Fusion Drive--love it or regret it--please share!

[MrNomNoms]

Sorry to resurrect an old thread. Reading more recent posts about fusion drives, is it still recommended to pay extra for the ssd? This thread makes me believe the fusion drive would be okay for my in laws who just do general browsing, web based games and watch videos.

Go pure SSD's, I doubt APFS is ever going to come to fusion or hard disk configurations with hard disks on their way out and fusion being a compromise for those who have a fixation over wanting to have more internal storage (even though they would be better off with a 256/512GB SSD internally with a external hard disk or a RAID like device such as Drobo which abstracts it all in the form of a single piece of storage). In the day of USB3 and Thunderbolt there is no reason why one needs to have a massive storage setup inside the computer when one can go pure SSD internally and use an external storage device for long term storage once you have completed the project but still want to retain it.

 

[evoga]

Sorry to resurrect an old thread. Reading more recent posts about fusion drives, is it still recommended to pay extra for the ssd? This thread makes me believe the fusion drive would be okay for my in laws who just do general browsing, web based games and watch videos.

My wife just last week purchased for me a iMac 21.5 inch with a 1TB fusion drive.
Compared to my old MacBook Air which is all SSD it is treacle slow. It is like using a PC from 10 years ago, all that's missing is the spinning sand timer while you wait for the iMac to catch up.

I wouldn't advise anyone to purchase an iMac with a fusion drive as you are wasting your money.

 

[madflava54]

My wife just last week purchased for me a iMac 21.5 inch with a 1TB fusion drive.
Compared to my old MacBook Air which is all SSD it is treacle slow. It is like using a PC from 10 years ago, all that's missing is the spinning sand timer while you wait for the iMac to catch up.

I wouldn't advise anyone to purchase an iMac with a fusion drive as you are wasting your money.

Wow. That is truly awful to hear. Are you going to exchange it? It would have been nice if we could replace the SSD ourselves.

 

[nambuccaheadsau]

The problem is that 1TB Fusion Drive with a mere 24GB of Flash Sgtoragve. Not even enough tom install the operating system on, let alone applications etc.

 

[EugW]

The problem is that 1TB Fusion Drive with a mere 24GB of Flash Sgtoragve. Not even enough tom install the operating system on, let alone applications etc.

Operating system about 11-12 GB, plus a little more overhead. That said, I bought pure SSD. I wouldn't even get the 2 TB Fusion with its 128 GB SSD.

Too bad we can't spec a 2 TB hard drive along with a 512 GB SSD, without Fusion.

 

[evoga]

Wow. That is truly awful to hear. Are you going to exchange it? It would have been nice if we could replace the SSD ourselves.

Yes going to have to pack it all up and take it in.

And it looks like it would take days to setup the Monero wallet where it was under 24 hours with the MacBook Air. Really disappointed in the machine for just under £1500.

 

[madflava54]

I guess it’s about maximizing profits.

21.5 seems kind of small. What ended up being a $1200 purchase is climbing quickly for 27 inch with a ssd...

 

[alkar]

I have a 3TB fusion drive on my imac late 2013 and while I loved it at first, I regret it now.

Why at first ? Because at first you don’t fill up that 128 GB SSD. Also, the 3TB mechanical hdd is noisy as hell, and makes more noise than the fan (idle mode). Even if I enable sleep mode for it, it will spin up once in a while and you can hear it easily.

Also it’s painfully slow, even for a 7200 RPM.

So now, I ordered a 1 TB SSD for my iMac 2017.