Is 40GB enough for iBook?

Wow, 20 GB of music and 60 GB of pictures... excellent! And yes, accessing them wirelessly will be no problem at all, as long as you are using iTunes and iPhoto. If it isn't already, activate Bonjour and turn on Sharing in both apps.

I think it would be better to just get a bigger hard drive, the price difference is not big and it is always easier to have a copy with you at all time, that way in case of hd failure you have a quick back up of some of your files.

Macabron said:

I think it would be better to just get a bigger hard drive, the price difference is not big and it is always easier to have a copy with you at all time, that way in case of hd failure you have a quick back up of some of your files.

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If you got the cash - this is good advice. If you don't have the cash- this may still be good advice. It can be more expensive to upgrade later and with that much data already,,, just think what you're likely to have in a year from now. Good luck !

Greendice, Mac OS is notorious for taking up a good chunk of your HD. If you are eligible for educational pricing then the upgrade from a 40GB HD to a 60GB is only $45.

That's what I opted for with the iBook I'm typing on now.

If you can afford it, definitely go for the 60GB or higher.

I'd say it depends also on how long you plan on having your iBook. Not long ago, 40 GB was the standard and for most users was plenty of space. If you plan on having it for a few years at least, even if you don't see yourself using all that space now, chances are you'll need it in the future.

In my 3 years of using mac I went from 10GB to 30GB to 80GB and the 80GB is almost filled. But I understand this isn't your main mac. And sharing the music and photos using iPhoto and iTunes would not be a problem at all if you kept those files on the powermac. Here at college we share each others iTunes all the time

Might as well upgrade if you're going to keep this thing more than a year or two. And you're not going to be near your powermac all the time, are you? I mean, if you are, why even get the ibook? I'm assuming there are times that you'll be on the go, and in those cases I bet you'll want more than 40 gigs. (btw, I have a 12" ibook and the standard 40 gig drive, and that's fine for me because I can put everything I own on here and still have 12.5 GB left over. But if i had a lot more like you do, I'd want to be able to take it with me.)

I second the others above who recommend a larger hard drive. 40 gigs is probably more like 34-33 out of the box. Nothing better to future-proof your purchase than uping that HD.

GreenDice said:

Mac newbie here.

I am planning to order the standard config 12" iBook but worry about the hard drive size. If I keep all my music and pictures on my PowerMac, can I easily access them from my iBook via the wireless network? I have about 20GB of songs and 60GB of pictures.

BTW. What is the best way to keep them in sync if I do get a larger hard drive?

Thanks in advance.

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i dunno but to me its 40 GB is not enuff and it's pretty lame that i have a 30GB HD...i'll have to store all my files on my windows PC and sync...

You also have to remember that Tiger, and most likely OSs in the future, will take a few gigs of virtual memory. Keeping about 5GB free on your computers is a good idea.
I reckon external drives can be pretty cheap for their capacity, and (correct me if im wrong) laptop drives in cases don't need any power unit when connected via FireWire, so that takes a big bulk of cable out of the way.
A wireless network can be used, but if your streaming music from the PM to the iBook, remember you will need to keep the PM on all the time (not in sleep) and iTunes open. For pictures, a network can be quickly and easily made.

I concur with the belief you should get as big a harddrive as you can. I bought a 40g hd in my iBook, and I rue the day!

IMHO, you can never have too much HD space and RAM.

Things always seem to work better with more space.

Sushi

I upgraded to 60 when I bought mine, and it filled up pretty quickly. Now I´m constantly fighting to keep 10 gig free on my disk. Go for the bigger one, it´s fairly cheap upgrade IMHO

I agree if you can spare the time to wait for a BTO then definatly upgrade to the 60gb HD,

Shadow

Doesn't compusa have some special where, for $29, they'll upgrade a given component (e.g. a hard drive) of your mac laptop? If this is true, and they're willing to do it while the ibook is still within warranty, I'd certainly be tempted just to get a much larger drive (80 gb or 100gb) off of newegg and have them swap it in. You'd save money, have a larger hard drive, have the extra 40 gb drive to throw in a 2.5" enclosure, and in general, have come out on top in a lot of ways.

The other apple certified repair places in my town (seattle) that would swap out the drive charge about $70, which would still probably be worth it compared to the upgrade price. Their engineers might be more, um, reputable, or maybe experienced, than those at compusa.

The HDD is one of the single most difficult components to upgrade, so I would max it out now. 40GB may seem adequate, but I doubt that it really will be. With a 100GB HDD being offered, I'd go ahead and get that.

I have an 80GB drive on my Powerbook and it's not big enough. I'm considering taking it into a local Mac reseller to upgrade the HDD to 120 GB.

GreenDice said:

I have about 20GB of songs and 60GB of pictures.

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sounds like you need the largerest hd they offer in the iBook. MacOs will take up about 3-4GB depending on how its installed, iLife alone will take several GB and don't forget about Office and/or Adobe apps if you use them. figure on 10-15 GB for OS and applications. If you got the 40GB drive you would not even be able to store 75% of your pictures and none of your music.

HDD is something I would immediatly max out. I recommend at least 80GB.

GreenDice said:

Mac newbie here.

I am planning to order the standard config 12" iBook but worry about the hard drive size.

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40GB seems too low for anyone (imo), but if you have an iPod that can work as some extra storage space.

If you do a lot with pictures and music you'll definitely want to try and invest in a bigger drive. Plus you have to keep in mind that ideally you'll be using this for a number of years so 40GB is going to fill up very, very quickly.

Just my own thoughts on the matter.

It's been mentioned before, i too have an 80GB HD in my PB and i still carry a portable 60GB external HD. Just get a bigger HD now, you might regret it later.

devilot said:

Greendice, Mac OS is notorious for taking up a good chunk of your HD. If you are eligible for educational pricing then the upgrade from a 40GB HD to a 60GB is only $45.

That's what I opted for with the iBook I'm typing on now.

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Me too, if you're not eligible for educational pricing, it's only $50 extra to upgrade so it's not a big deal either. I wish I paid $100 for the 80GB or $200 for the 100.

Yikes, $200 for the 100GB upgrade? that's really expensive! If you don't need all your music and such with you all the time, An external Firewire drive would be much cheaper.

If you can afford it, why not upgrade Anyway the more space you have, the more you have to lose if the drive goes down. Keep in mind that it is a laptop, incase of theft, dropping, whatever - keep a good back up, or get an iPod and use it as an ext. HD.