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128GB Storage space - issue?

G

grummor

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 19, 2014
6
0
Hi,

I've never owned a macbook before but am in the market for one atm :). I want to get one that I'll use to play the up coming Elder Scrolls Online game, however I'm a bit worried about the storage space on it. It has been announced that ESO will require a whopping 60gb install size.

When apple say 128GB storage, does that mean 128gb flat, or does like the OS and everything that goes into making the laptop run take up space from that? Cause if so I defiantly have a worry on my hands...

Even if this doesn't occur, once I installed the 60GB I'll only be left with 68, opinions on whether this will be sufficient for general use?
 
You will not get a full 128GB. The OS is going to take some of the initial drive up. It will take a few GB's (5-6), not a lot though. I would say if you are already concerned though, then you better consider the 256GB. No use in worrying right from the start.
 
Go with 256 minimum. Once you add in musics, pictures, and other programs or games, it add up pretty quick. I tried to control my usage for a long time on 128, its doable, but very difficult and usually without games, a big one like that will chew through free space in no time. I'm at 100GB with WoW and simcity and my very light usual work load, haven't even loaded up all my CDs yet.

You also can't upgrade the drive in a cost effective maner later assuming its even possible with aftermarket parts.
 
You may not this this is a relevant reply, but I got a new rMBP 15" with 500gb storage a few weeks back. I passed the 128gb waterline within a day and haven't really put that much stuff on it. My advice to anyone regarding capacity planning has always been get the maximum amount of storage (RAM, HDD, SSD) that you can afford. You'd rather have too much than too little.
 
My suggestion would be to you, if you are going to want to be running TESO, spend the money on a gaming laptop, not a macbook air/macbook pro, the performance will be terrible once the game maxes out the APU/gpu and the heat throttling begins.

A proper PC laptop will have better thermal controls (Most macbooks are run to thermal tolerance for everyday use, not long term, mid-high end gaming), Also with a Windows Laptop you will get better OS support for the game, better drivers, and the ability to swap out the HDD for a larger one when prices fall and if you have a failure.

For a lightweight travel machine, for internet access, word processing and spreadsheets + some other tools, the air is superb, for gaming, id get an Alienware or pretty much any other Windows Laptop with a discrete GPU.

(I do the same at the desktop level, my productivity machine is an iMac, my gaming rig is SLI-watercooled beasty..(STEAM in home sharing is awesome BTW))
 
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I didn't have any problems with 128 GB SSD until I started installing games (I have had a lot of free time lately :D). Steam games can take up anywhere from 5 to 20 GB of space so I have to uninstall them after I'm done playing. I mean I could keep them installed but I have heard that when you only have like 10 GB of space left on your SSD the computer starts to slow down. So I try to keep it above 30 GB at all times which is silly because it's like wasting 30 GB of space but it's going to apply to all SSDs if the slow down thing is true
 
Yeah, I'd be more than happy to recommend 128GB, but your usage is nothing like mine. The only things I save on my SSD are MS Office documents and engineering files and programs, which is why 128GB is fine for me. Just one install of 60GB? You'll need more space. Also, usable space is 120GB fresh. However, iWork and Mavericks brings that down to about 100GB. Get more than 128GB.
 
I bought 128GB intentionally- I wanted to keep the machine lean. I knew with extra space, I would load it up. In the 18 months I've had it, that 128GB limit has indeed done what I wanted.

That said- go for extra space. There is never any such thing as "too much space."
 
Have you considered a MacBook Pro 13", non retina? Has replaceable RAM and hard drive, and its still a Mac :) Cooling is a little better than maybe what one would expect with a MacBook Air, and its probably geared a little more towards so mid to high end use, more so than an MBA. MBA are great for a lot of things, but maybe a MBP is more for you?
 
If you have a specific use for more storage then get it. I find if you don't need it, you'll use up what you have no matter the amount of space you get. It's a human trait... if we can consume, we will.
 
I went with 256GB, but I have an extensive iPhoto library. I've given up waiting for OWC to make a compatible SSD blade for the 2013 MBAs. So I spent the $40 for a genuine Nifty Drive and a bought a 64GB mini-SDXC card for $40. I moved my iTunes library over to the card.

I figure a 128GB mini-SDXC card will become available before OWC makes a 2013MBA SSD blade.
 
It's been tough for me. All my media has been moved to external drives. I have a 11" so I can't use a nifty drive or anything like that. I have my drive bootcamped, with 40 gb dedicated to the windows partition - which I need to run work applications.

So far I have a lean mac partition that has 15 gb of freespace left..the rest are to apps and documents. For an 11" I grabbed a 64 gb sandisk cruzer to download stuff to. Kind of sucks, but if you are active in your file management you can work with it.
 
Nightarchaon said:
My suggestion would be to you, if you are going to want to be running TESO, spend the money on a gaming laptop, not a macbook air/macbook pro, the performance will be terrible once the game maxes out the APU/gpu and the heat throttling begins.

A proper PC laptop will have better thermal controls (Most macbooks are run to thermal tolerance for everyday use, not long term, mid-high end gaming), Also with a Windows Laptop you will get better OS support for the game, better drivers, and the ability to swap out the HDD for a larger one when prices fall and if you have a failure.

For a lightweight travel machine, for internet access, word processing and spreadsheets + some other tools, the air is superb, for gaming, id get an Alienware or pretty much any other Windows Laptop with a discrete GPU.

(I do the same at the desktop level, my productivity machine is an iMac, my gaming rig is SLI-watercooled beasty..(STEAM in home sharing is awesome BTW))
Click to expand...
I disagree with you on one point. A game laptop. They suck. They don't hold their value. They aren't upgradeable.

If you are going to do gaming, get a desktop PC or a console.
 
DmbShn41 said:
Have you considered a MacBook Pro 13", non retina? Has replaceable RAM and hard drive, and its still a Mac :) Cooling is a little better than maybe what one would expect with a MacBook Air, and its probably geared a little more towards so mid to high end use, more so than an MBA. MBA are great for a lot of things, but maybe a MBP is more for you?
Click to expand...

The cMBP is not geared towards use any higher than the MBA. It's an outdated machine and requires you to spend money on further upgrades (like an SSD) if you want to it to be comparable to the MBA. I would not recommend anyone to buy the cMBP anymore even if you planned to upgrade it yourself, it will have far less resale value and it's just kind of clunky compared to the MBA and rMBP now.
 
kage207 said:
I disagree with you on one point. A game laptop. They suck. They don't hold their value. They aren't upgradeable.
If you are going to do gaming, get a desktop PC or a console.
Click to expand...
I agree. For gaming get a windows desktop or laptop.
 
You don't get 128GB. I can't remember exactly how much you get. I'd say go for the 256GB if you can afford it.
 
grummor said:
Hi,

I've never owned a macbook before but am in the market for one atm :). I want to get one that I'll use to play the up coming Elder Scrolls Online game, however I'm a bit worried about the storage space on it. It has been announced that ESO will require a whopping 60gb install size.

When apple say 128GB storage, does that mean 128gb flat, or does like the OS and everything that goes into making the laptop run take up space from that? Cause if so I defiantly have a worry on my hands...

Even if this doesn't occur, once I installed the 60GB I'll only be left with 68, opinions on whether this will be sufficient for general use?
Click to expand...


Once formatted the drive will have 120GB of free space. A normal install with the OS and iLife and iWorks apps uses about 20GB. So this leaves you around 100GB to work with... or 40GB after your 60GB ESO install.

So the question only you can answer is can you live with 40GB of storage.
 
Weaselboy said:
Once formatted the drive will have 120GB of free space. A normal install with the OS and iLife and iWorks apps uses about 20GB.
Click to expand...

I can confirm this.

The storage space has never been an issue for me, thought I do use mostly network storage for my large media files.
 
128GB has been fine for me - but if you are going to do a few VM's, games, keeping a ton of media on there (like 60GB+ of music and movies), dual-boot Windows, or install games, you're going to want 256GB
 
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