Real world speed difference between fusion and SSD, Will I notice the difference?

[yus]

as above, i'm talking about normal usage, opening programmes, booting up, shutting down etc

Fusion read speeds seem to be around the 700mb mark and I'm sure I've read somewhere you can't even tell the difference between 300mb read and 500mb read so just wondering

I know there will be a difference moving larger files

currently got a 2011 imac and have no space on the 1TB hdd at the mo, always been full

 

[Rud3Bwoy]

as above, i'm talking about normal usage, opening programmes, booting up, shutting down etc

Fusion read speeds seem to be around the 700mb mark and I'm sure I've read somewhere you can't even tell the difference between 300mb read and 500mb read so just wondering

I know there will be a difference moving larger files

currently got a 2011 imac and have no space on the 1TB hdd at the mo, always been full

yeah u can tell,well i could playing with a fusion and a i5 compared to my i7/ssd

 

[macmee]

I would say you'd most likely notice the difference when turning the device on and dealing with Finder the most (i.e. "all my files" might be slower, doing lots of file manipulation could be slower).

Here's a good thread on SSD vs fusion drives: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1669464/

Very brief points from it are:
* SSD is nice because it has no moving parts
* SSD is faster
* Fusion Drive is obviously more space for the buck
* Fusion Drive is slower than an SSD but still faster than a traditional HDD
* Fusion Drive has some problems with bootcamp which SSDs do not

personal suggestion: SSD - faster, and I like having no moving parts in my iMac.

 

[forg0t]

If you intend to fill up the fusion drive you will definitely see a difference. The more you fill up a standard hard disk, the slower it gets to accessing the files. At first you may not see a difference but in the end you will.

 

[yus]

Thanks guys will probably get the SSD and an external disk drive by the looks of things then

 

[DerekS]

I had Fusion, did not like.

Get the SSD. When you boot it you will know where the extra money went.

 

[gnasher729]

Thanks guys will probably get the SSD and an external disk drive by the looks of things then

You asked "will I notice the difference". Of course you will. But you are jumping to the totally wrong conclusion. SSD and external drive means you will be forever shuffling files around, while a Fusion drive does it for you. _And_ the external drive is noticeably slower than the Fusion drive, on top of the work that you have to do instead of letting your computer do it.

A motorbike is a lot faster than a car. So you decide to buy a motorbike instead of a car, and a trailer that you pull for your wife and children to sit in.

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I had Fusion, did not like.

Get the SSD. When you boot it you will know where the extra money went.

How often do you boot?

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If you intend to fill up the fusion drive you will definitely see a difference. The more you fill up a standard hard disk, the slower it gets to accessing the files. At first you may not see a difference but in the end you will.

And at the point where a Fusion drive gets full, the SSD drive gets _really_ expensive.

 

[shaunp]

Fusion will just add complexity and it means there's more to go wrong. Just get an SSD and have done with it. They are much cheaper than they used to be. If you need a lot of storage you'd be better off using a smallish SSD for the OS and Apps and keeping your data on an external array like the Pegasus R4