Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iMac Fusion Drive Or SSD
- Thread starter Keenanryan
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
same here. If getting an SSD should it be a small 256 or 512 and store photos etc on an external? or bite the giant bullet and go for a 1TB SSD. How would the external feel in normal photo editing or everyday use?.Would it be better to upgrade the ram to 16gb?
It
Depends
on
How
You
Are
Going
to
Use
It.
There are hundreds of threads on this subject. Good idea to read some of them.
Depends
on
How
You
Are
Going
to
Use
It.
There are hundreds of threads on this subject. Good idea to read some of them.
If you are going with SSD, get a 1TB one. I bought an iMac with a 2TB Fusion drive, because Apple wants two much for even a 1TB SSD, and I need at least 2TB of space on the internal drive. What I will do when the warranty is over is to replace the Fusion drive with a 2TB SSD. But for now the Fusion drive is fine with me. I did the same with my 2011 iMac's 2TB HD (replaced with a 1TB SSD for a little over $100.00). Still using it for photo editing.
Minimums: 21.5" for light use, get a 256SSD. 27" get a 512SSD unless you know you need more, then get more if you can afford it, or more later externally if that isn't a problem for you technically or you don't mind a little more effort in managing data.
Always go for the SSD. Its faster. The Fusion drive was a good idea years ago but its time is done. An SSD makes the iMac lightning fast.
As someone said, it depends what you want to do with it.
In general, 256GB should be OK if you just want system/apps and selected, commonly-used files on the SSD - which is where most of the benefit comes from. More than enough for 'office productivity' use or browsing, even if you install a few bulky apps such as XCode, Logic etc. then you should still have about half of the space free for your 'work in progress'. I'd go for 512GB or more if you (e.g.) want to run multiple Virtual Machines or are doing video work - but serious video work is soon going to eat even 3TB of space so you'd probably want to work off fast TB3/USB3 external drives anyway.
With a sealed machine such as an iMac (where the drive goes with the machine if it has to go in for repair) I think there's a good argument for keeping image/music/video and most of your documents on an external or NAS (where they can be shared by other devices whether or not your iMac is on) anyway. Indulging in a 1TB SSD (guilty) and keeping everything in one place is convenient but not necessarily best practice.
Cheap out? 512Gb of internal storage is equivalent to being cheap when compared to 2TB of internal storage that a Fusion drive brings, not the other way around. It’s thanks to people like you spreading false information about Fusion drives being bad etc without having any sense of what it’s like to use an iMac equipped with one.
@mikehalloran said it well.
It depends on how you use it. If you need a lot of storage, go with the fusion drive. If speed is more important than storage (and money), get the SSD.
I bought a i9 with the 2 tb fusion drive because I have a large iTunes library and a lot of photos and videos, and prefer to keep them on my main computer. Other people may use external storage, whether physical or cloud; I prefer not to. The importance of the speed difference is personal - I think the fusion drive is fine.
Apple's prices for SSD storage are, quite frankly, absurd. It would make more sense to buy an iMac with a fusion drive and then upgrade the drive with a SSD on your own.
I would spring for the 1TB if I were you. 1TB is the sweet spot size. Better for resale value too. My late 2012 iMac has a 1TB SSD and an 8TB HDD.