But thats the point, they are still floating around in 2 out of 3 baseline desktop Apple products. If they weren't an option nobody would bring them up.
I currently have a pure HD in my 2012 I7 Mac Mini. It's slow compared to my fusion Retina iMac or Macbook Air. No questions about it. I would not recommend someone to purchase one in 2015.
The case here though is keep it baseline or
spend more for solid-state. The discussion of speed only disregards storage as well. I understand that SSDs provide faster read/write speeds than mechanical HDDs in both testing and the real world. I've used many SSDs, many HDDs, and my opinion is that HDDs do not provide a slow experience, just a slow
er experience than SSDs.
It's all subjective in any case. I use a HDD in my Mac Mini. It starts up in ~30 seconds and apps load quickly on a cold startup, and instantaneously after being cached with memory. I don't do anything where a SSD would truly shine, although I am aware that I would notice the difference in everyday tasks. The point is that I don't perceive my current experience as "slow."
I don't mind shaving 20 or more seconds off of my startup time or opening up Chrome or iTunes, a half or full second faster. It really doesn't matter to me. Navigating Finder is smooth, Photoshop works just fine. I'm not disappointed.
The fact that mechanical drives are still offered in these premium desktops is sad, don't get me wrong - but that doesn't change the fact that it is what it is. Within the decision of spending more money (and sacrificing storage space) - a SSD is not the most sensible option for every single user at this point in time.
The Mini that I use is from 2012 - but let's assume I were buying a 2014 model today. If I had known this would be my experience as far as speed and fluidity and I decided to pay $200+ dollars for a SSD
and lost all of that internal storage space and started to having to look to other solutions, I'd want my money back for something that I was told "is faster." It's a subjective matter due to cost effectiveness in comparison to your needs/desires even though the difference is more than noticeable both statistically and in practice.