I Mac RAM storage

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I own a 27 inch I Mac Mid 2011 version which has been running sluggishly lately and today Iwas unable to complete actions in photoshop due to not enough memory Ram. I currently have 4GB . I have two free memory slots to add additional memory. I’ve researched on the internet and know the type of storage required to fit my IMac.
Here come the questions......
  1. Am I better installing one large or two smaller?
  2. Should I install up to the maximum memory (16GB)recommended for this version of IMac?
  3. If I add up to 12 GB will I notice a significant improvement on performance?
  4. Is there anything else I need to be thinking about?
  5. When I install I am assuming it is a bit like plug and play and it will work fine without me having to do any computer adjustments?
 
1.... Fill all four slots.
2.... Yes
3.... Yes
4.... Not really
5.... Yes

Best way to do this is to go to Crucial.com, their system checks your computer and makes it easy to upgrade...
 
PhilH04 said:
1.... Fill all four slots.
2.... Yes
3.... Yes
4.... Not really
5.... Yes

Best way to do this is to go to Crucial.com, their system checks your computer and makes it easy to upgrade...
Click to expand...
Thankyou for your response. Very helpful. I will look at Crucial.com
 
If you have not got a SSD (solid state Drive) installed get that done ASAP.
 
redsnappa said:
If you have not got a SSD (solid state Drive) installed get that done ASAP.
Click to expand...

I’ve done some quick reading about SSD and need to read more before make a decision. This won’t be so easy for me to do myself and believe me I am the techy person in our household.
Having read Raymond Lin post not sure I would be able to achieve this. Might chat to my son in law see if it is something he could do.
 
Raymond Lin said:
It’s an iMac, only the RAM is user serviceable, the SSD can be done but it requires the removable of the front screen.
Click to expand...
Thanks for your information. I’ve read this online as well. Will certainly need me to think more about this but can see the benefit of doing this. Will see if there is anything on YouTube when I’ve got more time.
 
I'll echo others and recommend Crucial.

If you want to evaluate what's involved with DIY repairs, have a look at the repair guides on iFixit; for example guides for your iMac can be viewed here (double check I've selected the correct model).
 
redsnappa said:
If you have not got a SSD (solid state Drive) installed get that done ASAP.
Click to expand...

That's true. It is actually very shocking that even some new rotten apples still contain bloody slow and noisy HDDs as a way to rip off customers or sell them junk than can barely be used to irritate them into earlier upgrade.

Personally I'd be tempted to just ebay it as is and try to pick up a little later example with all the good bits already in place. It could be close to cost neutral if you play your hand right.
 
LongLensPhotography said:
That's true. It is actually very shocking that even some new rotten apples still contain bloody slow and noisy HDDs as a way to rip off customers or sell them junk than can barely be used to irritate them into earlier upgrade.

Personally I'd be tempted to just ebay it as is and try to pick up a little later example with all the good bits already in place. It could be close to cost neutral if you play your hand right.
Click to expand...
*yawn* change the record.
 
4GB memory is far from ideal if running 10.13.6, the newest OS it will run. If nothing has changed since the iMac was previously acceptable, there's always the possibility the hard drive is on its way out. The hard drive is used for virtual memory and Photoshop's temp files. Did you get a warning memory was low?
 
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Raymond Lin said:
It’s an iMac, only the RAM is user serviceable, the SSD can be done but it requires the removable of the front screen.
Click to expand...

Wrong, you use a external SSD in a 2.5" caddy via USB 3.0, boot into recovery, format SSD as journaled, time machine backup restore to SSD. Easy.
 
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TonyHall said:
I'll echo others and recommend Crucial.

If you want to evaluate what's involved with DIY repairs, have a look at the repair guides on iFixit; for example guides for your iMac can be viewed here (double check I've selected the correct model).
Click to expand...

Thankyou for your information. I've just quickly looked at this and will discuss with my son in law at christmas. See whether he thinks he can assist with this task.
 
steveb said:
4GB memory is far from ideal if running 10.13.6, the newest OS it will run. If nothing has changed since the iMac was previously acceptable, there's always the possibility the hard drive is on its way out. The hard drive is used for virtual memory and Photoshop's temp files. Did you get a warning memory was low?
Click to expand...

Yes I did get a warning that memory was low when using photoshop.
 
twist said:
Wrong, you use a external SSD in a 2.5" caddy via USB 3.0, boot into recovery, format SSD as journaled, time machine backup restore to SSD. Easy.
Click to expand...

Now this sounds like I may be able to manage this. Will do some further research later today. Will need to give this some thought.
 
HeartandSoul said:
Now this sounds like I may be able to manage this. Will do some further research later today. Will need to give this some thought.
Click to expand...

The only problem you will face is that after checking your iMac doesn't have usb 3, you will have to go via thunderbolt dock / enclosure / drive / adapter.
 
twist said:
Wrong, you use a external SSD in a 2.5" caddy via USB 3.0, boot into recovery, format SSD as journaled, time machine backup restore to SSD. Easy.
Click to expand...

It's a 2011 iMac so USB 2.0 I believe, it will be a massive bottleneck. You need to boot out of thunderbolt.

p.s. I am not wrong, the internal HDD, which is what i am referring to is NOT user serviceable. Of course you can use a USB port, like every other computer, I never said the USB ports are out of reach did I? I merely said you shouldn't take off your screen, panel, detached the front facing camera to change the HDD to SSD and then put it back together again. That isn't for a novice who ask about RAM, no offence OP.
 
Raymond Lin said:
It's a 2011 iMac so USB 2.0 I believe, it will be a massive bottleneck. You need to boot out of thunderbolt.

p.s. I am not wrong, the internal HDD, which is what i am referring to is NOT user serviceable. Of course you can use a USB port, like every other computer, I never said the USB ports are out of reach did I? I merely said you shouldn't take off your screen, panel, detached the front facing camera to change the HDD to SSD and then put it back together again. That isn't for a novice who ask about RAM, no offence OP.
Click to expand...

No, you said only the RAM is user serviceable and the screen has to be removed to use an SSD, thats wrong. Why didn't you say he could boot from USB / Thunderbolt SSD if you knew he could and is a novice?
 
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twist said:
No, you said only the RAM is user serviceable and the screen has to be removed to use an SSD, thats wrong. Why didn't you say he could boot from USB / Thunderbolt SSD if you knew he could and is a novice?
Click to expand...

Yes, stop saying No because you know i was referring to the internal drive by explaining the INTERNAL drive and the INTERNAL drive is not user serviceable. Unless you are saying the INTERNAL drive is?
 
Raymond Lin said:
Yes, stop saying No because you know i was referring to the internal drive by explaining the INTERNAL drive and the INTERNAL drive is not user serviceable. Unless you are saying the INTERNAL drive is?
Click to expand...

So you just ignored the fact there is an easier way to do it and advise the OP of that method?
 
twist said:
So you just ignored the fact there is an easier way to do it and advise the OP of that method?
Click to expand...

I didn't ignore it....you've said it and he is now looking into it....what more do you want? a medal? Why are you continuing to having a dig at me after I clarified what my first post was instead of going - No, Wrong, No....
 
Maxing out the memory and fitting an SSD will make a huge difference. I fitted both to my Macbook and its transformed.

Whilst fitting one on an iMac may be a little daunting, there are probably local Mac Repairers who could fit one for you at a modest cost.

If the machine otherwises does everything you ask, no need to upgrade it - although with an older mac you are limited to what software is supported.
 
:plus1: for crucial.com and for @andrewc regarding installing an SSD.

I have upgraded RAM and SSD in both my desktop and laptop, although both are windows machines - it sounds like macs are a bit trickier with SSDs.

I found that upgrading to SSDs made a huge difference....it seemed much faster than it did when I upgraded the RAM alone - both my machines are quite old, running Win7, and my desktop used to take at least 10 minutes just to boot and settle down to an idle state!
(Having ancient, slow HDDs that were probably close to failing likely made the difference even more drastic in my case....my drives were a lot older than yours!)
Now it boots in seconds....crucials clone disk system is easy as pie....even for a thicko like me!:D
 
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Hard drive in iMac 2011 is user upgradable, but not for the faint hearted.
 
Well I upgraded the RAM today and can say it is very easy to do except my I Mac says it is incompatible. Tried it in all all spaces and got the same beeps. ( 3 beeps apparently tell you it is incompatible) I’ve also made sure I’ve pushed in correctly. Will be in contact with crucial tomorrow. My son in law thinks he will be able to swap HD to SSD he’s doing some further reading first to make sure.
Why is it when something is not working properly you really need to use it :runaway:..........

Thankyou all for advice to date much appreciated.
 
GarethB said:
:plus1: for crucial.com and for @andrewc regarding installing an SSD.

I have upgraded RAM and SSD in both my desktop and laptop, although both are windows machines - it sounds like macs are a bit trickier with SSDs.

I found that upgrading to SSDs made a huge difference....it seemed much faster than it did when I upgraded the RAM alone - both my machines are quite old, running Win7, and my desktop used to take at least 10 minutes just to boot and settle down to an idle state!
(Having ancient, slow HDDs that were probably close to failing likely made the difference even more drastic in my case....my drives were a lot older than yours!)
Now it boots in seconds....crucials clone disk system is easy as pie....even for a thicko like me!:D
Click to expand...


That’s reassuring to hear
 
Raymond Lin said:
It's a 2011 iMac so USB 2.0 I believe, it will be a massive bottleneck. You need to boot out of thunderbolt.

p.s. I am not wrong, the internal HDD, which is what i am referring to is NOT user serviceable. Of course you can use a USB port, like every other computer, I never said the USB ports are out of reach did I? I merely said you shouldn't take off your screen, panel, detached the front facing camera to change the HDD to SSD and then put it back together again. That isn't for a novice who ask about RAM, no offence OP.
Click to expand...

None taken. All advice given here is taken on board to help me make the right decisions.
 
I have a 2011 I Mac which I upgraded to 16gig and it made a big difference. Then a couple of years ago I bought a LaCie rugged thunderbolt 500gig ssd drive and cloned my internal drive to it and started using it as my boot / OS / programs drive. Massive massive difference and much easier than having to install an ssd internally (although more expensive for the drive).
 
My iMac is late 2009, I upgraded RAM to 12 GB first then the internal drive to SSD. If an external SSD is just as fast that would be much easier. However switching the internal one was not too difficult once I got the screen off - used a sink plunger for that :) there are videos to follow showing how to do the change step by step.
 
rampanthamster said:
I have a 2011 I Mac which I upgraded to 16gig and it made a big difference. Then a couple of years ago I bought a LaCie rugged thunderbolt 500gig ssd drive and cloned my internal drive to it and started using it as my boot / OS / programs drive. Massive massive difference and much easier than having to install an ssd internally (although more expensive for the drive).
Click to expand...
newbie1 said:
My iMac is late 2009, I upgraded RAM to 12 GB first then the internal drive to SSD. If an external SSD is just as fast that would be much easier. However switching the internal one was not too difficult once I got the screen off - used a sink plunger for that :) there are videos to follow showing how to do the change step by step.
Click to expand...
Thanks both. It’s good so many are positive about upgrading the hardware. I ended up taking it to a local computer shop. Hopefully will have it back early next week and look forward to testing it
 
Well All I can say is WOW definitely worth increasing RAM and having a SSD installed. Speed much improved. i now realise how slow it really was before. Thanks all for your contributions to help me make the right decision.

Happy New Year to you all
 
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