Internal fusion + external SSD?

[mchoffa]

I'm trying to figure out a good setup for my needs. I think the fusion is going to be my best option due to price for internal, as I can see Apple charging an arm and a leg for a big SSD just like they do on MBP ($900 to go from a 500GB hard drive to a 512 GB SSD?!). So I'm thinking that the internal fusion drive would be best and cost effective option to keep the OS running as fast as possible as well as all of my applications and other files that get accessed often.

So outside of that, I was considering an external enclosure (USB3 or thunderbolt) to put a big SSD into for my Aperture library, photoshop scratch disk, video library, etc. ($385 for a 512 SSD + $20 for an enclosure)

Photoshop/Illustrator is used daily for work, Aperture is used weekly, video editing is done every few months for fun. Currently I've got 150GB of photos, 150GB of videos and the remaining 130GB I'm using is between music, work files, OS, apps, etc. I think if Apple offered the 256GB SSD option (and cheap enough) I'd consider that.

Anyone think this setup would be a good option or would someone recommend a different route for all of my stuff and what I use?

 

[gnasher729]

I'm trying to figure out a good setup for my needs. I think the fusion is going to be my best option due to price for internal, as I can see Apple charging an arm and a leg for a big SSD just like they do on MBP ($900 to go from a 500GB hard drive to a 512 GB SSD?!). So I'm thinking that the internal fusion drive would be best and cost effective option to keep the OS running as fast as possible as well as all of my applications and other files that get accessed often.

So outside of that, I was considering an external enclosure (USB3 or thunderbolt) to put a big SSD into for my Aperture library, photoshop scratch disk, video library, etc. ($385 for a 512 SSD + $20 for an enclosure)

Photoshop/Illustrator is used daily for work, Aperture is used weekly, video editing is done every few months for fun. Currently I've got 150GB of photos, 150GB of videos and the remaining 130GB I'm using is between music, work files, OS, apps, etc. I think if Apple offered the 256GB SSD option (and cheap enough) I'd consider that.

Anyone think this setup would be a good option or would someone recommend a different route for all of my stuff and what I use?

You could have mentioned what Mac you are using or are planning to use. Any of the MacBook Pro's without Retina, for example, you can remove the optical drive, replace it with SSD any size you like, add a 1 TB hard drive, and turn it into a Fusion drive. Likewise with the Mac Mini.

If you are getting a 27" iMac, I'd go for the 3TB drive because the bigger the drive, the faster it is (and the bigger it is as well ), and check out the performance before I spend lots of money on an external drive.

It seems we haven't heard from any heavy photoshop users, but Fusion Drive is clever and can put _parts_ of files on the SSD drive, so that might help a lot with Aperture.

 

[mchoffa]

sorry, in a new iMac... trying to make my decisions now so I can order as soon as they're available

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and it's not like I access ALL of the 34,000 photos I have all the time, but when I do, I'd like it to be a lot snappier than it is now (2008 24" iMac)