Thinking of upgrading

Bruce Whittington

Well-Known Member
I have a late 2013 27" iMac, 3.2GHz, 24 GB RAM, 1 TB storage. My two main concerns are 1) to increase storage for images mostly (not interested in cloud storage, and would like to avoid more external drives), and 2) the computer has been absolutely trouble-free, but I wonder how long the hard drive will keep going. In looking at newer (or refurbished) 27" iMacs, they are a lot more expensive, and many have SSDs that are only the same as or less than my hard drive. I started to wonder if I could just upgrade the hard drive? (I gather it can be done, and I would take it to a pro). I'd be grateful for any insights about whether this is a workable idea, and how cost-effective it would be.
 

TimRichards

Well-Known Member
Bruce, I too live in Ladysmith - last season I got a local chap to install a new 2TB SSD drive in my Macbook Pro. Based on that, which was successful, you might contact him to see what he thinks.
 

chas_m

Well-Known Member
SSDs are certainly more expensive, but the speed they provide is like trading a skateboard for a private jet in terms of productivity. I think your best option, given the age of that machine, is to buy a new one with 512GB or 1TB of storage, and then connect external drives to increase your capacity, in particular for storing and backing up your photos! Remember, these new Macs also have very fast connectors, making external drives nearly as fast as the internal SSDs. External SSDs are much cheaper than internal ones.
 

Bruce Whittington

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the feedback. I think I will follow the advice in both - sort of. I'm now thinking I will wait for a while, continue to purge dud images to free up memory, and wait for the new chip to show up. If that turns out to be horrifically expensive, I can look for a refurbished model like what is available now, or invest in a bigger drive for my present computer.
 

chas_m

Well-Known Member
I'm now thinking I will wait for a while, continue to purge dud images to free up memory, and wait for the new chip to show up.

The new chip is already here (for the Mac mini, MacBook Air, and 13-inch MacBook Pro) and the prices are generally the same or slightly LOWER (yes, you read that right) than the models they replace.The iMac hasn't received the M1 treatment yet, but I expect that when that happens the price will likewise be similar to that of a current model. You can also use your "wait time" to make sure that every program you are relying on for your day-to-day work will run under the M1 chip before purchasing.
 
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