Chapter 23
In This Chapter
Adding memory
Upgrading your hard drive
Adding USB, Thunderbolt, and FireWire devices
Reviewing what add-ons are available
No iMac is an island.” Somebody famous wrote that, I’m sure.
Without getting too philosophical — or invoking the all-powerful Internet yet again — the old saying really does make sense. All computer owners usually add at least one peripheral (external device), such as a printer, backup drive, joystick, iPod, or scanner. I talk about the ports on your iMac in Chapter 1. Those holes aren’t there to just add visual interest to the back end of your treasured iMac. Therefore, I cover your USB, Thunderbolt, and FireWire ports (and what you can plug in to them) in detail in this chapter.
Ah, but what about the stuff inside your supercomputer? That’s where things get both interesting and scary at the same time. In this chapter, I also describe what you can add to the innards of some iMac models as well as how to get inside there if you work up the courage to go exploring. (Don’t tell your family or your friends, but adding memory to a late-model 27" iMac is as simple as pressing a button and pulling on a couple of plastic levers. There’s actually nothing to fear whatsoever.)
Here’s the trick: Just make it sound like an adventure from Mission: Impossible, and folks will crown you their new resident techno-wizard!
Hey, wait a second. No however stuck on the end? You mean that, for once, there isn’t an exception? Aren’t all computers different? Hard as it is to believe, just keep in mind this Mark’s Maxim:
Period. End of statement. No matter what type of computer you own, how old it is, or what operating system you use, adding more memory to your system (to the maximum it supports, of course) significantly improves the performance of your operating system (and practically every application that you run).
To see how much memory you have on your computer, click the Apple menu () and choose About This Mac. Figure 23-1 shows the dialog that appears.
Ah, but there’s a caveat. (Go figure.) At the time of this writing, only the current crop of 27" iMacs has memory sockets that you — a Regular Human Being — can access. These models provide slots for four 1600 MHz PC3-12800 DDR3 SDRAM memory modules at up to 8GB each. (Don’t fret over what those abbreviations mean. Rest assured that this memory type is fast.)
Unfortunately, the memory in a late-model (2012 and later) 21.5" iMac can’t be replaced by anyone except an authorized Apple Service Center technician. So if you’re using a 21.5" iMac, you can skip the rest of this section, except for the rest of this paragraph. If you’re ready to order a new 21.5" iMac from Apple, I strongly recommend that you opt for as much additional memory as you can afford while configuring your dream machine. In the past, Apple’s prices for RAM were … well … outrageous (as in, “Boy, howdy, I can’t afford that!”). Recently, however, Apple’s memory prices have become far more competitive, so I now recommend that you add memory while configuring and ordering either model of iMac.
How you plan memory upgrades depends on how much memory you want. If your 27" iMac uses the two default 4GB modules (8GB total) supplied by Apple, you can add RAM by inserting memory modules in the empty slots. At the time of this writing, a 4GB memory module should set you back about $40 or so.
If your iMac already has all four memory slots filled and you’d still like to add more system RAM, it’s time to remove one or all of the existing modules and replace them with full 8GB modules. (Current prices for an 8GB module hover around $100.) With all four slots filled with 8GB modules, you’ll have the coveted 32GB 27" iMac that marks you as one of the “In People.”
If you’ve already bought your 27" iMac and you’d like to shop around for the best memory prices, I can heartily recommend any one of these online sources that cater to Mac owners:
I’m happy to report that adding extra memory to a 27" iMac is one of the easiest internal upgrades that you can perform. Therefore, I recommend that you add memory yourself unless you simply don’t want to mess with your iMac’s internal organs. Of course, your local Macintosh service specialist will be happy to install new RAM modules for you (for a price).
As you’ve concluded by this point in this book, Apple has designed the world’s best all-in-one computer. That even includes making it EZ-Open. (Forgive me if your treasured work of art now reminds you of a longneck beer bottle. Come to think of it, the level of technical knowledge required to gain access to either one is about the same.)
Unlike earlier “picture frame” iMac models, however, you can’t remove the back completely. In fact, Apple allows the owner of a 27" iMac to perform only one kind of upgrade, and there’s only one opening you need to worry about. Naturally, an Apple repair technician can get deeper into the machine, but I hope that you never need aid from those folks.
To add memory modules to a late-model 27" iMac, follow these steps:
The memory access door pops open.
Tah-dah! That wasn’t much of a challenge, was it? Take a moment to gaze with rapt fascination at a small portion of the bare innards of your favorite computer.
Check out the “Let’s get grounded!” sidebar.
Save the old module in the static-free packaging that held the new module. Your old RAM (which you can now sell on eBay) will be protected from static electricity.
Waxing nostalgic: This is rather like changing the oil on my Dad’s 1970 Ford pickup truck.
Congratulations! You’ve done it — and you’re now an iMac memory guru! To verify that all is well with your iMac, boot the computer, click the Apple menu (), and choose About This Mac. Your iMac should report the additional memory.
Asking whether you can upgrade your hard drive is a trick question. Yes, you certainly can upgrade your hard drive. But before you start cruisin’ the Internet for a 2TB monster, I have two suggestions:
Apple is pretty generous when configuring hard drive storage for its base systems. (Current models run with anywhere from a 1TB to a whopping 3TB drive — yep, that’s 3 terabytes, or 3,000GB! Something tells me that your prized walnut brownie recipe will have plenty of elbow room on a 3TB drive, as will as a huge amount of digital video.)
I’ll be honest here: Most folks simply don’t need more than 1TB of hard drive space. You’re likely to find that you still have plenty of wide-open spaces for a typical family’s needs on your hard drive unless you’re heavily into
Read more about dealing with the installation of an internal hard drive in the upcoming section “Gotta have internal.”
If you do need additional hard drive space, I recommend using an external drive. Use a high-speed Thunderbolt or USB 3.0 port to connect a second hard drive the quick and easy way. (Owners of slightly older iMac models can use FireWire 800 as well.)
Most of today’s Thunderbolt and USB peripherals don’t even require the driver software that Mac old-timers remember with such hatred. You simply plug a device into one of these ports, and it works. And you can move your external drive between different Macs with a minimum of fuss and bother.
An external hard drive can do virtually anything that your internal hard drive can do. You can boot from it, for example, or install (and boot from) a different version of OS X (great for beta testers like me).
Current iMac models carry two kinds of high-speed ports, either of which is a good match for connecting any external device.
The USB standard is popular because it’s just as common in the PC world as in the Mac world. (Most PCs don’t have a Thunderbolt port.) Your iMac carries its USB 3.0 ports on the back of the case, which are fully compatible with older USB 2.0 devices. Hardware manufacturers make one USB device that works on both Macs and PCs.
Current iMac models no longer carry a FireWire 800 port, but if you’re using an older iMac (without a USB 3.0 port), you’ll find that a FireWire 800 drive offers much better performance than either a FireWire 400 or a USB 2.0 drive.
Talk about raw speed. A Thunderbolt connection provides a blazing 10Gbps, which is an unbelievable 12 times faster than FireWire 800, and twice as fast as USB 3.0! You can use a Thunderbolt port to connect an external hard drive or even a high-resolution monitor or HD-TV. Luckily, the price for Thunderbolt external drives has dropped significantly since the port first appeared on the Mac, so you no longer have to pay a premium price for Thunderbolt devices.
With Thunderbolt, or USB, you can install an external hard drive without opening your iMac’s case. With your iMac turned on and the external drive disconnected from the AC outlet, follow these steps:
The drive comes with instructions or software to help you do this. (Don’t worry, external drives typically come from the factory completely empty, and you won’t damage anything by formatting it. To be sure, check the drive’s manual.) Partitioning divides the new drive into one (or more) volumes, each of which is displayed as a separate hard drive under Mavericks.
If the drive comes preformatted for use with a Windows PC, I strongly suggest reformatting it for use with OS X. Doing so results in faster performance and more efficient use of space.
After the drive is formatted and partitioned, it immediately appears on the Desktop. Shazam!
If you decide that you have to upgrade your existing internal hard drive — or if your internal drive fails and needs to be replaced — you must take your iMac to an authorized Apple Service Center and allow the techs there to sell you a drive and make the swap. Here are four darned good reasons why:
The external toys I cover in this section might add a cord or two to your collection at the back of your iMac, but they’re well worth the investment. And they can really revolutionize how you look at technologies such as television, digital audio, and computer gaming.
If you’re ready to take a shot at the enemy — whether they be Nazi soldiers, chittering aliens, or the latest jet fighters — you’ll likely find your keyboard and mouse somewhat lacking. (And if that enemy happens to be a friend of yours playing across the Internet, you’ll be ruthlessly mocked while you’re fumbling for the right key combination.) Instead, either pick up a USB joystick (for flying games) or a gamepad (for arcade and first-person shooting games)!
In case you’re not familiar with a hard drive array (typically called a RAID array), it’s just a fancy moniker for an enclosure that holds multiple hard drives. “Grouping” hard drives like this provides a boost in speed, or you can use an array to make a self-maintaining redundant backup of all your data. Your Thunderbolt port is perfect for this high-tech magic.
For armchair directors, specialized USB digital video controllers make editing easier. The ShuttlePRO V2 from Contour Design (www.contourdesign.com) provides a 15-button jog control that can be configured to match any DV editor. For around $110, you’ll have the same type of editing controller as do those dedicated video-editing stations that cost several thousand dollars.
Ready to put GarageBand to the test with your favorite version of Chopsticks? You need a USB piano keyboard, and I recommend the Keystation 88es from M-Audio (www.m-audio.com), which retails for a mere $200. It provides 88 keys and uses a USB connection.