128GB or 256GB

[MH01]

If you plan to move to an SLR, where you should be shooting in RAW + JPG, 128GB will not cut it.

 

[jmazzamj]

Hi people,

Been a member since the iPhone 4 days, I need your help to decide on which macbook air to buy. This question has been asked a million times. My usage will be browsing internet (10-12 tabs), watching videos/live streams, reading PDFs, making presentation, mails, some photo enhancements (NOT editing, just correcting brightness, crop etc.) I will be saving more pictures/videos/music in future when I invest in a SLR camera. I have done some research already. I have decided to go with 8GB RAM because I might be running VM in few years time and cause its not upgradable.

I m stuck between 128GB vs 256GB. The price difference is $200 on Macmall. What I was thinking of is, buying an external HD and accessing my photos/videos when I need them cause, I will not be needing them at all times. It is just to capture the memories. I know the traditional external HD are USB 3.0 and not as quick as SSD.

How big is the gap between using external HD vs SSD in terms of everyday performance. Will I notice a big difference? Read/Write speed etc...u know what I mean.

Sorry for the long post. Thanks for your help guys.

I had a 2011 Air with a Samsung 256 GB SSD, I bought a 2012 with a 128 GB SSD for a steal and I passed the 2011 down to my sister who had a 2010, which I sold. It did not really change my usage much, I'm more than fine with a 128 GB. Given your usage I think you would be fine with a 128 GB.
On top of that I think either Trascend or OWC will release an upgarde kit for 2013/14 Airs and upgrading to an even faster 240 GB SSD would cost you less than buying it from Apple and you would also get a nice, fast (TB) and very light external to carry around.

 

[DmbShn41]

I'm thinking about this option as well. But sometimes I want to edit video which takes about 60-70 GB per project (I finish it right away, upload it to vmeo and then move it to an external drive so I only need that space for about a day). So I'm wondering, can I get screenflow to save that document right to the iCloud drive in Yosemite? Which cloud-service do you use? Or is it simpler to have a NAS?

I use a 1 TB LaCie Network Space 2 NAS that is routed through my wireless router, and accessible from internet through myNAS. I also use iCloud and Dropbox, but mostly iCloud for work documents (MS Office stuff), and email to transfer pictures. Just not feeling Dropbox.

FWIW, I occasionally download large files in the range of 10-15 GB directly to my NAS through my MBA, Internet->NAS via MBA. If space becomes an issue, I started offloading to my external drives.

 

[InsideTJ]

I have a 2012 MBA base model with 128. the SSD died about a month ago and I bought a 240 repair kit from amazon for $200 (Transcend JetDrive 520 240GB SATA III SSD Upgrade Kit for Macbook Air SSD (Mid 2012)).

I have a NAS with several terabytes, but I was always pushing the limits with 128. I don't think I'd go lower than 240/256 on a new one. now I have some breathing room.

 

[HarryWarden]

I have a 2012 MBA base model with 128. the SSD died about a month ago and I bought a 240 repair kit from amazon for $200 (Transcend JetDrive 520 240GB SATA III SSD Upgrade Kit for Macbook Air SSD (Mid 2012)).

I have a NAS with several terabytes, but I was always pushing the limits with 128. I don't think I'd go lower than 240/256 on a new one. now I have some breathing room.

It flat out died or did it experience the dreaded drive reformat that 2012 128 GB drives have been recalled for? I ask because I've never heard of a drive outright dying like you describe.