256 gb vs 512 gb ssd

[deliriumxy]

Buying a MBP has been needlessly stressful for me. I first grabbed a stock 13" touch bar MBP last week, played with it, and it was great. Then I came to MacRumors, and read all this info on 8 gb vs 16 gb RAM. I was leaning towards 8 gb and keeping the base model. However, after assessing my needs I realized I may need more than 8 gb for mobile programming; Android Studio recommends 8 gb of RAM plus 1 gb extra for simulator.

So, I've ordered a BTO 13" touch bar with the stock 2.9 ghz i5 cpu, 16 gb RAM, and 256 gb ssd. As I can still make changes to the order before ship date. What are your opinions on a hard drive upgrade?

This is a super expensive purchase, so I want to make the best decision.

EDIT:

Went with the 512 gb... figured having to keep 20% free disk space and 256 gb becomes too little

 

[deliriumxy]

bump

would 256 gb be enough to run a vmware instance of Windows? Assuming you can only use 80% of the drive, and after 20 gb OS installation that leaves 184 gb to play with

Not a whole lot

Although, even though the SSDs are soldered on like RAM, there is a workaround with an external drive. I don't intend to keep too many movies/music files locally, and I have a few spare external hard drives that have space. Mostly it's a cost thing.

$2650 with 16 gb RAM, 512 gb SSD

compare with

$2800 for base 15" model were you get quad core... and well... help?

 

[psingh01]

I think you'd find 256gb very cramped. I have a windows 7 VM with only a handful of programs that I need for work and it takes up 130GB. Together with other software and documents on the mac side and I'm consuming close to 270gb.

This is a work machine so no iTunes or photos libraries taking up space.

 

[Yoshimura]

Although, even though the SSDs are soldered on like RAM, there is a workaround with an external drive. I don't intend to keep too many movies/music files locally, and I have a few spare external hard drives that have space. Mostly it's a cost thing.

$2650 with 16 gb RAM, 512 gb SSD

compare with

$2800 for base 15" model were you get quad core... and well... help?

The SSD is not soldered on the nTB. You could also get it for $1900 with 16GB and 512GB.

 

[deliriumxy]

The SSD is not soldered on the nTB. You could also get it for $1900 with 16GB and 512GB.

nTB with those specs runs $2300 CAD... $350 extra gets less battery life, a touch bar, slightly faster CPU... I kinda like the touch bar, as I currently have the base TB model that will be returned soon...

It's all these incremental upgrades... like... for $200 more you can get this, for $300 more you can get this... and in the ends it's like why not just max everything out... this is so expensive

 

[Kudos6612]

Get the 15" w 512gb

 

[deliriumxy]

Get the 15" w 512gb

LOL you're killing me... I can't afford this...

 

[bab5139]

You did the right thing ordering max ram. I personally would upgrade the disk to 512. However, Yoshimura pointed out that the hard drive is serviceable which was contrary to have i've heard and from the ifixit report he is correct. That being said you could upgrade it later when your coffers fill back up. But if you upgrade to the 15 then you get the full bend over treatment since it's soldered on.

13in
https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook+Pro+13-Inch+Function+Keys+Late+2016+Teardown/72415
"It's nice that Apple has kept their removable SSDs a first-out component, simplifying upgrades."

15in
https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook+Pro+15-Inch+Touch+Bar+Teardown/73395

 

[jerryk]

More ram for Android development is important. I use Intellij the professional IDE that was the base of Android Studio. With 8GB and an Android emulator running it is pretty doggy. 16GB make a big difference.