My 2009 iMac is no longer with us. I am going to buy a new 21.5" iMac and my question is on storage. The options are (as you know) a 1TB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400 rpm, a 1TB Fusion Drive or 256GB Flash Storage. I will use this iMac as home computer, nothing fancy at all. I currently have 500GB Serial ATA Drive. I back up using Time Machine (1TB). Any thoughts on storage? Thanks in advance.
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Buying a new iMac
- Thread starter marklachance
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I have a late-2013 rMBP with 516GB SSD. I have 370GB free. Photos I don't want to see often are backed up on Flickr and on an external hard drive. I have 18GB of audio, no movies, and 18GB of photos. Apps, 172GB. I could've easily made do with the 256GB SSD.
But the speed -- boots up in seconds. You'd probably get similar speed from the Fusion, but I would skip the 5400 drive.
But the speed -- boots up in seconds. You'd probably get similar speed from the Fusion, but I would skip the 5400 drive.
Fusion sounds like your best bet. Avoid the classic HDD.
SSD would work great IF you have a small iTunes library, iPhoto library, and don't plan on having any HD movies or tv shows. Of course with the iMac you can always buy a 5TB external hard drive for $140 and be set with storage for life.
SSD would work great IF you have a small iTunes library, iPhoto library, and don't plan on having any HD movies or tv shows. Of course with the iMac you can always buy a 5TB external hard drive for $140 and be set with storage for life.
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I'm a Fusion fan. It's about getting painless, near-SSD performance at a very affordable price.
You have a 500GB HDD now. Were you using more than 256MB of that drive? If so, then the 256MB SSD will probably not be enough, or may entail sacrifices or hard work.
While external drives are cheap, they do not benefit from Fusion's speed. While there are those who will say, "Only the OS and apps require SSD speed," not my experience. You work with data throughout the day, and for anything but streaming media, you'll gain small benefits on a constant basis - adds up to an overall zippier experience, no matter what you do.
You have a 500GB HDD now. Were you using more than 256MB of that drive? If so, then the 256MB SSD will probably not be enough, or may entail sacrifices or hard work.
While external drives are cheap, they do not benefit from Fusion's speed. While there are those who will say, "Only the OS and apps require SSD speed," not my experience. You work with data throughout the day, and for anything but streaming media, you'll gain small benefits on a constant basis - adds up to an overall zippier experience, no matter what you do.
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Thank you to all. Yes I do have more than 256MB on the current iMac so Fusion seems to be the best choice. I could probably get it under 256 but that would involve time that I just don't have much of these days. And just so you know, the tech at an Apple authorized repaid shop told me the logic board/graphics card bit the dust. One day it just didn't start up and I was stuck in this endless startup loop. The cost to repair he said was $650 for the part and $125 for labor. I hate to have to buy another but for $350 or so more I can get a new one. Just kinda sad because it was running really well.
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