Fusion Drive Now Available as Option for Low End 21.5" iMac

Mac32 said:

I for one am not gonna get any fusion drive ever in an iMac. I want SSD. It's safer, cooler, less noisy, faster/always fast etc., pretty much completely superior to HDs in every way expect storage size, but a lot of people don't need 1-3 GBs of internal data in their iMacs!!

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Pure BS and spoken exactly like someone who has never used a Fusion drive.

I have the maxed out 21.5" iMac. If Apple had offered the Fusion drive option on the base model it probably wouldn't have changed anything. I wanted the i7 and more memory along with the Fusion drive so I don't feel screwed.

Creating your own Fusion drive (what I like to call "Fusionstein") is a good alternative but its not officially supported by Apple so who knows what can go wrong. Also, the OS build on Fusion drive iMacs is different than non-Fusion drive iMacs so if you Fusionstein your iMac, it may work but you still may not be getting a fully functional Fusion drive even though it appears that way.

Macdick said:

128Gb HD in any Mac's should be legaly Banned!!! what a joke!!!

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You do realize it is about a 1.1TB disk and the 128GB flash is used for accelerating disk intensive tasks? You don't deal with the 128GB drive at all.

it makes so much sense.

My 2011 iMac "which I got the day after the 2012 announcement" was much faster than my mates 2012 basic end 21.5'' because I had a faster hard drive in. He was gutted LOL, but I did tell him before he bought it LOL.

Although to be fair I have 32GB ram in mine xD.

Paying $250 for adding a 128GB SSD worth $90 and some extra software seems a little to high...

Chris Blount said:

Pure BS and spoken exactly like someone who has never used a Fusion drive.

I have the maxed out 21.5" iMac. If Apple had offered the Fusion drive option on the base model it probably wouldn't have changed anything. I wanted the i7 and more memory along with the Fusion drive so I don't feel screwed.

Creating your own Fusion drive (what I like to call "Fusionstein") is a good alternative but its not officially supported by Apple so who knows what can go wrong. Also, the OS build on Fusion drive iMacs is different than non-Fusion drive iMacs so if you Fusionstein your iMac, it may work but you still may not be getting a fully functional Fusion drive even though it appears that way.

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Totally agree, there are instances where SSD is more unreliable than a conventional hard drive. SSD only have a certain amount of read/write life span which is pretty much similar about 5/6 years as a convention hard drive.

Apple should allow Fusion Drive also on third-party external booting Mac drives.

Well now it is bit more affordable..now if only Apple allowed you to upgrade RAM on the 21" on your own...

Chris Blount said:

Pure BS and spoken exactly like someone who has never used a Fusion drive.

I have the maxed out 21.5" iMac. If Apple had offered the Fusion drive option on the base model it probably wouldn't have changed anything. I wanted the i7 and more memory along with the Fusion drive so I don't feel screwed.

Creating your own Fusion drive (what I like to call "Fusionstein") is a good alternative but its not officially supported by Apple so who knows what can go wrong. Also, the OS build on Fusion drive iMacs is different than non-Fusion drive iMacs so if you Fusionstein your iMac, it may work but you still may not be getting a fully functional Fusion drive even though it appears that way.

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Exactly what of what he said was BS? All his points are true.

His points:
"It's safer, cooler, less noisy, faster/always fast etc."
One SSD only instead of having data over two discs will be safer, not having a harddrive will be cooler and less noisy, and it will of course be faster too since all of your data will be on the SSD, instead of just some.

Macdick said:

128Gb HD in any Mac's should be legaly Banned!!! what a joke!!!

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Except its not a 128GB. It's 1.1 TB.

mslide said:

It's still a joke that an SSD doesn't come standard. $250 for a 128GB HD. What a rip off.

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you're quite high. it's $250 for a 128gb SSD drive and a 1tb hd, installed.

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jamesryanbell said:

Because YOU didn't want it. Many did, and couldn't get it in their price range. They got screwed.

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that isn't the definition of screwed. early adopters got exactly what they paid for. if they didn't want what they paid for, they were not forced at gunpoint to pay for it.

what you're referring to is buyer's remorse. aka, whining.

words matter.

jamesryanbell said:

You think they'd learn by now.

(More than halfway serious)

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Because YOU didn't want it. Many did, and couldn't get it in their price range. They got screwed.

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It is ridiculous to see people complaining that the price of technology is changing. Whenever you buy a computer you should assume the same machine will cost you 75% less the next day.

If they didn't want the computer they purchased, they did not get screwd, they made a poor decision. I don't want Apple to stop improving products because some people feel like they are being screwed.

malachiman said:

I wish...

In New Zealand its a $400 add-on.
($250USD = around $300NZD!!!)

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So it's a $300 upgrade??

Man there is so much disinformation on this thread. People, please go read over some posts in the iMac forum before spreading more FUD.

The imac's don't ship with a 128 GB SSD alone - it also includes the HDD.
The fusion drive is not dangerous, it is fast, big, and as reliable as any HDD.
The new imac's are not that hard to upgrade yourself and require no heat gun.
5200 rpm HDD are not necessarily slower than 7200 rpm HDD's because revolutions per minute belays no information about disk density.

Marcus-k said:

Paying $250 for adding a 128GB SSD worth $90 and some extra software seems a little to high...

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They still only give you 512MB video ram as standard bar the top end 27", that's even worst IMO in 2013!
I think Fusion is slightly better value then this as you get the best of both worlds, fast SSD and big storage, but if they use only 5200rpm drives in 2013 in the Fusion drives that's utterly laughable!

FuNGi said:

The new imac's are not that hard to upgrade yourself and require no heat gun.

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Really, so what do you use to take the screen off then, and what do you use to re-glue the screen back in place? Don't post links, post what you have done.

haruhiko said:

Early adopters are screwed again.

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As always... and with any product you buy in most cases. It's part of the deal being an early adopter.

FuNGi said:

Man there is so much disinformation on this thread. People, please go read over some posts in the iMac forum before spreading more FUD.

The imac's don't ship with a 128 GB SSD alone - it also includes the HDD.
The fusion drive is not dangerous, it is fast, big, and as reliable as any HDD.
The new imac's are not that hard to upgrade yourself and require no heat gun.
5200 rpm HDD are not necessarily slower than 7200 rpm HDD's because revolutions per minute belays no information about disk density.

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Talk about disinformation...
While a fusion drive is not dangerous, it will have a higher failure rate than a SSD drive alone or a HDD drive alone because it contains two devices which increase the chances of such a failure. If one fails the whole logical drive fails.

The new iMacs are NOT hard to upgrade, but they are hard to put back together properly. We do not know yet wether Apple will honor the warranty on an iMac that was put back together with a different adhesive then their own kit (which isn't available yet).

While 5400rpm drives are not necessarily slower than 7200rpm drives, benchmarks have show that most certainly the 5400rpm drive that Apple IS using IS slower. It is a very slow drive.

Chris Blount said:

Pure BS and spoken exactly like someone who has never used a Fusion drive.

I have the maxed out 21.5" iMac. If Apple had offered the Fusion drive option on the base model it probably wouldn't have changed anything. I wanted the i7 and more memory along with the Fusion drive so I don't feel screwed.

Creating your own Fusion drive (what I like to call "Fusionstein") is a good alternative but its not officially supported by Apple so who knows what can go wrong. Also, the OS build on Fusion drive iMacs is different than non-Fusion drive iMacs so if you Fusionstein your iMac, it may work but you still may not be getting a fully functional Fusion drive even though it appears that way.

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Not to get into a online forum-fight, which is always a waste of time. But I strongly disagree. Of course Fusion is a great thing, certainly a lot better than only having a regular HD, but using only an internal SSD is still a lot better. I understand some people here are in denial, most likely because they can't afford the SSD-only option. I'd rather have 512gb with SSD, than 3tb with fusion...but that's me. Apple should at least have given us the option between fusion and reasonably priced SSD setups.

Marcus-k said:

Exactly what of what he said was BS? All his points are true.

His points:
"It's safer, cooler, less noisy, faster/always fast etc."
One SSD only instead of having data over two discs will be safer, not having a harddrive will be cooler and less noisy, and it will of course be faster too since all of your data will be on the SSD, instead of just some.

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And here we have another who has never used a Fusion drive. How do you know the Fusion drive is not safe? Did you program the software?

Less noisy?... again, you don't have one. The Fusion drive iMac is totally silent!

hleewell said:

Great fantastic throw-my-arms-in-the-air happy news!!

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I completely agree!! Great news IMO.

azentropy said:

Talk about disinformation...
While a fusion drive is not dangerous, it will have a higher failure rate than a SSD drive alone or a HDD drive alone because it contains two devices which increase the chances of such a failure. If one fails the whole logical drive fails.

The new iMacs are NOT hard to upgrade, but they are hard to put back together properly. We do not know yet wether Apple will honor the warranty on an iMac that was put back together with a different adhesive then their own kit (which isn't available yet).

While 5400rpm drives are not necessarily slower than 7200rpm drives, benchmarks have show that most certainly the 5400rpm drive that Apple IS using IS slower. It is a very slow drive.

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Have you heard much of any blade SSD going bad? Do you think it increases the HDD failure rate by 50%? - because that is what your are implying.
Warranty is a separate question but I agree having Apple branded tape would be nice.
I was unaware of 5200 vs. 7200 HDD spin-off tests from Apple's new iMac drives.

Chris Blount said:

And here we have another who has never used a Fusion drive. How do you know the Fusion drive is not safe? Did you program the software?

Less noisy?... again, you don't have one. The Fusion drive iMac is totally silent!

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Just because you can't afford the SSD-option, don't knock other people's informed opinions. I've used computers for several decades and SSDs for several years. And, yes...I forgot: what if you want to use bootcamp? Then you'll only be able to use bootcamp from the slow, old-fashioned HD. If I didn't need bootcamp, it's likely that I would have bought the 3tb fusion drive.

apolloa said:

-snip-
Really, so what do you use to take the screen off then, and what do you use to re-glue the screen back in place? Don't post links, post what you have done.

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Um, guitar picks and double-sided tape. Glue would be a bad idea and heat is not necessary. I would provide the myriad of links but I see that you would rather I post a youtube vid. I'll work on that.

NutsNGum said:

Why wasn't it an option in the first place?

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Because Apple wants more of your money for an outdated SSD.

Chris Blount said:

And here we have another who has never used a Fusion drive. How do you know the Fusion drive is not safe? Did you program the software?

Less noisy?... again, you don't have one. The Fusion drive iMac is totally silent!

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I know the fusion drive is less safe then a single HDD or SSD since you have twice the change to get a faulty drive, since you are using two. It's not about the software, it's about the actual hardware that can fail here.

Less noisy is a fact, a SSD is totally silent, a spinning HDD is as a fact not. You claiming that a harddrive is totally silent is completely wrong and just outright lying.

Chris Blount said:

And here we have another who has never used a Fusion drive. How do you know the Fusion drive is not safe? Did you program the software?

Less noisy?... again, you don't have one. The Fusion drive iMac is totally silent!

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Seriously Chris? Do you not know what a Fusion drive is?
A fusion drive is a HDD and a SSD/Flash drive combined into one logic volume. Because of that you have to take the failure rate of the HDD and the SDD into consideration which of course mathematically is higher than each by itself. If one fails the entire logical volume fails.

And again since a Fusion drive contains a HDD with moving parts it is of course going to be louder than a SSD/Flash Drive alone. Even with the HDD Apple is using which IS very quiet, it by itself and in a Fusion drive is louder than a SSD/Flash Drive would be alone.

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FuNGi said:

Have you heard much of any blade SSD going bad? Do you think it increases the HDD failure rate by 50%? - because that is what your are implying.

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No, I do not know the failure rates. However, SSDs do fail. HDDs do fail. When you rely on both you are going to have a higher failure rate than either separately.