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Comment by whalesalad | Hacker News Reader

> my desktop workhorse, a 2017 4K retina iMac

> 5400 rpm hard drive as its main internal volume

Regardless of OS, the author _really_ needs to bail on the 5400rpm HDD and get a solid state disk in there... especially if you're gonna call it a workhorse!

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When it was time to get that 4K retina iMac, I only had money for one built-to-order upgrade. It was a tough decision. It was either leaving the internal 1TB hard drive and choose to have 16GB of RAM instead of the base 8GB, or choosing a 256GB internal SSD and keeping the base 8GB of RAM. Since RAM in that 21.5-inch retina iMac is only upgradable at purchase, not down the road, I opted for the 16GB of RAM and staying with the hard drive. My reasoning is that I can upgrade to an external Thunderbolt SSD at a later date when I can afford it. RAM is not upgradable later.

>> RAM is not upgradable later.

Biggest reason I will never buy another Mac. It seems like they just don't want this to be the case. Terrible for the environment.

Surely you can just swap the internal drive. External thunderbolt disks and enclosures are very expensive for no good reason.

Source: I have been looking for cheap ways to have fast external disks for years. 4 years ago I went with a hacked Buffalo LinkStation (it’s one of the few products that can be easily taken apart, so I swapped its slow disk with an SSD), and now I just ordered a new TB3 enclosure from aliexpress (plus a super-fast disk from a reputable source) to replace it. External TB disks are still overpriced, let alone TB3. I honestly don’t know why that is - I suspect it’s something to do with the main market being Apple users with deep pockets and limited knowledge.

> Regardless of OS, the author _really_ needs to bail on the 5400rpm HDD and get a solid state disk in there... especially if you're gonna call it a workhorse!

Apple themselves needs to bail on the 5400rpm HDD

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