One important note: the SSD option is available in addition to the regular hard drive. If you choose both, the SSD will come pre-loaded with the OS and applications, and the other drive will be free for storage.

This is terrific, and a very welcomed option for many people. The speed and power of SSD is ideal for booting your OS, but you won’t have to struggle with the smaller size of the drive and rely on external storage.

If I end up with one of these, I will probably not order one with a built-in SSD (at a cost of $600), but add one at a later date.

This certainly shifts my interest away from a Mac Pro. I have one now, but really don’t need the 4 drive bays anymore. Two is just fine.

1TB drives! We have come a long way, I remember being thrilled getting a 600MB external hard drive.

I want to see one torn down. Where does the second drive go? How much space is there? Would a laptop drive fit in the same space (much cheaper and larger). I wanna’ see guts.

I want to see one torn down. Where does the second drive go? How much space is there? Would a laptop drive fit in the same space (much cheaper and larger). I wanna’ see guts.

The Will It Blend guy should haven plenty of guts for you soon enough.

Ah, I’ve been waiting for these! If I can manage to find a new job come september, I’m totally springing for one of these.

Edit: Well, maybe, maybe not. The Refurbished current-gen i7 is looking like an excellent deal these days, but that 1GB Radeon HD 5750 in the refreshed model is incredibly droolworthy.

I remember being thrilled getting a 600MB external hard drive

600MB ?

Shoot!

I remember my first 20MB SCSI External HD.

Pete…

I remember my first 20MB SCSI External HD.

20Mb? Heck 20Mb was for them new kids.
I remember when we had 160kb disk and had to write programs on them with a magnetic stick.

Ok, maybe that’s a bit too far.

I remember my first 20MB SCSI External HD.

SCSI, was I glad to see that go.

I am old enough to remember “Do not spindle, fold, or mutilate.”

magnetic stick.

?

I can still remember when Apple upped from 400kb to 800kb and then finally to 1.4mb

I had a Mac Plus with 2.5mb of RAM and an extension on the OS disk that loaded the whole OS into RAM so the single floppy drive was freed for a disk with an app (MS Works anyone ?) and my files.

SCSI, was I glad to see that go.

SCSI:
Addresses (0-7) set with jumpers or DIP switches.
0 was always the processor.
The internal drive was usually 4 or 5
No two items could have the same address.
External SCSI devices had to have a terminator.
You must never unplug a SCSI device when anything in the system was powered up or you would fry the motherboard.
Yeah they were a lot of fun. SATA or IDE are so much easier, not to mention USB for external devices. Slower but much easier.

geoduck said:magnetic stick.
?

No I was being facetious. Actually the joke is derived from a User Friendly cartoon where the team is comparing computer stories like this and the old programmer claimed to have had to program a system by using a magnet to set ferrite cores or something like that.

Did anyone else ever use a “clipper” for doubling the capacity of 5” floppies? The disk was square but had a notch cut out of one side. When they went from single sided disks to double sided the Department I worked with had a thing that looked like a paper punch that would cut an identical notch out on the other side so you could flip the disk over. There was about a year when we were buying single sided disks really cheap on clearance and notching them to save a bunch of money.

SCSI:
Addresses (0-7) set with jumpers or DIP switches.
0 was always the processor.
The internal drive was usually 4 or 5

Wasn’t 7 the number reserved for the Mac ?

And the internal HD was 3 ?

I still have an ice cream container half full of SCSi terminators, and several SCSi cables as well.

Just in case…..

Pete…

You could be right. It’s been a LONG time since I had to work with SCSI (except for servers where it’s much easier to deal with)..

Did anyone else ever use a “clipper” for doubling the capacity of 5” floppies?

Apple ][ Perhaps ?

I seem to remember (lucky) friends who owned an Apple ][ who clipped.

But I could just be having a Seniors Moment…

Pete…

I still run an Apple LaserWriter 16/600 PS with an AAUI - RJ45 adapter.

It’s noisy & slow(ish) but it just keeps on going….

Oh

I’m also still using a HP 5MP as well.

And there’s an Apple ImagerWriter in it’s original box in the garage.

Did anyone else ever use a “clipper” for doubling the capacity of 5” floppies?

Oh yeah! My first computer was an Apple IIc and I used to clip. I probably still have that clipper in my box of stuff. Like Furbies I have a box of cables and stuff, including SCSI cables and terminators. A few years ago I donated my AppleTalk stuff to a missionary who was sending Apple II computers to some school in the 3rd World.

I still run an Apple LaserWriter 16/600 PS with an AAUI - RJ45 adapter.

I’m also still using a HP 5MP as well.

And there’s an Apple ImagerWriter in it’s original box in the garage.

On the next episode of Hoarders, the guys who hang out at The MacObserver.

I loved clipping floppies to double capacity. Did that for my Atari 800XL and then 130XE disks. And I remember using a cassette tape player with my Sinclair ZX81. Velcro that 16KB RAM pack to the ZX81 or risk losing everything when you looked at it funny. Ah, those were the days….

I have an un populated Apple I motherboard (no boot ROM), an Apple IIe, Apple IIc, Apple IIgs, Apple IIgsHD prototype, Mac 512K, Quadra 800 (or is it two?), Mac LC II with Apple IIe card, and am running on a upgraded PowerMac “Gigabit Ethernet” G4 DP at 1.2Ghz, and a Mac Mini (late 2009) still in the box.

I still have two 5 1/4 Apple II FDs, and two 5Mbyte “ProDOS” hard drives, and two Apple 15” Portrait (grey scale) monitors.

Or at least i did if my storage locker hasn’t burn down in the last two months

If I end up with one of these, I will probably not order one with a built-in SSD (at a cost of $600), but add one at a later date.

You could possibly get not only a cheaper SSD, but a larger one, assuming the iMac will support it (cannot see why not). When I bought my current MB Pro 17” (DEC 2009), I got the largest SSD available at that time (256 GB), but have recently upgraded to a 512 GB. The SSD is such a speed improvement over the 7200 rpm HDs, I’m not sure how much practical performance gain I would get with the i7 configured MBP, but I digress. The larger SSD will allow you to put all your apps, plus your active files on the SSD, and use the other drive just for storage.

Meanwhile, I will probably hold off getting another MBP until the RAM capacity doubles.

@wab95 - How dare you comment on the story itself. We’re talking old computers here, either get with the program or…

mention that you have a “black” SCSI terminator for your Mac IIfx! And a sharp scanner that you still use connected to a PowerMac 7100 which shares files with a Pentium II server running windows NT 4.0

or else?

My first Mac (not Apple) was an SE/30 with a 40MB internal. I bought an 80MB external and thought I was in heaven… Until I put in a RasterOps video card and had dual monitors (and Color).

Thanks, ctopher for reminding me of my next machine- the IIfx and the infamous black terminator. The IIfx was an oddball in many ways. Faster clock speed than most of the “quadras” , but still an 030 processor.

I jumped from the IIfx to a pre-ordered iMac on August 15th 1998. My first new machine.

Ah Memories.

Looking forward: Yes,

@wab95 - How dare you comment on the story itself. We’re talking old computers here, either get with the program or…

...my faux pas…I’ll go stand in the corner…

...my faux pas…I’ll go stand in the corner

made me laugh! Thanks!

While you’re in the corner, tell us about your first bit of Apple kit.

While you’re in the corner, tell us about your first bit of Apple kit.

Embarrassingly, excluding the Apple II’s and original Macintoshes in the computer lab back in medical school (which were not mine), I basically scavenged Mac use where I could but knuckled under and bought a Gateway (1 MB RAM, 128MB HD pre-pentium era) after a rotation at CDC - on the grounds that I needed ‘compatibility’ with colleagues. Following a disastrous, non-recoverable crash (and not the first) of my later HP Aero, my first actual Mac purchase was not until 1996 with that year’s vintage Powerbook 5300 with a 603e processor at 100MHz, 64 MG RAM and 1 GB HD, with its hot-swappable bay drives; which I later upgraded with a G3 processor as soon as they hit the market.

Realising that I had been somewhat snookered by the ‘compatibility’ issue, I openly embraced my inner Mac-ness, and have never looked back.

Excellent stuff wab95. It’s always interesting to hear how folks got into computers. Kids now don’t have a choice. Kind of like cars where for our grandparents? My first car was the family car, I didn’t have a choice. (AMC Hornet BTW!)

hi there did some one mention there was a 512 gb ssd for imac i know they are offering   a 256 gb ssd   for imac and 4 512 gb ssd’s for   mac pro for toatal of 2 terabytes of flash memory and a 12 core cpu gaming be alwsoume

hi there did some one mention there was a 512 gb ssd for imac

Not sure about the iMac per se, but there are now both 490 GB (OWC) and 512 GB (Kingston) SSDs available for MBPs - I just upgraded from the factory installed 256 GB to a 512 GB SSD in my MBP. You can either look at one of the online retailers, Google it, or talk to an authorised Apple servicing centre.

A word of caution - they’re still not cheap.

No HDMI ?!