Choosing the Appropriate iMac

You can use an external SSD and store large files like Photos, Movies, etc. on that. I would not get any smaller drive on the iMac less than 512GB. That way you can keep your apps and OS intact on the internal without worry. I use this process and it works fine. Just a thought on the iMac. I had a 27" iMac that I replaced with a new Mac Mini M4 and a 5k monitor. I liked the 27" display that I had on my old iMac and did not want to go down in size to a 24".

Consider getting a Mac Mini M4 with an external 27" monitor. I just got one with 16 GB of RAM, f1 TB of storage for $999. 24 GB of RAM would only be $200 more.I pared that with a 32" LG 4K monitor w/speakers for $331. A 27" 4K monitor will be less. If you need a speaker for other than quality music sound the Mini has a speaker which is sufficient for most situations. A comparably configured 24" iMac would cost $2065, $650 more than the mini with monitor.

Just some food for thought.

Consider getting a Mac Mini M4 with an external 27" monitor. I just got one with 16 GB of RAM, f1 TB of storage for $999. I pared that with a 32" LG 4K monitor w/speakers for $331. A 27" 4K monitor will be less. If you need a speaker for other than quality music sound the Mini has a speaker which is sufficient for most situations. A comparably configured 24" iMac would cost $2065, $650 more than the mini with monitor.

Just some food for thought.

If you consider the cost "excessive" recall what motivated you to purchase a Mac with 1 TB internal storage when the "entry level" amount was half that much. You're using 65% of that just for photos.

I find this ridiculous as I recently purchased an external hard drive with 2TB for about $100.00.

If you want to buy an external SSD, that's ok. You can buy a 5 or 6 TB external hard disk drive any day of the week for about $100, so I'm wondering why you spent so much for so little. Speed isn't a necessity just for photo storage.

Charles Niemi wrote:

I currently own an iMac that is approximately 11 years old. Last updated to Yosemite. I now need to purchase a new iMac. My current iMac has 1TB internal memory. The entry level (suitable for my needs) only comes with 256 GB of internal Storage. To obtain the additional 750 GB of storage, Apple wants an additional $400.00. I find this ridiculous as I recently purchased an external hard drive with 2TB for about $100.00.

While Apple's prices for storage upgrades are on the high side, let's be fair here. An external drive with 2 TB of storage that sold for $100 would likely be a slow 2.5" mechanical hard drive. The 24" M4 iMac does not use, or even have an internal bay for, a mechanical hard drive. It has a super-fast NVMe SSD.

In terms of sequential read and write speed, that SSD is probably is fifteen to twenty time faster than portable mechanical hard drives. Don't even get me started on random-access speed – where even much slower SATA SSDs will slaughter any mechanical drive. There's a reason why any halfway decent modern computer will boot from a SSD instead of from a hard drive.

Since my current iMac shows that I have used 325 GB for my photos, and I have an additional 16 GB of photos to move off of my laptop. What is your solution for photo storage without buying 1 TB at the excessive cost Apple is charging?

Since you are planning on purchasing a desktop Mac, it would not be hard to buy an external drive and to move some bulky data to it. I still would strongly recommend that you purchase at least 512 GB of internal SSD space.

Charles Niemi wrote:

There suggestions are: Mac Min with 512GB, iMac with 256GB. 1)Suggest Mac mini $999. That price apparently doesn't include a monitor. 2) iMac suggested definitely wouldn't hold enough storage.

Correct.

The 256GB iMac starts at $1300

The Mac mini with 512GB is $1000, add a $200 or $300 external display and that works out to $1200 or $1300

What does the Apple questionnaire at > Mac - Which Mac is best for me? - Apple suggest...?

With a Mac mini, you just get the computer, operating system, and bundled applications.

The price does not include a monitor, a keyboard, or a mouse.