Comments from Fusion or SSD only users?

[Xairbusdriver]

I'm about to order an iMac and have questions as to the benefits of a "Fusion Drive" over the other options. Please include your hardware, if it's not showing in your on-screen Profile.

Thanks!

BTW, I need some input in the next hour...

[jchuzi]

The fusion drive works really well. My iMac cold boots in about 15 seconds. The only thing better (possibly) is a pure SSD.

Good luck! I hope you get this within the hour!  

[Xairbusdriver]

Looks like you were about 1:06 late. Too bad, I was planning on buying the person that met that challenge a new iMac of their choice! Oh well, you lose some, you win some, the rest get rained out.

It was rare to find any negative reviews/comments about those drives, once everyone agreed that SSDs would be better or at least much faster. But there is a limit to how much I'm willing to spend when it will only give me bragging rights! But it would be great to not have the whole machine grind to a halt when playing with Xcode and the iDevice Simulators!

After some more reading, searching and cipher'n, I'm thinking a 1TB Fusion drive, 16GB ram, 4.2GHz quad-core i7, 27" iMac. I plan on upgrading the ram with a couple of 16GB sticks.

[kimmer]

I'll be watching for your reviews as this may be a step for me this year. Ugh.

[krissel]

I have a Mini with a 1T fusion drive and it works great. I also have the same Mini with a 256 GB SSD (to run videos) and that really moves. Each can connect to a large TV or to a smaller LED monitor for daily use.

    2.8GHz Intel Core i5 Dual-Core
    16GB of 1600 MHz LPDDR3 RAM
    1TB Fusion Drive
    Intel Iris Graphics
    802.11ac/a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0
    Thunderbolt 2, USB 3.0, HDMI Ports
    SDXC Card Slot
    Gigabit Ethernet Port
    Audio In, Headphone Jacks
    macOS Sierra

But it has a larger SSD than the 1T drives of today. The Mini dates from 2014 and the fusion drive has 128 GB SSD while the present day 1T has only 32 GB SSD.  This article suggests getting a larger T drive to get more SSD:

https://tidbits.com/article/17383

[Xairbusdriver]

Thanks, "guys"!

There seems to be a lot of con-fusion, probably due to Apple's lack of detail reporting, about the size of the SSD portion of every Fusion drive model. It probably doesn't help that there are various reports about the portion of the SSD reserved for System files, which seems to vary according to the year and overall drive size and maybe even the iMac/mini. I think there may also be some Mbps that can have this type of drive, also. I have a local Apple Authorized repair company that may be able to help in this as they should have access to the 'horses mouth'!

I've also read of folks 'de-fusing' and even 're-fusing' these drives, so I wonder what even Disk Utility can offer on this matter. Perhaps even the System Information (Option-Apple) can shed some photons on this?

The quest continues...

[Xairbusdriver]

From "The Horses Mouth" (once it was fed and groomed in a private barn with numerous assistants):

QUOTE

Storage
Configure your iMac with a large Serial ATA hard drive, choose ultrafast SSD storage for incredible performance, or get the best combination of speed and capacity by selecting Fusion Drive.
SSD Storage
SSD storage delivers significantly improved performance compared to a traditional hard drive — speed you’ll notice when you start up your iMac, launch an app, or browse your photo library. SSD storage also uses no moving parts, so it operates silently. For maximum performance, you can configure up to 1TB of storage on the 21.5-inch iMac or up to 2TB on the 27-inch iMac.
Fusion Drive
Fusion Drive combines speedy SSD storage with a high-capacity hard drive. macOS intelligently manages what goes where, using the SSD storage for files you access frequently and keeping the rest of your digital life on the roomier hard drive. Over time, the system learns how you work, so it tailors management of Fusion Drive to work best for you. You can choose a Fusion Drive of up to 1TB on the 21.5-inch iMac and up to 3TB on the 27-inch iMac.
The 1TB Fusion Drive pairs a 1TB hard drive with 32GB of fast SSD — enough to store important macOS files and applications to ensure fast startup, near instant wake from sleep, and quick application launching, with room left over for your most frequently used files and apps. The 2TB and 3TB Fusion Drives pair a larger hard drive with 128GB of fast SSD storage, providing even more space for your most frequently used files. For the best performance, iMac systems with 32GB or more of memory should be configured with a 2TB or larger Fusion Drive or all-SSD storage.

The 2TB Fusions are a $200 choice, 3TB adds $300.

Other sites, of varying years, indicate that Apple seems to reserve more of the SSD space for its own use than might be desired. One reason was to store the image created at Shutdown which could be too large on a higher speced Mac. That would result in the HD being used and return to the slower bootups of non-SSD machines.

I am also told that the 21" models use 2.5 in drives which are 5400 rpm. The 27" use 3.5, 7200 models (apparently Seagate). I'm still researching this info...

[jchuzi]

Actually, I remembered one peculiarity of the fusion drive (mine, at least). Occasionally, clicking the mouse or pressing a key will not wake the computer. If that happens, push and release the power button.

[Xairbusdriver]

I just keep a smallish cup of water on the desk for those kinds of problems... Do be careful if you have a cat, however!

[Paddy]

I splurged and configured my 2014 27" iMac with a 1TB SSD - no regrets on that at all. I have an SSD in my MBP too, so have become rather accustomed to the speed. So much so that I bought a teeny weeny little 1TB Samsung external drive just for my photos (too many of those to keep on either onboard SSD, I'm afraid). The only drawback of an SSD is storage capacity. It gets expensive.