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MBA 13": 128 or 256 SSD

  • 128 SSD

    Votes: 64 44.4%
  • 256 SSD

    Votes: 80 55.6%

  • Total voters
    144

macdemon

macrumors newbie
Aug 29, 2011
24
0
go for the 128 gb option
by the time you fill it sdd will be much cheaper
do not buy more expensive sdd at this stage, things get cheaper by the day
good luck
:D
 

tadeeb

macrumors newbie
Jan 5, 2010
7
2
Stick to 128GB and i5

This was the choice I made when I purchased my MBA 13". I have plenty of NAS drives and external drives to hold my data. I use it most of the time at home. All my videos, pics, important docs reside on External drives.
I copy when I want and then update it to my external drives in case I need to take it out of my home network.

With time SSD will be cheaper and have a look at http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/internal_storage/Mercury_Extreme_SSD_Sandforce/Solid_State_Pro/
I have purchased many drives and RAM from them for my other MBPs and no problems.
Good luck
 

nateo200

macrumors 68030
Feb 4, 2009
2,906
42
Upstate NY
128GB. Regardless your going to fill it up. Throw everything but the essentials on the external. I've found if I think I might need something on my HDD (on my 13" MBP) I'll just copy it over from the external but no sense in keeping everything on the internal drive. I have several externals I can use as "scratch disks" anyways.
 

kulimer

macrumors 6502
Aug 30, 2011
330
2
As of now..
61 votes for 256GB
55 votes for 128GB

But, I see majority of posting advocating for 128GB.

Maybe they have the money for 256GB? Don't need to argue for the 128GB? What do the 256GB owner think? Can someone explain?
 

ryan.apham

macrumors member
Original poster
May 6, 2011
67
0
As of now..
61 votes for 256GB
55 votes for 128GB

But, I see majority of posting advocating for 128GB.

Maybe they have the money for 256GB? Don't need to argue for the 128GB? What do the 256GB owner think? Can someone explain?

Greetings, mate!

I am the thread starter and I purchased my MacBook Air (13" 128 GB SSD) 4 days ago. The thread is still going on, for the benefit of those having the same problem as mine.

As to explain why the majority of the people who posted here support for the 128 GB model, whilst the poll result shows the opposite, the only logical answer that has come to my mind is that those people voting for 256 GB might not actually read my post.

Or maybe, they think 256 GB is a must, so do not bother to answer me :p.

Whatever it is, I recommend you to actually read the posts, because the difference of 54%-46% is not actually not clear. For your information, I have been moderating the poll results since last week, and the number of votes for the 128 GB model has always been in the range of 45%-52%.

Cheers,

Ryan A. Pham
 

orfeas0

macrumors 6502a
Aug 21, 2010
971
1
Athens, Greece
Greetings, mate!

I am the thread starter and I purchased my MacBook Air (13" 128 GB SSD) 4 days ago. The thread is still going on, for the benefit of those having the same problem as mine.

As to explain why the majority of the people who posted here support for the 128 GB model, whilst the poll result shows the opposite, the only logical answer that has come to my mind is that those people voting for 256 GB might not actually read my post.

Or maybe, they think 256 GB is a must, so do not bother to answer me :p.

Whatever it is, I recommend you to actually read the posts, because the difference of 54%-46% is not actually not clear. For your information, I have been moderating the poll results since last week, and the number of votes for the 128 GB model has always been in the range of 45%-52%.

Cheers,

Ryan A. Pham
So how did 128gb work out for you? Did you fill them up yet? ^^
Also, if you want a lilttle more space in your MBA without carrying an external, as someone else said: SD card slot! Put a 32/64gb sd card in there and you're good to go! Maybe you can have the windows partition in the sd card, giving your OSX Lion the full SSD capacity.
Is it possible to install windows (or linux) on an sd card anyway?
 

ryan.apham

macrumors member
Original poster
May 6, 2011
67
0
So how did 128gb work out for you? Did you fill them up yet? ^^
Also, if you want a lilttle more space in your MBA without carrying an external, as someone else said: SD card slot! Put a 32/64gb sd card in there and you're good to go! Maybe you can have the windows partition in the sd card, giving your OSX Lion the full SSD capacity.
Is it possible to install windows (or linux) on an sd card anyway?

It has been well, just because my examinations are around the corner so I have not got time to fill it up. However, I will do that soon.

I have a Lacie 1TB external HD. It is small, and its colour is grey aluminium - what a delight - it synthesises well with my MBA's colour.

I used to consider the option of an SD card, however, seeing that some part of the card will be revealed outside of the slot, firstly, it does not look fanciful anymore, and secondly, I am afraid that I might break it in half in that manner.

Whether it is possible to install other operating systems on the card - I think it should be fine, however, you have to consider the speed of the card. Most of the cards in the market nowadays have speeds of 4 or 6; the highest speed is 10, however, they are quite pricey and are not as fast and cost effective as an external HD.

I will try to see what I can do. If the SSD brings trouble, an SSD replacement from third-party companies will come in handy, though expensive.
 

ETRONICSweb

macrumors newbie
Aug 18, 2012
2
0
I am going to buy the 13" MBA as the title says, but I am torn between the two. Usually, I will try to buy the best gadget available because I think I will not regret it. However, this case is different.

The price tag here in Singapore is S$1688 (~1360 USD) for the 128 SSD and S$2088 (~1680 USD) for the 256 SSD. The price difference is more than 300 USD, but yet what you receive is just 128 GB more of internal storage.

With that 300 USD I can spend on an external hard disk of 1-2 TB and still have money left to buy a hard case and a sleeve for the MBA.

From my past experience with MBP 2008, I only used around 60-80 GB out of 320 GB HDD (documents, music, games, Adobe Suite, etc.); my movies and downloads are in the external HDD. I don't edit movies, photos, and play games that much.

Therefore, I think I can manage with the 128 SSD one.

I am not going to bootcamp or something. And though I bought an MBA for portability (but I hate the small screen of 11" so I will go with the 13" option), I don't mind bringing an external HDD along to anywhere I go.

However, one thing I'm afraid is that the files will get bigger over the years. I am planning to keep it as my primary computer for at least 2-3 years. So I don't know if 128 SSD is enough (even for important files only). I can save music and stuff on my iPad, iPhone and external HDD though. One of my friends say that 256 SSD is not even enough, so go with 128 SSD + External HDD though.

And one more thing, I have heard that the i7 causes a lot of heat and noise to the laptop, and there is not much of a difference to upgrade to i7. Is it true? I am not a power user, and I am a student, I am trying to be as economic as possible. So is it worth to upgrade to the core i7?

Edit: I have sold my MBP already, so I will need a new laptop as soon as possible. Any piece of advice is much appreciated. :D

I personally think an External Hard Drive being needed after such a short time is a pain in the btt. I JUST bought the MBA 13" 128 SSD and am already out of room after a month. I am so crossed and mad at myself that I allowed this theory that "SSD hard drive carry three time as much of a regular HDD) yeah right. I ran out of space and had to get an external the first month. In hindsight I'd rather spend the money and get the larger drive. Now I'm here and other pages trying to figure out how I can increase my space. The MBA is a Tablet built in Laptop frame, as cool as it is though, I must say. I need something portable, so I am going to sell my iMac and MBA and Tablet just to get the new Mac Book Pro.. How sad is that I have to give up so much just for one decent piece of equipment. I guess that is the price to pay for being an Apple advocate. If anyone comes up with a way to replace my MBA 128 SSD with something else let me know, the 256GB advertised for $300 is not an answer.. Stinks cause I have tons of 320GB SSD just laying around and can't even use them because Apple uses something totally different.
 

Agent-P

Contributor
Dec 5, 2009
2,502
23
The Tri-State Area
I personally think an External Hard Drive being needed after such a short time is a pain in the btt. I JUST bought the MBA 13" 128 SSD and am already out of room after a month. I am so crossed and mad at myself that I allowed this theory that "SSD hard drive carry three time as much of a regular HDD) yeah right. I ran out of space and had to get an external the first month. In hindsight I'd rather spend the money and get the larger drive. Now I'm here and other pages trying to figure out how I can increase my space. The MBA is a Tablet built in Laptop frame, as cool as it is though, I must say. I need something portable, so I am going to sell my iMac and MBA and Tablet just to get the new Mac Book Pro.. How sad is that I have to give up so much just for one decent piece of equipment. I guess that is the price to pay for being an Apple advocate. If anyone comes up with a way to replace my MBA 128 SSD with something else let me know, the 256GB advertised for $300 is not an answer.. Stinks cause I have tons of 320GB SSD just laying around and can't even use them because Apple uses something totally different.

So what I'm gathering is you need more space in your MBA? For that I see four options:

1. You could get a bigger SSD from OWC and replace the 128gb one in your MBA. The prices aren't the best right now, but I expect them to drop at some point.

2. You could get this cool little thing and pop it into your SD card slot. It doesn't add too much room as 64gb is the highest capacity microSD card I've seen, but it is still an option.

3. You can get a super slim external hard drive to carry around. The Western Digital Passport series is pretty slim and easy to throw into a bag or slip into a pocket.

4. Do what you said in your post and sell your MBA to buy a new MBA with a higher capacity SSD.
 

ryan.apham

macrumors member
Original poster
May 6, 2011
67
0
I personally think an External Hard Drive being needed after such a short time is a pain in the btt. I JUST bought the MBA 13" 128 SSD and am already out of room after a month. I am so crossed and mad at myself that I allowed this theory that "SSD hard drive carry three time as much of a regular HDD) yeah right. I ran out of space and had to get an external the first month. In hindsight I'd rather spend the money and get the larger drive. Now I'm here and other pages trying to figure out how I can increase my space. The MBA is a Tablet built in Laptop frame, as cool as it is though, I must say. I need something portable, so I am going to sell my iMac and MBA and Tablet just to get the new Mac Book Pro.. How sad is that I have to give up so much just for one decent piece of equipment. I guess that is the price to pay for being an Apple advocate. If anyone comes up with a way to replace my MBA 128 SSD with something else let me know, the 256GB advertised for $300 is not an answer.. Stinks cause I have tons of 320GB SSD just laying around and can't even use them because Apple uses something totally different.

Thanks man, but the post was made roughly a year ago. I went with the 128 GB option. You guess what? I couldn't be more happier. One year has passed and whenever I check for the available amount of space, it always says ~58 GB... Maybe the hectic schedule of high school has deprived me from using the laptop. So I actually saved that ~$300. Worth it, I guess.

I'm graduating soon, and having a gap year next year. This is when I will spend lots of time travelling and playing video games. I'm thinking of replacing my MBA with something more powerful, like the new retina MBP. My MBA lags like there's no tomorrow whenever I launch Skyrim... Even on lowest settings. So disappointing.

I checked the benchmark of the Intel 3000 card, it turns out to be a low-end graphics card. The GT 650 that comes with the retina MBP is a high-end one, which might handle modern games easily (like Battlefield 3). I'm aiming for the 500 GB 15" 2.6 Core i7 option, hope that it will serve me well in the future ;).

P/S: As the above person said, I recommend you to get a slim external HD. I own a Lacie Aluminium 2TB HD produced by Lacie, it looks beautiful (and goes really well with the MBA) and it's super slim (= 2 iPhone 4S stacking on top of each other). I'm not kidding. It has to be the most beautiful and slimmest external HD in the market, but it's quite expensive (still cheaper than the $300 difference btw the MBA 128 GB and MBA 256 GB).
 
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