Fusion Drive owners & Retina owners

[Atty]

Have you been impressed with the overall speed increase you've gotten?

I'm on the edge between a 27'' w/ fusion drive (loaded, $2599 spec) or a Macbook Air/Retina so I'm solid state only. The only problem is the huge price premium in SSD tech right now which I'll feel a lot with a 15'' Retina.

Anyway, thoughts on the Fusion Drive for owners of one?

E: Who here has gone for a Retina and gotten the 256? Do you find you've run out of storage space? I'm considering going for the 512 but I'm not sure. I'm also wondering if I need to worry about going for the bumped up i7 (the $100 upgrade to the 2.7 vs the 2.4) is worth it. I know I probably don't need it but for $100 it may be work future proofing.

Also considering going for 16GB of RAM. I'm thinking the $2799 model is all I need, 2.7/512/16GB. Ugh. Hard decisions.

 

[Syrome]

Atty, I think the Fusion Drive is actually very good. The speeds are not as good as SSD speeds but they are not bad by any means. I personally would go with the Retina because all SSD is just better IMHO. I have a 15in Retina 2.8 16GB RAM 768 SSD and it is just much better for the price value as compared to the maxed out iMac. I compared the 2 models and like I stated, for the price value, it is much better to get the Retina.

 

[Kaido]

Anandtech just did an article on it:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6679/a-month-with-apples-fusion-drive

I've only played with it on a friend's new iMac. It seemed zippier than a regular hard drive, but not as fast as a dedicated SSD. If you're going with a desktop model, I'd definitely consider the Fusion drive because you can get more hard drive space onboard along with better performance, but if you're going laptop, I always recommend SSD's since they get less wear & tear from being moved around from place to place in the laptop like hard drives do.

 

[Atty]

My only problem is buying with replacing my Macbook Pro (2008 15'') with a Retina is that I rarely take it anywhere and that makes me feel odd when paying a premium for a laptop. Especially when I have my iPhone and iPad. Sigh.

A true first world problem, I can't decide between a 27'' piece of art and engineering or a 15'' hyper-performance-laptop. What has my life come to. 🙁

If only Apple offered a truly all SSD option for the iMac that wasn't $1,300. A 256/512 SSD only option wold have been fantastic.

 

[Syrome]

Atty, I completely understand your logic as I went thru the EXACT process. I has an iPhone and ipad so why do I need to pay a premium price for a laptop when I can get a desktop? Well te rMBP is like a desktop replacement while still being portable. Plus like I stated before, when you add up specs and price comparing the 2, the retina just make more sense.

 

[Atty]

Atty, I completely understand your logic as I went thru the EXACT process. I has an iPhone and ipad so why do I need to pay a premium price for a laptop when I can get a desktop? Well te rMBP is like a desktop replacement while still being portable. Plus like I stated before, when you add up specs and price comparing the 2, the retina just make more sense.

True. I'm even thinking now that I can get the rMBP and add a next generation thunderbolt display (assuming they update them at some point) if I really wanted the same screen real estate as the 27'' iMac.

 

[KeithP]

The only problem is the huge price premium in SSD tech right now which I'll feel a lot with a 15'' Retina.

The Crucial/Micron announcement of a 960GB SSD for under $600 avaible Q1 2013 has the potential to push SSD prices down quite a bit. Of course, buying from Apple will probably mean the prices we see from them won't be coming down quite as fast.

What about just buying an SSD for your current machine to extend its life a bit and let the SSD market mature for another year?

Normally I don't recommend putting off computer purchases, if you need it, buy it. However some of Apple's hardware is difficult to upgrade so your ability to take advantage of the changes in SSD prices and capacities could be limited especially since machines like the rMBP use a less common SSD form factor.

Just a thought....don't mean to derail the thread.

-KeithP

 

[Atty]

KeithP - Good advice. Though, I've been ready for a laptop upgrade for quite some time. This era Macbook Pro wasn't good enough for me brand new (lack of resolution, though I needed a laptop and at the time, this was absolutely the best you could get).

I use Retina and new iMac's every day. Friends have them, co-workers, family, etc. I'm spoiled that I know what I'm missing out on with this older computer. Both in terms of raw power and performance and design. I have the money and I'm ready to buy, I just need to figure out what I really want.

Thanks for the advice everyone. Time to weigh the options. 🙁

 

[Atty]

Who here has gone for a Retina and gotten the 256? Do you find you've run out of storage space? I'm considering going for the 512 but I'm not sure. I'm also wondering if I need to worry about going for the bumped up i7 (the $100 upgrade to the 2.7 vs the 2.4) is worth it. I know I probably don't need it but for $100 it may be work future proofing.

Also considering going for 16GB of RAM. I'm thinking the $2799 model is all I need, 2.7/512/16GB. Ugh. Hard decisions.

I'm considering going all out because I've kept my current computer 5 years.

 

[Tyranicus]

I got the 768GB SSD for my 15" Retina because I didn't want to worry about space down the road. That said, 512GB is probably enough.

 

[Atty]

What resolution do you run it in? Scaled for retina looks great but I really want the extra resolution from the 1680x or 1920x options.

 

[Printer Bandit]

DaisyDisk is a good program ($9) to find and delete large files on your drive.

It helped my clear about 80GB on my 256GB SSD, which is huge.

 

[Atty]

DaisyDisk is a good program ($9) to find and delete large files on your drive.

It helped my clear about 80GB on my 256GB SSD, which is huge.

I've had some success with grand perspective. It gives you blocks to represent the size of folders or data on your drive. It's free too. I used it to clear 20GB or so off my current 200GB drive.

 

[Syrome]

Atty, I would say go with the 2799 model as this gives you literally everything you need. 2.7 is great, 16GB RAM is awesome, and 512 GB SSD is plenty of space honestly.

 

[Tyranicus]

What resolution do you run it in? Scaled for retina looks great but I really want the extra resolution from the 1680x or 1920x options.

I run mine at 1680x1050. This is still scaled for retina. It actually scales it to 3360x2100 then back down to 2880x1800. It still looks great, and I get more screen real estate than I would get with 1440x900. Some people have mentioned UI slowness, but I have not seen that at all. Everything runs smoothly and looks beautiful.

 

[Atty]

Atty, I would say go with the 2799 model as this gives you literally everything you need. 2.7 is great, 16GB RAM is awesome, and 512 GB SSD is plenty of space honestly.

I am thinking that is the way I will go. I used one yesterday for a while on the highest scaled resolution and it was great. The only problem is I keep using 27'' iMac's and loving the amount of screen real estate. Though, at my age and life style, having a desktop isn't feasible.

 

[dawks]

I got the 128gig SSD and I just work within that. I use a USB drive if I need extra storage. I keep my music and pictures on my desktop so that makes it easier.

One downside to the Retina MBP is that the ram is soldered on so you need to choose the ram now, no chance of upgrading later. 8gigs is PLENTY for most work, unless you're doing crazy photoshop and/or running several VM's.

You can get great 24" external displays for $200-400 that will work great with the Macbook. I'd avoid a Cinema display for now since they are so expensive.

I'm dying to see a 27" Cinema display thats 'retina' resolution. Imagine the power you'd need to push that many pixels.

 

[gus6464]

I rolled my own Fusion Drive on my mac mini and so far so good. I haven't really felt a speed penalty.

 

[joshhedge]

I have about 30GB of space left on my 256GB rPro. Must invest in an external TB drive but they're so damn expensive!

SSDs are definitely worth the price you pay for them, but, the performance drop from going from an SSD to the Fusion Drive for the greatly increased drive space is negligible in my opinion.

 

[Atty]

Purchased the $2,799 15'' Macbook Pro with Retina. 2.7Ghz i7, 512 SSD, and 16GB of RAM. Getting my old Macbook Pro cleared off and ready to sell.

 

[Syrome]

Good work Atty! I have the exact same model and I can tell you man it is very much worth the money. I also though used the school discount and saved $200 plus I also ordered mine to my friends house in New Hampshire where there is no Sales Tax. 🙂 SO in total I actually saved about 380 dollars. In my case, it was VERY well worth it. But like I said man, it is a gorgeous piece of machinery and you will not regret your purchase.

 

[Atty]

Good work Atty! I have the exact same model and I can tell you man it is very much worth the money. I also though used the school discount and saved $200 plus I also ordered mine to my friends house in New Hampshire where there is no Sales Tax. 🙂 SO in total I actually saved about 380 dollars. In my case, it was VERY well worth it. But like I said man, it is a gorgeous piece of machinery and you will not regret your purchase.

Thanks. I didn't pay close to retail price either. Everyone always rants on about how Apple is so expensive but I've never seen a company with more options to get discounts. Student, military, corporate, state, etc. Even the supermarket I worked at when I was a teenager got a discount at Apple. Crazy.

 

[Syrome]

Thanks. I didn't pay close to retail price either. Everyone always rants on about how Apple is so expensive but I've never seen a company with more options to get discounts. Student, military, corporate, state, etc. Even the supermarket I worked at when I was a teenager got a discount at Apple. Crazy.

I completely agree. People always complain about Apple pricing, and to some extent, I agree because some of their products are just too expensive, the base 13in retina when it came out was absolutely not worth it especially considering there was no discrete GPU. But nonetheless, Apple still offers many discounts like military, school, work environments, education, etc. In my eyes, it is a great investment. I fully expect this laptop to last me more than 3 years EASILY.

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

I've had some success with grand perspective. It gives you blocks to represent the size of folders or data on your drive. It's free too. I used it to clear 20GB or so off my current 200GB drive.

Disk Inventory X is good too. And it's free. Daisy Disk looks really good but then again it's $9.

 

[Syrome]

Disk Inventory X is good too. And it's free. Daisy Disk looks really good but then again it's $9.

Disk Inventory X is really good. I have used it previously and it works very well for me. Daisy Disk is better, but again 9 dollars I would just rather stick with Disk Inventory X.