There are obvious benefits in reducing the thickness of a laptop computer, but in a 27-inch desktop machine this slimline design can seem rather like an expensive indulgence – especially as you can’t even see that sleek profile when you’re sitting in front of the darn thing. However, the iMac could be criticised for valuing form over function. Although, you could alway use it on your next Mac.At least the 27-inch iMac lets you mess with its memory – the 21.5-inch model doesn’t A TB3 SSD would be much faster than the USB SSD, but a lot more expensive. There are other external options for your iMac that are faster, but probably not worth the investment.

Not a big deal if this was just to get your by for a few years til your next Mac or until you got around to installing it internally. This could lead to slower speeds later on and shorter lifespan for the SSD. The biggest downside of using USB versus internal SATA besides the slightly lower speed is that there is no TRIM support for USB drives on MacOS. Overpriced when you can get a SATA SSD and enclosure for much cheaper, and have the flexibility to use that SATA SSD internally if you wanted. I wouldn't do something like the T5 unless you already had one sitting around. It is cheap, faster than your HDD, and gives you the option to one day swap it with the HDD.

That is one good thing about just using a SATA SSD and a USB enclosure. Click to expand.If you end up removing the internal HDD, you might as well just up a SATA SSD in it.

Upgrade imac 27 late 2013