Apple Finally Adds (Pricey) SSD Upgrade Option to iMacs
Let's start with the good news. If you want to configure your 21.5-inch or 27-inch iMac with a solid state drive at the time of purchase, there's now an option to do that on Apple's website. Depending on which baseline configuration you choose, you can swap out the mechanical hard drive for an SSD that ranges in size from 128GB to 768GB. Groovy, right?
Sure, until you gawk at the upgrade fee. On a 21.5-inch iMac, upgrading from a 1TB hard drive (5400 RPM) to a 256GB SSD costs an additional $300, or you can select a 512GB SSD for $600. Those would have been decent prices a year or so ago, but not today.
You have the same options on the 27-inch iMac, which comes standard with a faster 7200 RPM version of the same hard drive, or you can opt for a 768GB SSD for $900 -- ouch! Those are tough price tags to swallow with Crucial having recently announced a 960GB SSD for $600.
In any event, if you really want a SSD in your iMac, the option's there. And of course iMacs still have the Fusion drive option for a fraction of the price.
Sure, until you gawk at the upgrade fee. On a 21.5-inch iMac, upgrading from a 1TB hard drive (5400 RPM) to a 256GB SSD costs an additional $300, or you can select a 512GB SSD for $600. Those would have been decent prices a year or so ago, but not today.
You have the same options on the 27-inch iMac, which comes standard with a faster 7200 RPM version of the same hard drive, or you can opt for a 768GB SSD for $900 -- ouch! Those are tough price tags to swallow with Crucial having recently announced a 960GB SSD for $600.
In any event, if you really want a SSD in your iMac, the option's there. And of course iMacs still have the Fusion drive option for a fraction of the price.
