I have an iMac 2019. Still works great for general internet access, but I want more FPS, CPU speed and SSD HD. However, I want a Mac that will accept upgrades so I am not stuck with only the model I purchased with no possibility for future upgrades as technology advances. Is there such a Mac that I should consider?
Mac Studio (M4 Max, 2025)
As explained iMacs are not intended to be "upgradeable" which is consistent with other All in One computers such as HP, Dell etc... If you want an upgradeable Mac it will be expensive as you are asking about the Mac Pro which is intended to be upgradeable and is really designed for professionals that need that.
If you are a typical user (surf the Internet, E-mail, download and edit home photos, minor music production, write letters, do spreadsheets and other similar types of work) then an iMac, Mac Mini or the Mac Studio are all great however you have to think ahead and purchase the amount of RAM and Storage you will need now and in the foreseeable future as they are not upgradeable after the initial purchase.
As explained iMacs are not intended to be "upgradeable" which is consistent with other All in One computers such as HP, Dell etc... If you want an upgradeable Mac it will be expensive as you are asking about the Mac Pro which is intended to be upgradeable and is really designed for professionals that need that.
If you are a typical user (surf the Internet, E-mail, download and edit home photos, minor music production, write letters, do spreadsheets and other similar types of work) then an iMac, Mac Mini or the Mac Studio are all great however you have to think ahead and purchase the amount of RAM and Storage you will need now and in the foreseeable future as they are not upgradeable after the initial purchase.
ANolte wrote:
Is there such a Mac that I should consider?
No. If you are concerned about getting the maximum possible life out of it, then max it out at the time of purchase.
You can always add external storage, but you can't increase the internal storage, RAM, CPU, etc. on any modern Mac.
if you are a visual-learner, this a picture of an M1 Mac Processor/GPU/RAM system-on-a-chip (silver heatsink with dark Apple logo). Processor with embedded GPU left, RAM on the same carrier right.
M-series Macs are strongly optimized for maximum performance. There is no way to replace any of its components. {CPU, GPU, RAM}
in addition, on most Macs, the Boot drive has also been soldered to the mainboard for maximum reliability. it is also not replaceable, but external drives can be freely added.
The last MacBook Pro with user-upgradeable RAM memory was the 2012 MacBook Pro non-retina display models. Beginning with the MacBook Pro 2012 Retina models, RAM has been soldered in place with no slots for maximum reliability.
Once Apple figured out how to get really reliable SSD drives, they were soldered down as well, starting about the 2015 models.
On some recent iMacs, the RAM and drive may be upgradeable, but you have to remove the display-glass to access the slots.
on the most recent Mac-Pro, CPU and GPU are not user-upgradeable, but there are lots of PCIe slots, if you want to add slot-cards.
To get real user-replace-ability, you will have to pay dearly -- and be tied to previous generation technology, and previous generation speeds -- Build a gaming Tower PC.
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But when I say the CPU, GPU and RAM is all on one chip-carrier for maximum performance, that performance BLOWS AWAY all previous Intel Macs at far lower power, and everything, including Frames Per Second, goes WAY up.
The pathways between those items can run much faster, and the memory speeds and memory-access bandwidth to support really fast computation, modeling, drives, and displays is crazy-fast.
The Mac Studio can support up to four or eight displays a up to 6K resolution each. When extra displays are added, it does not slow down at all because special Hardware does the data transfers without substantial CPU intervention.
The newest Macs (including Mac Studio) feature ThunderBolt-5, which has potential for even faster data transfers up to 120 G bits/sec, and can NOT be added as a user retrofit to ANY system, Mac or PC.
None. If you want an upgradable system, then you should get a gaming tower.
You have the last updatable iMac 2019 - m series iMacs all have integrated ram, cpu, video
ive done the de-fusion NVMe SATA SSD and ram upgrades
once you get the ram to your sweet spot — main board battery replacement — the ssd/hdd upgraded
your post is short on detail…
what type of internal drives does your 2019
are your drives original Apple ssd, SATA hdd — are they fused together
what screen size, what processor, what gpu
What workflow are you setting up for… what macOS and apps do you require
Thank you everyone. At the pace Technology is changing, I want to be able to change with it. After being a lifetime Apple user, I think it is time to change to a PC. Thanks again for the responses.
FPS is not a hardware device you can change, though it's short for
frames pr. second as to how many images the system is able to render each second.
of cause even if a system is able to render 200 frames then if the display connected is running at 60Hz then only 60frames will be shown.
No sure about that. My son is a mainstream gamer. Power supplies, mother boards, video cards and RAM are commonly upgradable in today's PC world and, building your own is not that hard. Purchase of a computer that is not upgradable with today's fast paces advancement in technology is simply not logical to me. While I am a huge life long Mac fan, for me personally, offering products that are not upgradable no longer meets my personal needs. Thanks again for the advice and comments. Very helpful in making my decision.
ANolte wrote:
No sure about that. My son is a mainstream gamer. Power supplies, mother boards, video cards and RAM are commonly upgradable in today's PC world and, building your own is not that hard. Purchase of a computer that is not upgradable with today's fast paces advancement in technology is simply not logical to me.
I see that HP now wants to sell access to laptop computers as a subscription. Maybe not all that surprising given that a HP executive said a little while ago that they'd like to sell printing as a subscription service.
https://hplaptopsubscription.hp.com/
https://omengamingsubscription.hp.com/
You can "get yearly upgrade access to premium gaming laptops and HyperX accessories with the OMEN Gaming Subscription." Of course, if you take out the subscription, you never get to own your computer – you are just a renter. If you stop paying, HP gets the computer back. (From one FAQ: "There is no option to own the gaming laptop you receive as part of your subscription."). But you can "upgrade".
You're not going to have much better luck in the PC arena unless you want to build your own gaming rig.
Exactly my concern. Thanks for sharing.
Which Mac allows for FPS, CPU, and SSD upgrades?
