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256 too small?

S

snowboardpunk

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 28, 2013
109
5
hey guys so I ordered the base 15in but realized the 256 might not be big enough. It's supposed to be delivered Thursday and need a computer. I could just use it and order a new one with a 512gb ssd. But was wondering how much space do you think I need for bootcamp?
Wasn't planning on using bootcamp but realized parallels limits the ram to 8gb... i don't really have any music or videos or game. Just school files for iCloud and programs. Basically the whole adoble suite, revit, and cad. I was gonna bootcamp windows and use parallels to window that for less intensive work in windows. But how much storage does this take? Could I make a bootable drive on an external ssd? And make a parallels of that bootcamp? I was just going to buy a 250 Samsung t3 but read that you can't make a bootable drive?
 
It depends on how you use bootcamp. Let say Windows 10 would cost you 40GB of space. If for myself I want to install Battlefield 1, thats another 40GB+ space.

I personally recommend you try Vmware Fusion or Parallel to run your Windows app. It would save you more disk space and you get to run both OS at the same time. BHPhotos is giving away Parallel just for buying MacBooks from them.

Good luck.
 
Nde said:
It depends on how you use bootcamp. Let say Windows 10 would cost you 40GB of space. If for myself I want to install Battlefield 1, thats another 40GB+ space.

I personally recommend you try Vmware Fusion or Parallel to run your Windows app. It would save you more disk space and you get to run both OS at the same time. BHPhotos is giving away Parallel just for buying MacBooks from them.

Good luck.
Click to expand...

I was planning on using VMware but realized it limits your ram to half for windows. And when I render in revit (architecture) I would probably want to utilize everything I have. Like I would love it for just modeling and building but would want to switch to bootcamp for the heavy duty stuff.
 
Yeah 256GB goes by quick. Just syncing your iPhone, backing up photos, etc not to mention any of the applications you want to install. I say get more space. It'd be nice to have more memory without having to bring an external drive everywhere.
 
I use 256GB w/out bootcamp. I keep most of my data on my NAS and it's a non-issue.
But if I was serious about bootcamp I'd probably be going for the 512 for sure.
 
snowboardpunk said:
hey guys so I ordered the base 15in but realized the 256 might not be big enough. It's supposed to be delivered Thursday and need a computer. I could just use it and order a new one with a 512gb ssd. But was wondering how much space do you think I need for bootcamp?
Wasn't planning on using bootcamp but realized parallels limits the ram to 8gb... i don't really have any music or videos or game. Just school files for iCloud and programs. Basically the whole adoble suite, revit, and cad. I was gonna bootcamp windows and use parallels to window that for less intensive work in windows. But how much storage does this take? Could I make a bootable drive on an external ssd? And make a parallels of that bootcamp? I was just going to buy a 250 Samsung t3 but read that you can't make a bootable drive?
Click to expand...

I would say no to 256, especially after the article today stating you cannot upgrade it down the road.
 
I have 128 and I've made a habit of moving everything important to my HDD. However if I would want to store some music offline, 128 would not suffice. So 256gb is good if you keep your computer clean. Actually 512 is too little to store everything on, so you would need a HDD anyway. So why get 512 in the first place then.
 
Yeah. That's why I spent the extra money on a 512GB. Plus, the SSD isn't upgradeable so if you do find yourself running out of space, you're consigned to cloud or external storage options.
 
I personally have found 256GB is not enough really. 512GB minimum (ideally)

It's the iTunes stuff and Garagband loops, that sort of thing takes up huge amounts of space.

These days you can stream, but even then it's tight. Then again, it's not THAT bad. I'm typing this on a 256GB machine. Just is tight.
 
timcook_boyfriend said:
256 gb is small, what is 128 gb?

Are those with a 128 GB MacBook crying right now?
Click to expand...

Well I have 2012 base MBA 13" with 128 and I have a hard time filling that up. Literally after months of downloading random tv shows would it get filled up and then just have to delete those. So I didn't think 256 was too much but with bootcamp, it might be. Also I read that the 256 has significantly slower write speeds than the 512. Is this true?
 
If you have a iPhone 128GB thats say full of music and apps & photos, and back that up to you machine then thats half your storage capacity gone
 
snowboardpunk said:
hey guys so I ordered the base 15in but realized the 256 might not be big enough. It's supposed to be delivered Thursday and need a computer. I could just use it and order a new one with a 512gb ssd. But was wondering how much space do you think I need for bootcamp?
Wasn't planning on using bootcamp but realized parallels limits the ram to 8gb... i don't really have any music or videos or game. Just school files for iCloud and programs. Basically the whole adoble suite, revit, and cad. I was gonna bootcamp windows and use parallels to window that for less intensive work in windows. But how much storage does this take? Could I make a bootable drive on an external ssd? And make a parallels of that bootcamp? I was just going to buy a 250 Samsung t3 but read that you can't make a bootable drive?
Click to expand...

Hi, 256GB SSD Bootcamp user here. Yes I would say go for 512GB if you can, yo do run out of space after years of usage.
 
sparkie7 said:
So someone can hack into it? No - thanks
Click to expand...

Plus iCloud does cost, so I hear you. But keeping a 128GB backup of your iPhone onto your SSD is not a wise decision, do you know how expensive the new Apple SSD is? Plus you are not going to use any bit of that backup on your machine, its just sitting ducks. I would say consider mega or other online storage that supports encryption and restore the backup when you need it.
 
xraydoc said:
Two-factor authorization does a lot to mitigate this.
Click to expand...

I know a very good Chinese hacker. Two-factor authorisation is a joke.
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Antairez said:
Plus iCloud does cost, so I hear you. But keeping a 128GB backup of your iPhone onto your SSD is not a wise decision, do you know how expensive the new Apple SSD is? Plus you are not going to use any bit of that backup on your machine, its just sitting ducks. I would say consider mega or other online storage that supports encryption and restore the backup when you need it.
Click to expand...

Samsung T3 is better use of backup and $$$
 
timcook_boyfriend said:
256 gb is small, what is 128 gb?

Are those with a 128 GB MacBook crying right now?
Click to expand...

I currently have a late 2013 MBP with a 128gb SSD. I've worked around the limits but the small SSD is one of the main reasons I'm upgrading to the 2016. Going from 128 to a 256 is going to feel fantastic. It's like moving from an apartment to a house.

512 would be even better (though for my uses, not really needed) but these machines are so expensive in their stock form that I can't bring myself to buy any extras.
 
What I currently do is have a 20GB partition for BootCamp, and keep all of my Windows programs on an external hard drive. But I'm thinking of getting rid of BootCamp anyway.
 
terminator-jq said:
I currently have a late 2013 MBP with a 128gb SSD. I've worked around the limits but the small SSD is one of the main reasons I'm upgrading to the 2016. Going from 128 to a 256 is going to feel fantastic. It's like moving from an apartment to a house.

512 would be even better (though for my uses, not really needed) but these machines are so expensive in their stock form that I can't bring myself to buy any extras.
Click to expand...

Get a bigger SSD so you don't have to upgrade that often? Just a suggestion.
 
I think it's possible, and was planning on testing not someday, to instal boot camp on and external ssd. You can definitely run a VM from an external ssd, but there are YouTube videos on how to run boot camp too. I think you have to make one small edit to Windows 10 registry to get it to work as shown in below video.

 
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