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256GB not enough?

N

nariza7

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 16, 2013
69
0
For those who thought 256gb was not enough and opted for the 512gb, what do you use it for? I am still leaning towards 256gb, but I fear I may need more space in the future.
 
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I have a 128 in my pro, updated to SSD, and it's fine. I use the cloud for a lot of stuff. I have a 256 coming in my new Air. For larger files I use a G-Tech external drive. 256gig is fine.
 
For me I was moving from a two drive setup in my MBP that had a little over 600gb of total storage. I'll be setting up an old machine as a media server now that will eliminate the need for all the space, but still felt better about having the extra space given my typical use.

I also knew I'd be always working to keep space free on the 256. That could hurt performance. The 512 will also be handy if I want to do any music recording, video editing, large file downloads, etc and just need the extra space temporarily to work on the project.
 
I went 256GB for the 2013, and had 256 in my last Air. It might get tight if you want to run a big bootcamp partition, or want to edit HD video - but if not you'll be fine. I plan on getting a external HDD for archiving files I dont often use but dont want to delete.
 
I have 256gb, which was the maximum available on my 2011 MBA. Today I would definitely get 512gb. I am managing fine with the 256gb model though and still have about 100gb free. However I need to constantly do "housecleaning" to maintain free space, like deleting or archiving audio files from Logic Pro.

If I had a 512gb SSD I would add more music and video to my iTunes Library.
 
Astrofox said:
I went 256GB for the 2013, and had 256 in my last Air. It might get tight if you want to run a big bootcamp partition, or want to edit HD video - but if not you'll be fine. I plan on getting a external HDD for archiving files I dont often use but dont want to delete.
Click to expand...

To make simple things short and easy for you, i was also getting 256GB till i realized the reasons of buying a Macbook Air 11'/i5/8GB/512 SSD

1. Ultraportability: Yes that's what we buy this mac air for ==> i am simply not ok with the idea of wires hanging down with this 11' as an external HDD plugging into USB --> NO way

2. Battery Life ---> More empty space = better performance = more room for your files to breathe ==> longer duration satisfaction as you will NOT max out on your SSD quickly as that can so easily happen with a 256GB, for example if you have a DSLR camera and shoot pics, then those files are big in size...

3. Better performance and faster SSD: Yes, believe it or not, many users have reported that standard 128GB SSD is from Sandisk and SLOWER than 256/512GB SSD from SAmsung in 11' Air

4. SSD/Flash is the fastest technology for a mac and i am sure there are all sort of cheap alternatives out there = 90$ 1TB USB3.0 and cheap 160$ 2TB Western Digital and 270$ time-capsule and what not....but they all have their own limitations

YOu cannot upgrade this AIR once you buy it and you know it...so rather burn a bridge now and opt for the 512 :)
 
MeatRocket said:
I worried about this too but still opted for a 256GB model. $300 will buy a LOT of external storage! :D
Click to expand...

One can buy a 4TB external drive today for $150. So one has to ask oneself... Do u REALLY need all that space with u at all times?
 
Mrbobb said:
One can buy a 4TB external drive today for $150. So one has to ask oneself... Do u REALLY need all that space with u at all times?
Click to expand...

Exactly right. I bought a 4TB external Western Digital off Newegg for $160, and a 3TB Time Capsule on E-bay for $200. Just load up whatever you need (client files/data, etc) on your internal drive when you anticipate needing it & return it to long-term storage when you don't. But, if you have the $$ to throw at it, the convenience of the extra 256GB might be worth it to you.
 
nariza7 said:
For those who thought 256gb was not enough and opted for the 512gb, what do you use it for? I am still leaning towards 256gb, but I fear I may need more space in the future.
Click to expand...

I use VMware to run windows and VMs take up a lot of space. Mine was a 40 Gig VM and when you are messing around with Visual Studio, SQL Server, Office and stuff that 40 Gb can get eaten up pretty fast.

So this time I bought a 512 model and am glad that I did

Uhhh.... also I can store a lot of movies on it but I swear it's for business use!
 
Most of my stuff comes from my iTunes library. Ive got PLENTLY of apps, music, a few dozen movies, and a lot of full series such as house, psych, walking dead, + other tv shows that total up to 270GB. My iPhoto library is 20GB because Ive scanned every physical photo my family has. Documents is 10GB because of all the digital textbooks I have. And Steam/games total up to another 40GB+. So 256GB was just no choice for me =P

But thats just me xD
 
I ordered the 11" i7/8/256.

IF it was my main machine I personally would get 512 GB, but this is my travel/leaving the house laptop so I wont have everything on it.
 
Since the OS and pre installed apps take up space too, how much space do we actually get to use from the 256gb and 512 gb versions?
 
Also, as a main laptop, would 512gb be recommended? So hard to justify the ~$290(between the i7/8/256gb and i7/8/512gb after tax even with student discount) for 256gb more. Maybe if the back to school promo discount turns out to be like a $100 gift card, then I will consider getting the 512gb.
 
Im doing just fine with my 2011 MBA with just 128gb since i mainly use it as a web browser :) All my music is in the Google Music Cloud. However i will be upgrading to a 2013 MBA with 256gb for the added write speeds and so i can make a small bootcamp partition.
 
nariza7 said:
Also, as a main laptop, would 512gb be recommended? So hard to justify the ~$290(between the i7/8/256gb and i7/8/512gb after tax even with student discount) for 256gb more. Maybe if the back to school promo discount turns out to be like a $100 gift card, then I will consider getting the 512gb.
Click to expand...

Personally for the last week I thought '512gb will be good because it will be my main'. But then the other day I realised, my current MBP has a 256gb ssd inside it, and I usually have about 90gbs free on that at all times. So I'm thinking maybe I should just get the 256gb, because I don't keep anything media like (apart from music) on my internal hard drive, and when I know I'm going somewhere I want videos or movies, I just copy them on from an external 2tb hard drive (into the 90gb of free space I have).

I would probably say 512 is worth it more if you plan on bootcamping, because if people are in the position as me with about 100gb free, then partitioning will leave you with very small amounts of storage, on both OSs. Which in turn will slow down performance.
 
I was more than fine with 128GB on my 2012 MBA, but went with 256GB this time because of the double write speeds. Not sure what I would use 512GB for, but that's just me. I use Spotify for music and don't keep a huge photo library or anything like that.
 
Ask yourself:

1. How much porn do I have?

2. Do want it on my MBA for 24/7 access

If yes to both, you can determine whether 256GB is enough or not. Easy.
 
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I was a little worried about storage space when I bought my MBA. However, I am only using 50GB and that includes the space required by the OS. I was just used to having a lot of storage but I didn't actually need it. Files I use all the time I keep on my MBA and everything else gets moved over to my desktop and external HD for safe keeping. I use dropbox to move files between the comps if I happen to need something from the desktop on my MBA.

For the price of the upgrade from 256gb to 512gb you could easily get a 2 or 3tb external HD.
 
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