Likely New Mac User 21.5" - Fusion Drive Speed

[Goody13]

Hi. I'm new to the forum and hope I can pick the brains of the experts.

I'm looking at taking the plunge with a Mac for the first time. I think the 27" may be a bit large so I'm looking at the 21.5" 4K. The only thing I will need power for is photo editing.

I would use Canon's Digital Photo Professional to edit raw files ( no business use) and may get Lightroom at some point. The raw files are around 20MB. I also plan to scan old prints and negatives and do minor adjustments to them.

Other than that it will be used for general surfing and e-mail. No gaming and if I did edit any video it would be minor editing of short phone or camera clips.

I am aware the HDD is only 5,400 rpm so is relatively slow so am looking at upgrade options.

For an extra £400 I can either get a 512GB SSD, and keep the RAM at 8GB, or a 2TB fusion drive and upgrade the RAM to 16GB.

Whilst I am happy to pay for quality and believe in buying the best I can afford, there is only so much I can justify for a computer.

I am inclined to think the fusion drive and RAM upgrade would futureproof me for a few years but would welcome thoughts.

In addition, I have been searching for the answer to this without success; would the 2TB fusion drive in the 21.5" be 5,400 rpm or the faster 7,200 drive, as I believe this would make quite a difference?

 

[IngerMan]

I recently purchased a 27" with 2TB Fusion. I have read a lot of discussion of people preferring the SSD over turn disk but I have not read much on people that own a Fusion drive and how satisfied they are.

For me I am a light user so this thing is plenty fast. I am only using 250 GB of storage and probably never get up to 1TB on this machine. But as far as speed goes it feels like a SSD to me compared to my 2007 iMac.

I have ran the disk speed test a few times, it varies on the speed but seems to average over 500 MBs

I would like to hear from Fusion Drive owners and how satisfied they are with it.

 

[tubeexperience]

Get a Samsung 850 EVO and install it yourself: save a lot of money.

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iMac+Intel+21.5-Inch+EMC+2805+Hard+Drive+Replacement/27886

 

[Goody13]

Thanks. The 27" has a 7,200 HDD anyway so the fusion will spin at the same speed. I can't find out, however, whether upgrading the 5,400 HDD in the 21.5" to a fusion will get you a 7,200 fusion drive. If it does, I believe that will be the best option.

Of course, I could always wait and see what comes along on September/October ...
[doublepost=1467403555][/doublepost]

Get a Samsung 850 EVO and install it yourself: save a lot of money.

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iMac+Intel+21.5-Inch+EMC+2805+Hard+Drive+Replacement/27886

I think the thought of doing that would scare me a little. Maybe on an old machine, but wouldn't fancy doing it on one in warranty.