of the situation?

My experience with fusion drive so far (granted, it's been 3 days ) is that OS X seems to manage prioritizing writes, frequently read data, etc very efficiently.

 

[Kadarin]

The Mac Mini I use with my home theater setup has the fusion setup, and I have no issues at all with how fast the machine is. It works well! Also love my rMBP that I'm typing this on now, it's a great little machine.

I'm thinking about getting an 11" Haswell MBA for times when I want even more portability, but don't want to spend the $ yet.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

If you order the Fusion drive, you can take it apart in Disk Utility, and do the manually-managed SSD + HDD thing. It's just not a configuration Apple ships out of the box.

Well, and you have to format/reinstall.

 

[sxr7171]

With #2, out of curiosity, why? Just minute control of the situation?

My experience with fusion drive so far (granted, it's been 3 days ) is that OS X seems to manage prioritizing writes, frequently read data, etc very efficiently.

I guess I'm a control freak.


As long as it really performs like an SSD it will work for me.

But say if you want to dual boot then what happens?

 

[Mixolydian]

Welp the new models were released this past week. I'm seriously debating whether or not I want to buy the new one like I had originally planned, or not. :hmm:

 

[saratoga172]

You should probably do it.

 

[Kadarin]

Welp the new models were released this past week. I'm seriously debating whether or not I want to buy the new one like I had originally planned, or not. :hmm:

Yes, you do

 

[Theb]

That makes 0 sense...

Clearly you have plenty of money if your going to buy the Haswell model after JUST BUYING the 2012 iMac.

Why would you settle for a 5400 rpm drive and complain about it when you HAVE money and are buying an overpriced Mac in the first place?

So what exactly are you going to do with this iMac when you get the new one? Sell it?

Oh people will buy it. Many are obsessed with Mac's and they will pay high price, I know. They will not however pay close to what you paid because it's still 'used' and it's lost value the minute you unboxed it.

Let this be a lesson.

If your going to spend thousands on a Mac you go all out on nearly everything.

Mac's are only getting thinner, which means they solder parts to the logic board and you cannot swap things out. They use mobile chips so there is little to no chance of upgrading.

You have money, clearly... You could have gotten even a small SSD and the machine would be good for a few years. Then you could use an external as media storage.

Big mistake.

Hey, relax guy.

edit: just realized it was an old post. Hopefully that guy relaxed.

 

[Mixolydian]

Yes, you do

Yes, I do! I'm not sure if my credit card does, though. :\

 

[Smartazz]

Congrats. Not a fan of the iMac as I like to hook up my laptop to my monitor if I need to. However there are times I wish I had more storage space than the 512GB SSD I have. 768GB was insanely expensive. Now that you're looking to upgrade again, why not consider something like a rMBP?

 

[Kadarin]

Congrats. Not a fan of the iMac as I like to hook up my laptop to my monitor if I need to.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3924

 

[Smartazz]

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3924

Didn't word my post very well. I meant to say that I like the mobility of a laptop and I hook it up to my monitor if I want to.

 

[Mixolydian]

Congrats. Not a fan of the iMac as I like to hook up my laptop to my monitor if I need to. However there are times I wish I had more storage space than the 512GB SSD I have. 768GB was insanely expensive. Now that you're looking to upgrade again, why not consider something like a rMBP?

I'm done with laptops for good. Hated every single one I've owned, including the Apple ones.

My iPad and iPhone fill the portability void now.

 

[Shephard]

Hey, relax guy.

edit: just realized it was an old post. Hopefully that guy relaxed.

My stance has not changed.

If your going to spend money on an iMac, why would you settle for weak internal components? 5400rpm drive, really...? You think it's convenient to replace it down the road?

Your already paying for overpriced hardware. Might as well pay a little more.

 

[Smartazz]

My stance has not changed.

If your going to spend money on an iMac, why would you settle for weak internal components? 5400rpm drive, really...? You think it's convenient to replace it down the road?

Your already paying for overpriced hardware. Might as well pay a little more.

What's to say it's overpriced? You're paying a lot for OSX which many of us prefer.

 

[Zaap]

I have to say it's amazing to me that Apple still brazenly uses 5400rpm hard drives. I mean, I totally get that they use it to steer people into their even higher-profit options, but still, it's kinda shady. These days, even a $300 budget box from just about anyone else has at least a 7200rpm hard drive.

 

[Smartazz]

I have to say it's amazing to me that Apple still brazenly uses 5400rpm hard drives. I mean, I totally get that they use it to steer people into their even higher-profit options, but still, it's kinda shady. These days, even a $300 budget box from just about anyone else has at least a 7200rpm hard drive.

It also is going to turn people off to Macs. When you're spending that much, you expect speed.

 

[Printer Bandit]

5400 vs 7200 rpm, does the average user notice any difference. if not, who cares?

 

[Eug]

Indeed, a lot of people just don't care, or don't know any better. Actually, I populated my NAS with 5400 rpm drives, and it's OK.

BTW, re: don't care or don't know. A family member just got an iPad mini last month. I had to bite my tongue to not ask why they didn't wait another month or two to get the new model.

 

[Zaap]

5400 vs 7200 rpm, does the average user notice any difference. if not, who cares?

But see, this is exactly the thinking that to me shouldn't be part of Apple's business practices, which is why I find it kind of underhanded.

"Does the average user notice...?"

One of the things I most like about Apple products is they don't often take that lowest-common denominator approach to things. Does the average user notice the build quality of MacBooks or iPads? The minute well thought out details throughout OSX or iOS? A higher resolution IPS screen vs. an average/low resolution screen? So if Aunt Rosie doesn't know or notice the difference in such things, then who cares, right?

I say: who cares what the average user notices- aim for high quality. Especially if you're Apple. The average user will notice that they enjoy the user experience; the subtle things will only enhance it. And the knowledgable user will feel better treated.

Personally, I think it's a shame when even say, Gateway doesn't stoop to putting 5400rpm drives in their lowest-end $300 computers (ie: eMachines) but Apple does in a $1300-$1500 computer. Is it because the average user of a $300 eMachine notices the difference more? I doubt it. Personally, I think it's because it's kind of underhanded to sell 2005's hard drives with new 2013 computers.


In a nutshell, I think it's beneath Apple.

 

[Eug]

Well, I think it's beneath Apple to put crappy screens in the MacBook Air too, but they do it.

However, their crappy screens aren't the crappiest of the crappy. Similarly, platter drives in general are slow, but 5400 rpm per se isn't that slow in terms of overall feel when compared to 7200 rpm for basic usage, if you're just talking about desktop platter drives. If you really want an improvement, you need to go Fusion or SSD.

Like I said, I actually made the conscious decision to put 5400 rpm platter drives in my NAS, and don't regret it.