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256 GB vs 512 GB with 16 GB Unified Memory

J

J|M

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 13, 2018
19
2
Hey beautiful people,

I was reading an article here the other day stating that the 256 GB MBA will be a bit slower than the 512 GB.

I'm wondering if I upgrade to the 16 GB unified memory, will that compensate for the slower 256 GB? I don't need the 512, so if anyone can chime in I would sincerely appreciate it.

Thank you :)
 
J|M said:
You mean I would need to get the 512 to get the faster speed?
Click to expand...
Computer RAM and computer storage are not the same things so there’d be no compensation by getting more RAM. Chances are extremely high that you will not notice the difference in speed if you buy the 256GB model, however.
 
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Then should I get the 256 16 or 512 8? What makes more sense?
 
I usually have multiple apps open, mostly Safari with a lot of tabs open so I'm looking for a fast switch between them...
 
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J|M said:
Then should I get the 256 16 or 512 8? What makes more sense?
Click to expand...

If you can live with ether of these options, then you should be quite OK with the base 256 8 too.

Basically, if you don’t need 16GB then there is no point in having it. As it will not make any difference to the performance of what you do.
Likewise, you are quite unlikely to notice the difference in speed between the two SSDs.
 
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Get the 256 with 16 GB RAM. If you need more storage you can extend with an external ssd or use a cloud service. What you cannot extend is RAM.

Also, if you have to ask whether you can tell the difference between the 256 GB speed and 512 Gb speed it means you are not having the kind of workflow where the difference is noticeable.

Of course, best would still be 512 / 16, but only because more things can naturally fit in 512 GB of storage.
 
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For most people the slower 256GB will not be noticeable.

For people who work with larger files that require the speed will likely need 512GB.
 
YES, in the sense that the slower 256gb affects the system responsiveness and app switching , once swap kicks in (with enough programs to fill the 8GB of ram). swap/paging effectively behaves like RAM, except it uses your storage for it

it's been demonstrated the M1 8/256 is more responsive than m2 8/256 under the same circumstances

thus, getting 16gb would help you maintain a responsive system within a much wider margin (16gb ain't that easy to fill, asssuming you don't work with super heavy programs) , since "actual" swap won't kick in until you fill said 16gb

NO, in the sense that file transfer will still be slower (but in all fairness it's not THAT important for most people ). getting more RAM won't make your file transfers any faster . copying files from one folder to another will remain twice as slow. but it's something you can live with, trust me

In your case, since you don't need more storage, I would definitely go for more RAM !

hope that makes sense. Don't hesitate to ask me if something's unclear to you :)
 
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J|M said:
Then should I get the 256 16 or 512 8? What makes more sense?
Click to expand...
If you use Xcode, forget about 256. It's unfeasible. It's the reason why I needed to change my iMac. I thought it was going to be memory, but it was storage.
 
512 GBs is my mininum these days across all devices including my next iPhone and iPad upgrades. What I would recommend to you is probably wait a few months if you really don't need it right away. You will start seeing some significant discounts on 16 GB/512 GB configuration by at least fall on Amazon.
 
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Mr. Dee said:
512 GBs is my mininum these days across all devices including my next iPhone and iPad upgrades. What I would recommend to you is probably wait a few months if you really don't need it right away. You will start seeing some significant discounts on 16 GB/512 GB configuration by at least fall on Amazon.
Click to expand...
honestly he might be more than fine with 256gb , for some people it's still a LOT , trust me
 
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J|M said:
Then should I get the 256 16 or 512 8? What makes more sense?
Click to expand...
I see it this way: you cannot upgrade the 8GB of memory if you go that route, but if the 256GB of storage space isn't enough, you can always use an external drive, iCloud/online cloud storage, etc.

So I'd rather get the 16GB memory / 256GB storage configuration vs 8GB memory / 512GB storage. Having 16GB memory (IMO) will get you further if you keep the laptop for 5+ years.
 
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Love-hate 🍏 relationship said:
honestly he might be more than fine with 256gb , for some people it's still a LOT , trust me
Click to expand...
I don't dispute that, I've barely made a dent in the 512 GB MBP I have, but bought for future proofing since I to keep my devices for long. Typing this on my 2015 MBP 13 inch as we speak and that has 256 GBs. 34 GBs of space available.
 
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What about external SSD drives, plugged into a Thunderbolt port? Will they be as fast as internal SSD drives?
 
Last edited:
It's different for each person, as always with these yummy Macs.

I will go with 512GB storage with next MBA purchase. But 256GB have served me just fine the latest 5 years though. But I clean out it now and then, to not run low on space.

@wrcousert what the fk is a Thunderbird-port? something new? 😂
I guess you meant Thunderbolt, right?

@J|M If you need to chose between 8 and 16GB RAM vs. 256 and 512GB storage, I would pick more RAM in a heartbeat first.
Of course it's better with more storage, but iCloud, if you have it, can be helpful if you don't want to put money on larger HD.
 
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It kind of blows my mind when I read people talking about the slower speeds on the single NAND configurations as if its a deal breaker with performance so atrocious as to completely hinder and break your computing experience.

Among other things, transfer speed on my network is the bottleneck, not the speed of my internal drives so even that 1500/sec I am not leveraging. What are you folks doing that requires these near-instantaneous transfers or your day/professional life is ruined?
 
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