The Fusion Drive available in the 2012 iMac isn’t just a so-called hybrid drive — SSD + HDD — but something quite different and, in many respects superior. Which should you buy? Let the Fusion Drive vs SSD benchmarks guide you.

Rob Art Morgan is the mad scientist at Bare Feats, a guy driven by a need to know. In this case, curiosity lead Morgan to perform Fusion Drive vs SSD vs HDD benchmarks.

Fusion Drive: 128GB SSD + 1TB HDD, +$250. Apple SSD: 768GB, +$1,300

Apple’s Fusion Drive delivers orders of magnitude better performance when moving small files vs a traditional hard drive for just $250. Fusion Drive large file performance, at least compared to Apple’s HDD options, comes in between roughly 50 to 100 percent better than spinning disks alone.

Altogether, that’s an impressive performance boost for relatively little money, which fits inside the 2012 iMac’s baby bump.

However, as shown above, a high-capacity SSD delivers better overall performance. Moreover, Morgan discovered that an external Thunderbolt SSD offers excellent, better than Fusion Drive performance.

That said, Amazon offers a nice range of external Thunderbolt SSDs. And, if you have a strong constitution and the right tools, jollyjinx tumblr has instructions on how to build your own Fusion Drive.

Nevertheless, there is no question that Apple’s Fusion Drive offers a highly attractive mix of performance and pure elegance…

What’s your take?

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