This could lead to slower speeds later on and shorter lifespan for the SSD. The biggest downside of using USB versus internal SATA besides the slightly lower speed is that there is no TRIM support for USB drives on MacOS. Overpriced when you can get a SATA SSD and enclosure for much cheaper, and have the flexibility to use that SATA SSD internally if you wanted. I wouldn't do something like the T5 unless you already had one sitting around. It is cheap, faster than your HDD, and gives you the option to one day swap it with the HDD. That is one good thing about just using a SATA SSD and a USB enclosure. Instead, upgrading to 16GB of memory has to be done at the point of ordering.Click to expand.If you end up removing the internal HDD, you might as well just up a SATA SSD in it. Like the 27-inch iMac, the 21.5-inch has 8GB of memory as standard, but it lacks the user-accessible memory upgrade panel.

Again, there's a Core i7 option for online orders, this time running at 3.1GHz (up to 3.9GHz Turbo Boost). 8GB of DDR3 memory is included as standard, and can be either upgraded through Apple's own store to up to 32GB, or – by popping off the small hatch on the rear of the iMac – fitting your own choice of third-party memory.Īs for the 21.5-inch iMac, that kicks off with a 2.7GHz quadcore Core i5 (up to 3.2GHz Turbo Boost) with a 2.9GHz quadcore Core i5 (up to 3.6GHz Turbo Boost) in the higher performance model.

Our review unit has been upgraded to the 3.5GHz quadcore Core i7 (up to 3.9GHz Turbo Boost), which is an order-only option. The entry level 27-inch iMac has a 3.2GHz quadcore Core i5 (with up to 3.6GHz Turbo Boost) while the higher-performance preconfiguration has a 3.4GHz quadcore Core i5 (up to 3.8GHz Turbo Boost).

27 inch late 2013 imac