Hi Folks, just wanted to report how great my 2017 iMac 21.5" is running after replacing the HDD with a SSD.
Mine had a Fusion Drive with 1TB. Small SSD stayed install but put in a new 500GB Samsung Drive and the difference is night and day, seconds instead of minutes waiting. All this for just Euro 280,- here in Germany by a local shop.
Machine runs better now than when new !
Cheers, MunichMark
iMac (2017 – 2020)
John Galt wrote:
Cleaning?
Who's being taken to the cleaners here?
A 7 year old iMac may need & deserve cleaning - air vents & channels, fans, case interior & exterior, ports, even the screen. You get the point. There is nothing untoward in doing that as part of a good maintenace & upgrade service.
For what it's worth, a few years ago one of my iMacs began acting up. People here made all kinds claims & recommendations about hardware & software problems. It turned out the only real problem was that the air vents were clogged with dust and the system was overheating. After a good vacuuming all returned to normal and I got 4 more years use before I retired the machine.
John Galt wrote:
Cleaning?
Who's being taken to the cleaners here?
A 7 year old iMac may need & deserve cleaning - air vents & channels, fans, case interior & exterior, ports, even the screen. You get the point. There is nothing untoward in doing that as part of a good maintenace & upgrade service.
For what it's worth, a few years ago one of my iMacs began acting up. People here made all kinds claims & recommendations about hardware & software problems. It turned out the only real problem was that the air vents were clogged with dust and the system was overheating. After a good vacuuming all returned to normal and I got 4 more years use before I retired the machine.
opps, title was wrong, it’s a 2017 iMac… Could not change the title line. My Wife has same model and taking it in next couple weeks for same update.
Installed as stated was a 500GB Samsung SSD. Exactly what type I don’t know. Don’t need more than that as I use iCloud to store big stuff.
The price included basic cleaning and installation of MAC OS. I did the Time Machine Part, only took one hour max. Dropped off at 0930 and picked it up at 1300 same day.
What is really faster is startup, MS Office updates. Used to take 15-20 minutes “verifying”, now two !
Everything though is just much more responsive. Old HDD worked but was just super slow getting things done.
Just be advised that not all SSDs are created equal. The most popular SSDs are often popular because they are cheap. Cheap SSDs may perform well for a year or so, until their performance suddenly craters — often becoming worse than the hard disk drives they replaced.
€280 is not cheap though. What exact model did they install?
Installed as stated was a 500GB Samsung SSD. Exactly what type I don’t know.
Samsung makes a lot of different SSD models. Find out before you send hers in.
The price included basic cleaning and installation of MAC OS.
Cleaning?
Who's being taken to the cleaners here?
Thanks Martin,
Just got my Invoice, it was only Euro 215,- net with taxes, the 280,- originally quoted was with full system reinstall but I did the Time Machine part on my own. Was easy…. Note labor here in Germany is 100,- per hour ! Also Samsung 870 EVO 500GB looks to have been installed. Those internal SSD’s are really low priced it seems compared to external drives.
The Samsung "EVO" series SSDs do not enjoy a good reputation among Mac users. They perform well when they are new but once they have been in service for a year or two their performance diminishes rapidly. I strongly recommend that you do not install that one in any additional Macs.
As I wrote, "Cheap SSDs may perform well for a year or so, until their performance suddenly craters — often becoming worse than the hard disk drives they replaced." The Samsung 870 "EVO" series are specifically notorious for that.
They also sell for about $70 in the US.
Hmm, voted #1 by Chip Magazine here in Germany which is the reference. When I look at all the various tests with different raters, they all have the Samsung EVO series rated pretty high... I assume that some users here just don't have anything positive to say... I'm switching to the German Forum where members are generally much more positive.
In any case all I wanted to do here is to report a POSITIVE happening. Take care all you positive folks out there !
Positive or negative is meaningless. Positivity is all well and good but it won't make a cheap product last longer than one designed for quality and durability over price. As with most things, with SSDs you — usually — get what you pay for.
As I wrote,
"Just be advised that not all SSDs are created equal. The most popular SSDs are often popular because they are cheap."
... and aggressively advertised. Suffice it to say everything you read on the Internet is an advertisement — especially "review" sites. Print media, magazines etc that rely upon advertisement revenue cannot be impartial. Apple Support Communities is one of very few sites that does not tolerate advertisements, for that reason and others.
John Galt wrote:
The Samsung "EVO" series SSDs do not enjoy a good reputation among Mac users. They perform well when they are new but once they have been in service for a year or two their performance diminishes rapidly ... The Samsung 870 "EVO" series are specifically notorious for that.
The beauty of these forums is that alternate viewpoints & experience can be shared. Readers can make up their own minds after considering what they read.
Experience with my 1TB 870EVO's has been fine. I did a lot of research before buying my first one and did not come across complaints, overt problems or performance issues with them. Some of mine have been been in operation for almost 2 years and I have not had any problems. There had been reports of problems with the 2TB & 4TB 870EVO SSDs and 980EVO's back 2-3 years ago but even that appears to have settled down; and I don't use drives that big anyway. I actually found more problem reports with DOA & early failure among Crucial MX500's which is the reason I never bought any of them.
I was a late adopter of SSDs and I'm still not completely sold on them except regarding read/write speed. I do have an ongoing backup procedure to multiple different vendor & media types "just in case."
The beauty of these forums is that alternate viewpoints & experience can be shared. Readers can make up their own minds after considering what they read.
Which is the reason I shared mine. Seems like the OP's mind is made up already though...
As for personal experience I have about a decade and a half of it installing aftermarket SSDs in Macs. I will not consider the Samsung EVO series.
All SSDs perform well when they are new, even low end SSDs like the "EVO" series. There are exceptions to that, particularly when pushed to limits with storage-intensive apps or various benchmarking utilities that quickly expose their shortcomings. Useful evaluations are only possible after years of real-world experience.
The only SSDs that I have used and can personally recommend are the OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 6G models. The oldest ones are now in their fourteenth year of continual service and they all perform as well as they did when they were new.
John Galt wrote:
The beauty of these forums is that alternate viewpoints & experience can be shared. Readers can make up their own minds after considering what they read.
Which is the reason I shared mine. Seems like the OP's mind is made up already though...
As for personal experience I have about a decade and a half of it installing aftermarket SSDs in Macs. I will not consider the Samsung EVO series.
All SSDs perform well when they are new, even low end SSDs like the "EVO" series. There are exceptions to that, particularly when pushed to limits with storage-intensive apps or various benchmarking utilities that quickly expose their shortcomings. Useful evaluations are only possible after years of real-world experience.
I'm always interested in diverse perspectives.
I had a Samsung - 870 EVO 1TB Internal SSD installed in a 2015 iMac ~ 3 years ago and it still registers the same speed and performance as when new, about 550 MB/s. It has been on 24/7 since installed. The Apple Authorized Service Center that did the install (replacing an old slow HDD) told me that on an iMac that old spending more for higher end SSDs would not result in higher end to end throughput or reliability. So I used the part they recommended.
I see this product receiving 4.9/5 stars (more than 35,000 user ratings) on Amazon and 4.8/5 stars (more than 3,000 user ratings) on Best Buy. Those are unusually high ratings for any HDD or SSD.
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well, certainly not me… how do I block certain depressive posts ?
iMac 2014 SSD Upgrade Perfomed - WOW !
