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mrscandyv

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 27, 2016
14
0
is the 128 big enough for most people, or should one go for the 256?

I have a current 256 MBA and have the chance to trade in for a 128 Rmbp ... Is the decrease in space worth the screen upgrade?
 
That is a question only you can answer since we all use our systems differently.

How much free space do you have on your current system? Do you ever use over 100 GB or so?
 
That is a question only you can answer since we all use our systems differently.

How much free space do you have on your current system? Do you ever use over 100 GB or so?
Not yet.. But I do have a lot of pictures and will keep adding to the pics and videos of my kids as the years keep going. Is an external hard drive annoying to use as a drive for all your pictures?

Internally which machine would last the longest. I literally just got rid of my 2007 mbp and it was a workhorse for me. So that's why I'm leaning towards the pro, but am scared of the lack of storage.
 
Not yet.. But I do have a lot of pictures and will keep adding to the pics and videos of my kids as the years keep going. Is an external hard drive annoying to use as a drive for all your pictures?

Internally which machine would last the longest. I literally just got rid of my 2007 mbp and it was a workhorse for me. So that's why I'm leaning towards the pro, but am scared of the lack of storage.

Personally I have never used a MacBook Air. But I used to have a 13 MBP (non-retina) and found the screen Ok. Definitely not as nice as my current rMBP, but fine and it never caused me any eye strain.

I would not worry about reliability on the 13 rMPB pro. It is pretty strong and built sturdy.

Regarding storage. You can always put one of those SD jet drives into the 13 rMBP and get back to 256 GB (or more) at a later date. That way the SD drive will be there all the time and hidden since the jet drive sits flush to the side of the rMBP. The drive is not the fastest thing in the world but fine for archiving photos and videos.
https://www.amazon.com/Transcend-Je..._UL160_SR160,160_&refRID=W1QYWJWYC7V4KK6HZB7B
 
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is the 128 big enough for most people, or should one go for the 256?

I have a current 256 MBA and have the chance to trade in for a 128 Rmbp ... Is the decrease in space worth the screen upgrade?

if there is an sdcard reader on your rmbp you can still add up to 256gb of storage via a card (without having to carry an external drive). You can save music/pictures to it. Not as fast as internal storage not a big deal depending what you put on it.


SORRY: I just noticed that JerryK also suggested this! my bad!
 
honestly 128GB is not enough. i have a MBA 11" with 128gb that i use as my secondary machine. even as a secondary laptop all that space runs out super fast.

My main computer has a 512 and its so much more comfortable. i have a bootcamp partition and i still have a BUNCH of room left over. i also have my entire iTunes library on an external 256gb sd card (which ovciously helps)

if you have a MBA from BEFORE 2013, then i think the upgrade is worth it for the gpu and battery life. but if you have a 2013 and up MBA, then i don't think that the upgrade will be worth it if you are going down in hard drive space.

If you really want a newer retina MBP, and you can only afford the 128gb version, then i recommend using a 256gb SD card and just putting all your files on there.
 
if there is an sdcard reader on your rmbp you can still add up to 256gb of storage via a card (without having to carry an external drive). You can save music/pictures to it. Not as fast as internal storage not a big deal depending what you put on it.


SORRY: I just noticed that JerryK also suggested this! my bad!
Does this jet drive go into the sd slot of the mbp?
 
So what I'm understanding is storage trumps display?

I would not say that since it is so subjective. Is there anyway you can compare the two side by side to see how much of a difference you see in the displays. I think it is pretty obvious.

And as I mentioned you can increase the storage on the rMBP pretty cheaply with the jet card. I have not used one, but people seem to like them.
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Does this jet drive go into the sd slot of the mbp?

Yes. It is sized to fit flush in the slot.
 
I would not say that since it is so subjective. Is there anyway you can compare the two side by side to see how much of a difference you see in the displays. I think it is pretty obvious.

And as I mentioned you can increase the storage on the rMBP pretty cheaply with the jet card. I have not used one, but people seem to like them.
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Yes. It is sized to fit flush in the slot.
I would not say that since it is so subjective. Is there anyway you can compare the two side by side to see how much of a difference you see in the displays. I think it is pretty obvious.

And as I mentioned you can increase the storage on the rMBP pretty cheaply with the jet card. I have not used one, but people seem to like them.
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Yes. It is sized to fit flush in the slot.
if I use the sd slot a lot to take pictures off my camera do you think it would ruin the port?
 
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This is my usage as a student. Mainly music, video and word processing. I delete away trash, my past videos and stuff like that. I have my backup done in a external hard drive
screenshot2016-07-01ac6j8s.png
 
I have a 128GB rMBP. Would I trade it in for a 256GB MBA? Hell no, there's no way. My apps, some games and a movie or two can easily fit on the drive. The rest (including tens of gigabytes of DSLR photos) I keep on my external drive that I connect twice a month to get a movie or save some files.
Snímek obrazovky 2016-07-01 v 11.34.53.png
 
I have a 128GB rMBP. Would I trade it in for a 256GB MBA? Hell no, there's no way. My apps, some games and a movie or two can easily fit on the drive. The rest (including tens of gigabytes of DSLR photos) I keep on my external drive that I connect twice a month to get a movie or save some files.View attachment 638408
May I ask why you wouldn't trade? The power of the system itself?
 
OP wrote:
"I do have a lot of pictures and will keep adding to the pics and videos of my kids as the years keep going. Is an external hard drive annoying to use as a drive for all your pictures?"

These are the kinds of things best stored on an -external- drive. They aren't accessed all that often, and when they are, transfer speeds aren't critical.

Just be aware that if you -do- keep them on a portable external drive, you must also BACK UP that drive as well. One copy is NOT ENOUGH. Two copies are ok, but three copies are better.

The suggestion above as to using the SD slot (if you have one) for a "jet drive" is a good one, as well.

OP also wrote:
"So what I'm understanding is storage trumps display?"

I don't think so.
You'll only need "more storage space" if you aren't willing to use external storage.
But you'll be looking at the display ALL THE TIME.
Seems to me, a more pleasing display will prove better to be lookin' at.
 
Of course they do, they're still selling 16 GB iPhones.

The minimum 256 on the rMB makes me cautiously optimistic this will change with the next rMBP though.

Let's hope so.

I bet the cost increase of using 256 GB modules is offset by decrease in cost of not having to stock and support the 128GB modules.
 
Depends on your needs

128GB is way to small for me. My Apps, Music and Photos are at 150 Gigs and ..... I've got 100GB in Video

512GB Minimum IMO.
 
External SSD is the way to go with a small internal SSD..... Take a look at the JetDrive, also take a look at Samsung's T3 SSD drives which come in several capacities up to 2 TB..... I have the rMBP with 512 GB SSD and in order to give the machine some breathing space I use a Samsung T1 (now discontinued) 1 TB external SSD as a "supplementary drive" (different from my external drives that I use for backups). I dump all the extra photos, documents and other stuff on to the supplementary drive so that this keeps my rMBP purring along nicely. I don't need to have instant access to most of those photos or documents, and yet they are conveniently available when I plug the external SSD into the machine. This works for me!

Back when I had an rMBP with 256 GB SSD I used the JetDrive as a supplementary drive and that worked out well, too. It was a fairly small capacity -- 64 GB -- so when I moved on to a new rMBP I decided to go a different route rather than buying a larger-capacity JetDrive. I have a large iTunes library and a bunch of other stuff that really needs to be on my main internal drive in the computer but it is surprising how much other stuff I had on my iMac (from which I was moving to the new rMBP) that was taking up space on the computer's 1 TB "platter" drive that really didn't need to be available all the time.

Bottom line: get the computer with whatever capacity SSD you can afford, and then as soon as you can get an external supplementary drive to keep all the rest of the stuff you want and need.
 
May I ask why you wouldn't trade [your 128G rMBP for a 256G MBA]? The power of the system itself?

I believe a MBA could perform just as well as my rMBP, but I wouldn't be happy with the display. As a CS student I spend a lot of time working with code and reading lecture slides. And as it's my main machine, I need it to be able to process my photos with reasonable color accuracy and comfort.
 
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