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Is the memory bay accessible on the new iMac 27" Retina? Up through the 2013 model there was an access door above the power cord plug to get to the memory bank. Are the new 2014 and 2015 iMac 27" Retina user upgradable for memory or for disk drive? I can't find anything here on on Google.
MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.4), 15" MBP, Early 2011, i7 quad core
They're user-accessible for the RAM, but not for the internal drive.
(127713)
Here is the relevant Apple article (and it includes instructions):
My question was regarding the newly announced and available now iMac 27" with Retina Display. The base model sells today for $1999. Is there an access door above the power plug socket in this new model, as was in earlier iMac 27" models (2014 and early 2015)? None of the photos on Apple's website or on any of the other sites show that part of the case. Maybe I need to go to the Apple store and look at one. I"m going to buy one today. If I can upgrade the memory, I won't pay $200 to apple for memory I can buy for around $100. I guess I need to know if the newly announced iMac 27" is the same as the ones sold before this was released.
Thanks Neil and Babowa.
Yes, the memory specifications do say "user accessible". The disk drive is also accessible, but you have to take it apart to get to where the drive is. Several videos on iTube showing how to do this. Looks like it is not an easy job.
I'm wondering if it is worth the extra $200 to get the Retina display. You also get a better video card. I've heard that for normal computing the resolution of the Retina display so high that when using the maximum resolution the text is so small that it is hard to see and so you set it for a lower resolution. I don't do movie editing or extensive photo editing. Probably won't watch many movies on it, although that would be a temptation with that 5K resolution.
I am thinking seriously of getting the upgrade to the 1 TB Fusion drive (also get a 3.5 GHz i5 processor with that upgrade). Any experience with the Fusion Drive? I've seen some older posts (in the 2013s) that it had some problems with file corruption. Nothing reported recently. But, using Time Machine backups, I could recover a corrupted file, if necessary. Any advice here, I'm heading to the Apple store when it opens in a couple of hours.
One more question. I assume I can use Time Machine to move my data files from my 2011 MBP to this new iMac? Someone told me that I can also move my Apps that way. Are there any problems in doing this. I'm keeping my MBP and want to have the same files on both computers (at least to start with, won't try to keep them the same after initial setup).
Thanks for your advice. You both have more experience with this stuff than I do!
veehbJ wrote:
One more question. I assume I can use Time Machine to move my data files from my 2011 MBP to this new iMac? Someone told me that I can also move my Apps that way. Are there any problems in doing this. I'm keeping my MBP and want to have the same files on both computers (at least to start with, won't try to keep them the same after initial setup).
Thanks for your advice. You both have more experience with this stuff than I do!
Yes, when you turn on any new Mac it starts Setup Assistant, at one point in SA it will ask if you want to migrate from another Mac, select yes, connect the TM drive from the old Mac and follow the on-screen directions. DO NOT connect via wi-fi, connect via USB or if the TM drive is a firewire drive, connect using a Thunderbolt to firewire adapter because new iMacs do not have firewire.
I am thinking seriously of getting the upgrade to the 1 TB Fusion drive (also get a 3.5 GHz i5 processor with that upgrade). Any experience with the Fusion Drive?
I have a relatively short term experience with one: it came with a refurb iMac and I found that it could not have more than two partitions and is much more difficult to handle if you are particular with where your files are stored or if you need to erase and reinstall and/or re-partition - end result: I did not like it. The iMac was returned for other malfunctions and I made sure the replacement had a regular 7200 rpm drive. I'd love to have a 1 TB SSD, but the cost was not in my budget.
Thanks for the reply!
Does that leave all of the data files and APPs on the MBP TM drive after the migration? My drive is only USB2 so it may take a while to move things (but I only have about 500 GBytes total on the MBP (including the OS X).
Can I do it directly from the MBP, using the Thunderbolt ports? I'll need to buy a new cable, but it will be much faster that USB2.
In either case I want to be sure that I don't lose any of the files on the MBP as a result of the migration.
1. Yes.
2. Yes, but it's better to migrate from a backup instead of the original data.
(127721)
veehbJ wrote:
Thanks for the reply!
Does that leave all of the data files and APPs on the MBP TM drive after the migration? My drive is only USB2 so it may take a while to move things (but I only have about 500 GBytes total on the MBP (including the OS X).
Can I do it directly from the MBP, using the Thunderbolt ports? I'll need to buy a new cable, but it will be much faster that USB2.
In either case I want to be sure that I don't lose any of the files on the MBP as a result of the migration.
The old iMac's data, settings, apps etc are left untouched. Using USB2, expect anywhere from 30 minutes to about 2 hours to complete a migration. Do not over think the process, the steps I provided are all that are needed! Use the USB cable that is currently used on the TM EHD.
Thanks for the reply!
I probably won't be partitioning the drive and also won't really care where the files are stored. I assume the the 128 GByte SSD part of the Fusion Drive is big enough to handle the OS and small often used files. My son just upgraded an older iMac 27 inch and put SSD memory (256 GBytes) and a 3 TB drive plus more memory and he said it REALLY made a difference. I"m assuming the Fusion drive will give me a similar performance boost.
I've heard that there is a problem when you do a lot with big files. I don't usually work with files larger than several GBytes. I could also use an external drive if I needed to, but the 750 GByte drive on my MBP is only about half full after four years of use.
I appreciate your advice.
Can I upgrade memory on an iMac 27" Retina
