Retina 5k fusion drive or serial??

[Ronny's]

ready to order a Retina 5K. Will I have any issue with bootcamp and windows running with the fusion drive. I read article of people having problems.

Just want to make sure of any issue. fusion drive definitely is 4x faster for what I saw, but don;t want to sacrafice functionality. I can live with a slower boot time is needed.

 

[Dubadai]

Fusion Drive all the way. Getting a mechanical disk won't only affect boot times, but overall snappiness. Get the Fusion, or SSD.

 

[Ronny's]

Fusion Drive all the way. Getting a mechanical disk won't only affect boot times, but overall snappiness. Get the Fusion, or SSD.

any issues with bootcamp and windows?

support dual monitors, correct?

 

[matreya]

If you get a Mac with a fusion drive, then windows under bootcamp will only operate from the hard drive component of the fusion drive. The fusion drive is an OS X construct, so if you want SSD speeds with bootcamp/windows, then get a Mac with pure SSD.

 

[Ronny's]

I'm fine running off the hard drive. Just want to make sure there are no outstanding issues with the fusion drive. I guess it worth the extra $350 for 1TB?

 

[matreya]

I'm fine running off the hard drive. Just want to make sure there are no outstanding issues with the fusion drive. I guess it worth the extra $350 for 1TB?

Well, it's worth it for the OS X side of things, which will run a lot snappier. I personally opted for a 512GB pure SSD, and I don't run Windows (thankfully)

 

[Ronny's]

Well, it's worth it for the OS X side of things, which will run a lot snappier. I personally opted for a 512GB pure SSD, and I don't run Windows (thankfully)

sorry for silly questions:

is it worth going for the 3.5GHz quad-core Intel Core, with radeon M290X?

The 3.3GHz quad-core Intel Core, 1TB, is $2199, vs 3.5GHz quad-core Intel Core, 1TB, M209x is $2299.

 

[matreya]

sorry for silly questions:

is it worth going for the 3.5GHz quad-core Intel Core, with radeon M290X?

The 3.3GHz quad-core Intel Core, 1TB, is $2199, vs 3.5GHz quad-core Intel Core, 1TB, M209x is $2299.

I think it is most certainly worth it

 

[Ronny's]

I think it is most certainly worth it

ok great. Plus applestore has it in store purchase. We have applestore here locally.

thankx for your help matreya....

 

[ignatius345]

I'm fine running off the hard drive. Just want to make sure there are no outstanding issues with the fusion drive. I guess it worth the extra $350 for 1TB?

I did a DIY Fusion Drive in my Mac Mini (has a regular HDD and a smaller SSD in it, which I combined through some Terminal magic I read about) and it was an amazing upgrade. It basically felt like a new computer. I can only imagine your results will be better with a stock Apple Fusion Drive.

 

[Ronny's]

I did a DIY Fusion Drive in my Mac Mini (has a regular HDD and a smaller SSD in it, which I combined through some Terminal magic I read about) and it was an amazing upgrade. It basically felt like a new computer. I can only imagine your results will be better with a stock Apple Fusion Drive.

wow I have an older mac mini, wonder if I can do the same.. do you have the link to the mac mini upgrade?

 

[ignatius345]

wow I have an older mac mini, wonder if I can do the same.. do you have the link to the mac mini upgrade?

I used this guide: http://blog.macsales.com/15617-creating-your-own-fusion-drive

I bought the hardware kit from OWC (same site as those instructions). Basically it's a little bracket and a hard drive cable to attach that second drive, plus I think a couple of other little tools. The physical hardware part took me maybe 45 minutes? It's a tight fit, but it definitely works. Once you get everything back together, it's really just a matter of running those commands throught the Terminal to get the OS to recognize the two drives as a single volume. I haven't had any issues with reliability (it's been like 2 years at least), and the machine was MUCH faster.

Also worth pointing out that if either the SSD or the HDD fails, the whole Fusion drive dies. So that's two points of possible failure instead of one. If I was making the upgrade again, I'd possibly lean toward just doing a larger SSD for simplicity and maximum possible speed.

 

[Ronny's]

great, thankx

BTW, is it really worth getting AppleCare Protection Plan?

 

[matreya]

BTW, is it really worth getting AppleCare Protection Plan?

Yes, it's cheaper than any repair will ever be on a Mac