[Macworld]

Post your comments for Lab Tested: The Mac mini, maximized with Fusion Drive here

[DCJ001]

Jim Galbraith said:

"The BTO Mac mini’s PCMark productivity test score (using VMWare Fusion) was three times higher than the high-end standard configuration’s score."

So you're saying that the first configuration's score was four times the score of the second configuration. Is that right?

Thanks.

[DCJ001]

Jim Galbraith said:

"The BTO Mac mini’s PCMark productivity test score (using VMWare Fusion) was three times higher than the high-end standard configuration’s score."

So you're saying that the first configuration's score was four times the score of the second configuration. Is that right?

Thanks.

[DCJ001]

Sorry about the double posr.

[RickSheaffer]

If you don't need quite that much storage, you would be better off just buying a decent sized SSD or two. You spent $100 through Apple to upgrade to 8GB of RAM. Kingston sells 8GB for around $40 (16GB is around $82). Take that $60+$300 for the fusion drive and you have $360 to work with. You can get two OCZ Vertex 4 256GB drives for $380 at Amazon. One thing I like about SSD only systems is that they are super quiet. If you keep a traditional hard drive in the mix you lose that advantage.

[icerabbit]

RickSheaffer, on 09 November 2012 - 05:46 AM, said:

If you don't need quite that much storage, you would be better off just buying a decent sized SSD or two. You spent $100 through Apple to upgrade to 8GB of RAM. Kingston sells 8GB for around $40 (16GB is around $82). Take that $60+$300 for the fusion drive and you have $360 to work with. You can get two OCZ Vertex 4 256GB drives for $380 at Amazon. One thing I like about SSD only systems is that they are super quiet. If you keep a traditional hard drive in the mix you lose that advantage.

I had already decided to upgrade the RAM & add an SSD to my new mini i7, but as of late contemplated putting two SSD in and taking the internal drive for external backup and/or bulk storage.

How long have you had your dual SSD mini?
Does the OCZ Vertex pan out favorably against competing SSDs?

I haven't looked closely at specs, and was leaning towards some sold by OWC for convenience and the guaranteed compatibility.

[spanky]

I just helped someone upgrade their 2011 mini with a 256GB SSD and a 2TB platter drive. By purchasing the second hard drive kit from OWC and the hard drives from newegg, he only spent about $460 for parts. If you add the 16GB RAM upgrade from earlier this year, the total is around $540. This system screams and every added component is double the capacity offered by Apple for around the same price.
If you can upgrade the parts yourself, don't buy Apple, shop around.

[talmy]

I question this review. How much of the drive was being used? If OS X plus the test suite all fits in 128GB then the HDD is probably never used. Load the system with 1/2TB of files and *then* run the test suite.

[philsmith]

I like reading these lab report reviews, but every time I come across the term "discreet" graphics you lose all credibility. If you can't even bother to use the correct word, how do I know you got that hard math stuff right?

[sg9]

correction:
2012 BTO Mac mini: Individual application scores, Aperture Import
shouldn't the mac mini's score of 50.9 be in bold instead of the retina mbp score of 51.4?

[talmy]

Quote

I like reading these lab report reviews, but every time I come across the term "discreet" graphics you lose all credibility.

They are just trying to say it's not good for viewing porn. :-)

[RickSheaffer]

Quote

RickSheaffer said
If you don't need quite that much storage, you would be better off just buying a decent sized SSD or two. You spent $100 through Apple to upgrade to 8GB of RAM. Kingston sells 8GB for around $40 (16GB is around $82). Take that $60+$300 for the fusion drive and you have $360 to work with. You can get two OCZ Vertex 4 256GB drives for $380 at Amazon. One thing I like about SSD only systems is that they are super quiet. If you keep a traditional hard drive in the mix you lose that advantage. I had already decided to upgrade the RAM & add an SSD to my new mini i7, but as of late contemplated putting two SSD in and taking the internal drive for external backup and/or bulk storage. How long have you had your dual SSD mini? Does the OCZ Vertex pan out favorably against competing SSDs? I haven't looked closely at specs, and was leaning towards some sold by OWC for convenience and the guaranteed compatibility.

I don't have a dual SSD mini, I was just suggesting that as a DIY option.

I do have a 2012 13" MBP which is virtually the same thing. I upgraded the 500GB hard drive with a 256GB OCZ Vertex 4. It is crazy fast. The Vertex 4 uses OCZ's own Indilinx controller. There were a couple of issues early on (the SSD wouldn't support sleep) but they have been fixed in firmware and it runs great. Since getting an SSD, I don't even want to deal with traditional hard drives anymore. Apple's Fusion drive is really just a stepping stone until SSD's catch up to HDD in size and price. My point is that if you don't need the 1TB, get a smaller SSD or two and enjoy your 100% solid state machine.

[icerabbit]

RickSheaffer, on 09 November 2012 - 08:54 AM, said:

Quote

RickSheaffer said
If you don't need quite that much storage, you would be better off just buying a decent sized SSD or two. You spent $100 through Apple to upgrade to 8GB of RAM. Kingston sells 8GB for around $40 (16GB is around $82). Take that $60+$300 for the fusion drive and you have $360 to work with. You can get two OCZ Vertex 4 256GB drives for $380 at Amazon. One thing I like about SSD only systems is that they are super quiet. If you keep a traditional hard drive in the mix you lose that advantage. I had already decided to upgrade the RAM & add an SSD to my new mini i7, but as of late contemplated putting two SSD in and taking the internal drive for external backup and/or bulk storage. How long have you had your dual SSD mini? Does the OCZ Vertex pan out favorably against competing SSDs? I haven't looked closely at specs, and was leaning towards some sold by OWC for convenience and the guaranteed compatibility.

I don't have a dual SSD mini, I was just suggesting that as a DIY option.

I do have a 2012 13" MBP which is virtually the same thing. I upgraded the 500GB hard drive with a 256GB OCZ Vertex 4. It is crazy fast. The Vertex 4 uses OCZ's own Indilinx controller. There were a couple of issues early on (the SSD wouldn't support sleep) but they have been fixed in firmware and it runs great. Since getting an SSD, I don't even want to deal with traditional hard drives anymore. Apple's Fusion drive is really just a stepping stone until SSD's catch up to HDD in size and price. My point is that if you don't need the 1TB, get a smaller SSD or two and enjoy your 100% solid state machine.

Thanks. I'm leaning SSD internally only for this mini. Thought maybe 128 GB primary and 256 secondary, while I've got it open. That way backups and secondary storage can be just as fast. The way things look probably should do dual 256s.

[RobLewis]

It's all over the Net now that "Fusion Drive" capability is built into OS X and can be enabled in Terminal. One reference: http://jollyjinx.tumblr.com. Just needs a couple of disk drives, presumably one of them solid state.

I have no idea how stable or reliable it is. Proceed at your own risk.