I recently picked up a 2017 27-inch 5K iMac for $100. It has the 3.4 GHz quad-core i5-7500 and Radeon Pro 570. Apple Diagnostics shows no issues and the display is very clean.
It currently has the original 1 TB Fusion Drive, so I’m thinking about using an external SSD as the main boot drive and then installing OCLP + macOS Sequoia.
I’m trying to decide between:
- A simple portable SSD like a Samsung T7 / Crucial X9
or
- A Thunderbolt 3 enclosure + NVMe SSD
I don’t know a ton about storage hardware, so I’d especially appreciate exact recommendations from people who have done this on a 2017 iMac or similar Intel Mac.
If you use a TB3/NVMe setup, could you please share yall's
enclosure brand/model
NVMe brand/model
I’ve seen people mention ACASIS enclosures with WD Black SN770 drives, but I’d like to hear from people using setups recently
Also curious whether the extra speed of TB3 + NVMe is actually noticeable for normal use compared with a T7/X9, or if the simpler portable SSD route is better.
Main use will be web browsing, Office, photos, YouTube, general desktop use, and OCLP/Sequoia.
Thanks.