iMac 2019 Fusion Drive or SSD

[philbobaggins7]

Hello,

I'm currently in the market for a new 27" 2019 iMac. I was wondering which 27" 2019 iMac storage I should buy. The default is a 1TB Fusion drive, which I think may be sufficient for my needs. I could pay $100 more for an SSD, but I'm not sure if it is worth it. I have an external drive for my files. All I will do on the iMac is browse the web and listen to Apple Music on iTunes. I might use Discord here and there. I do not do any video or photo editing, just a casual user. Would the Fusion drive be fast enough for boot times and load up Chrome and iTunes? Thank you for your help.

 

[Fishrrman]

GET THE SSD.
It will become one of the best computer-buying choices you will EVER make.

The Mac will boot faster, run faster, and stay that way for longer.

The 512gb size represents "the best value" right now.
But even 256gb will do the job -- particularly if you're already using external storage for stuff that really doesn't need to be kept on the internal drive.

 

[Roxy.music]

Hello,

I'm currently in the market for a new 27" 2019 iMac. I was wondering which 27" 2019 iMac storage I should buy. The default is a 1TB Fusion drive, which I think maybe sufficient for my needs. I could pay $100 more for an SSD, but I'm not sure if it is worth it. I have an external drive for my files. All I will do on the iMac is browse the web and listen to Apple Music on iTunes. I might use Discord here and there. I do not do any video or photo editing, just a casual user. Would the Fusion drive be fast enough for boot times and load up Chrome and iTunes? Thank you for your help.

Why are they still using fusion drives? I understand that the SSD portion is as low as 32gb? And why were they still using HDD drives in 2017? They should have the option of a 2m Nvme SSD.
And why only 8gb in the 21 .5 modals? At least you can upgrade the ram on the 27.

 

[SkiHound2]

At least upgrade to the 2gb fusion which has a considerably larger ssd. They seem to work well for most day to day tasks. But, it's an old technology with a lot more that can go wrong. And the SSD interface used in the current Apple computers is really fast. I'd say get an SSD if it's at all within your budget.

 

[hobowankenobi]

I would never buy a new Mac now with anything but SSD. Apple keeps optimizing for SSD, especially since APFS. We should expect this to continue. HD for external storage? Sure. But not for internal/boot drive.

Not only for the performance...but for longest usable life. A failing hard drive 3-5 years into a Mac's life is not easy or cheap to replace.

 

[NewUsername]

I had an HDD, Fusion Drive and SSD. HDD is completely unworkable. Fusion Drive is OK, but you will have regular slowdowns if the data you're accessing is outside of the 32GB SSD. I found iTunes (now: the Music app) quite slow on my Fusion Drive. Not undoable, but not great. Same with Photos, large PDF files, etc. It's all doable, but an SSD is vastly superior. Also, HDDs tend to fail fairly often, an SSD is much more reliable. So choose an SSD. If 256GB is not enough, you can always get an external drive for the data.

You might want to wait for an iMac update, it is supposed to arrive this year, though you never know with Apple. The current iMacs, however, are already over one year old and I would say somewhat outdated.