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Buying a new (2019) iMac. Fusion vs SSD?

BasilFawlty

BasilFawlty

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jun 20, 2009
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New Mexico
I currently have a 2011 27" iMac with 4-core 2.7GHz i5 processor and a 1TB mechanical (non-fusion) drive. For my uses (Lightroom, Photoshop, Screeflow, etc) it is (barely) adequate, but it's starting to seem long in the tooth.

As I have a birthday coming up, I have decided it's time to upgrade. Being retired military I can use the "Veterans and Military" area and get a discount. The system I think I've settled on is the 3.6GHz i9 (8-core processor). The base memory is 8GB which is what I'll get as I will upgrade to an additional 64GB via OWC. The base Graphics Card is Radeon Pro 580X with 8GB of GDDR5 memory. There is an upgrade to a Radeon Pro Vega 48 but that's over $400 and based on comparisons I've seen, I don't think I'll go that route for my uses. This configuaration comes with a 2TB fusion drive that has 128GB SSD built in included in the price. That 128GB of SSD seems pretty good compared to the 1TB fusion drive that only has 32GB SSD. If I wanted to go with pure SSD I can upgrade (or downgrade depending on your point of view) to a 1 TB SSD for $270, or I could upgrade to a bigger (3TB) fusion for only $90. I'm torn between just staying with the Base 2TB fusion (and hoping the 128GB SSD will be sufficient for the OS and common apps to see signifigant performance boost, or go with a smaller pure SSD (for $270) or upgrade to a bigger 3TD Fusion drive ($90 upgrade).

I'd love to specifically hear from those with experience moving from a fusion drive to an SSD and whether you actually saw enough performance boost to justify spending additional $270 for half the storage? If you did see a noticalble improvement, under what workflows did it seem to matter most and wrere didn't you notice much difference? Thanks in advance.
 
Look at the amount of storage that you need, and the amount of money in your wallet. Your storage space should be 50% more than you think you need. So if you think you need 500GB, you would buy at least 750GB, so 1TB SSD is fine. If you think you need 750GB, you will eventually run into trouble with 1TB, so you'd go for the Fusion drive or you would need to pay out for a 2TB SSD drive which will be expensive.

If you go for a Fusion drive, you might consider the 3TB if it only costs $90. That's because the first X% on a spinning hard drive are fastest. If you use 1TB, you only use the fastest 33% instead of the fastest 50% of your hard drive.
 
Jyby said:
I think as long as you are not frequently loading new files and loading large files a Fusion drive would be good..
But if you work with large files and change those files very often i.e. accessing files you haven't accessed in awhile, an SSD will beat a Fusion drive.. Depends on the Fusion drives cache side (the SSD part) and the file access behavior you have.
Click to expand...

Most of what I do is photography (25MB-to-35MB RAW files on average) using Lightroom and Photoshop. I also do some video work and will probably be getting Final Cut Pro and do future video work tat will include 4k. That said, I know the base 2TB fusion drive does come with 128GB SSD already built it. My understanding of how a fusion drive works is that, files that are frequently opened (like OS) are cached in the SSD. I keep most of my big files (images and video) on a Thunderbolt RAID Drive so accusing those file won't really be an issue (I don't think). Do you use an SSD or Fusion or did you move to and SSD from fusion?
 
I think the way to save a lot of money is to buy the 2 TB fusion Drive. When the need for more speed comes up, you could purchase a Samsung X5 external Drive that connects to the thunderbolt connections. You can then use the internal drive as back up. This will save you and money give you unbelievable speed.

Check Amazon for the cost of the X5. And compare it to built to order equivalent solid-state internal drive you'll see it's cheaper concidering the 2 TB internal backup you will have. You should take into account that you can purchase the computer from Amazon or BHphotovideo.com instead of Apple in a price comparison.
 
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archrider said:
You should take into account that you can purchase the computer from Amazon or BHphotovideo.com instead of Apple in a price comparison.
Click to expand...

The 2019 27" iMac i9 with 8GB memory, AMD Radeon Pro 580X, and 2TB Fusion Drive is $2699 at B&H. On the Apple store, in the Veteran's and Military section (I'm a vet) I can get the exact same system/ configuration for $2429 (basically a 10% veteran discount).

Thanks for the tip about the X5 drive - that does look interesting,
 
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BasilFawlty said:
The 2019 27" iMac i9 with 8GB memory, AMD Radeon Pro 580X, and 2TB Fusion Drive is $2699 at B&H. On the Apple store, in the Veteran's and Military section (I'm a vet) I can get the exact same system/ configuration for $2429 (basically a 10% veteran discount).

Thanks for the tip about the X5 drive - that does look interesting,
Click to expand...
I overlooked the veteran discount you're absolutely right to purchase from Apple and maybe get the build to order internal SSD.
 
My choice with the i9 iMac was to get it with 500 GB SSD (more than enough for my home folder and Lightroom Catalogue) and add a 2TB Samsung T5 SSD on which I have photos and anything else which is large. That is working well for me. All SSD for everyday use. And, of course, external (USB3) HDD for backups, etc.

The Samsung X5 (as suggested by @archrider) would be faster than the T5 but, as well as being more expensive, you probably won't notice the difference in speed.
 
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I can’t talk about the move but my wife has a 27” 5k iMac with a 3tb Fusion drive. Comparing it to my 2011 iMac with a pure SSD upgrade, its as least as fast or faster. She has a faster processor and lots more memory so that may help some. While a pure SSD is always preferable it gets expensive if you need a couple of terabytes of storage. I would rather have a Fusion drive instead of a small internal SSD with an external larger drive, be it SSD or spinning.

All this applies to the 2 and 3 tb drives, not the 1tb fusion. The 1tb fusion is garbage due to the insufficient size of the SSD.
 
SSD, of course.

DO NOT EVEN CONSIDER the fusion drive.
Consider yourself as having been duly warned if you read this far.

But BE AWARE:
You cannot buy an iMac with an SSD pre-installed from an Apple Store or from almost any other store.

You MUST order these from Apple online via their "build to order" pages.

Exceptions:
You can often find Apple-refurbished iMacs at Apple's site that will come pre-configured with SSDs.

A VERY FEW online retailers (such as B&H Photo in New York City) pre-order iMacs configured with SSDs and can ship them right out.
HOWEVER, B&H has a quirky policy about computer returns -- once you open the box, it's no longer "returnable" to them. So you better be sure that what you're buying is "what you want".
 
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A spinning drive in a new computer? No, don't even consider the notion. Hybrid storage might have been a nifty notion in 2012 but a 2020 birthday present you might expect to enjoy for the next 10 years needs to be better than that. True, Apple overcharge brutally for SSDs but that pain will soon fade and you'll have the satisfaction of knowing you bought the best.
 
I'd get it with a 500GB SSD to save money. You just need the SSD for your OS, Apps, Scratch disk and whatever project you're currently working on.

Then just use a large HDD connected over USB 3.x. For file storage. Plus a second larger hard drive for backups of course.
 
When I bought a 2017 iMac, I thought it was ridiculous the largest amount of storage (albeit Fusion) was still the same (3TB) that I bought on my 2012 iMac. Had it for a year and got an iMac Pro since I could get 4TB SSD. Now with 3.5TB of that full I'm ready to get something with 8TB. Surely the new ones will have that capability.
 
Fishrrman said:
SSD, of course.

DO NOT EVEN CONSIDER the fusion drive.
Consider yourself as having been duly warned if you read this far.

But BE AWARE:
You cannot buy an iMac with an SSD pre-installed from an Apple Store or from almost any other store.

You MUST order these from Apple online via their "build to order" pages.

Exceptions:
You can often find Apple-refurbished iMacs at Apple's site that will come pre-configured with SSDs.

A VERY FEW online retailers (such as B&H Photo in New York City) pre-order iMacs configured with SSDs and can ship them right out.
HOWEVER, B&H has a quirky policy about computer returns -- once you open the box, it's no longer "returnable" to them. So you better be sure that what you're buying is "what you want".
Click to expand...

For the love of God. Heed Fishrrman's words.

Azrael.
 
Azrael9 said:
For the love of God. Heed Fishrrman's words.

Azrael.
Click to expand...

How about buying base 27" iMac deliberately - then, since first day, use fast external 1 TB SSD as main boot drive and keep inner fusion drive only for backup?
 
I’m shocked to see how many of the commenters are actually recommending Fusion drives... come on guys it’s 2020, you would have YouTube’d this question by now - Fusion drive vs. SSD.

Yes get a Fusion drive if you want to risk your new $5000 iMac with 4.4TB Fusion failing in a few years via the spinning mechanical hard drive slowing down, getting filled with dust and ultimately getting corrupted.

I’d go so far to recommend getting a 256GB SSD iMac if your budget is that restricted and buying a 1TB portable SSD for $150 from your office / computer store and booting up up your iMac externally via USB 3.0!

TDLR - Watch this up to 3:13.
*MIC DROP*
 
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Spudlicious said:
A spinning drive in a new computer? No, don't even consider the notion. Hybrid storage might have been a nifty notion in 2012 but a 2020 birthday present you might expect to enjoy for the next 10 years needs to be better than that. True, Apple overcharge brutally for SSDs but that pain will soon fade and you'll have the satisfaction of knowing you bought the best.
Click to expand...
Yes a SSD at least 1TB is the way to go.
 
haddy said:
Yes a SSD at least 1TB is the way to go.
Click to expand...
But a 1 TB Samsung X5 that is basically the same speed for $399 and a 1 TB Samsung X5 that is basically the same speed for $399 and you still have the internal drive for back up so you get two drives for $399 instead of one drive for $300. Actually three drives because a fusion drive at 2 TB has an internal 128 GB solid-state drive.
 
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Personally, I would recommend the 500GB SSD with externals. (reasoning: spinning drives have the potential to fail more than SSDs. If the HD of the Fusion fails, that is an expensive repair. And 3+ TB externals are comparatively inexpensive. On my machine, all of my media and photos are on external drives. Since it is a desktop, having externals connected is not that big of a deal)

Also with the 27" you can install your own RAM so there are cost savings there.
www.cnet.com

It takes minutes to add RAM and make your iMac a true multitasking machine

It takes less than five minutes to do so.
www.cnet.com www.cnet.com
 
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