512 GB or 1 TB

V

vbedia

macrumors regular
I would like to know if the extra space is worth the money you pay for. I mean of course I would like to have as much space as possible, but it seems to me that once you pass the threshold of 512 GB prices ramp up exponentially.

I am thinking of getting the MacBook Pro 15" with 512 GB or 1 TB.

I don't make a living with the computer. I could use any other computer for what I am gonna use it for, but I like Apple computers. Actually; I already have a 2013 MacBook Pro 15" with 512 GB. I use it for web browsing, gaming on Windows, checking mail, keeping photos I take with my iPhone and using Office suite; basically Word and Excel. I am planning on selling after buying the new one.

I already have an external HD; a Lacie one with 4 TB.

At this point, I think I will buy the 512 GB version but my opinion switches back and forth easily on this issue. I would like to know other people opinions.
 
vbedia said:
I would like to know if the extra space is worth the money you pay for
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Only you can make that determination. If you have space needs in excess of 512GB, then you need to decide whether a 1TB drive or an external drive fits your budgets and work flow.
 
I sprang for the 1TB Hard Drive. Reason being is that my last MacBook Pro lasted me about 4.5 years. If I keep this one for a similar length of time, I will take advantage of the extra space.

I am currently on a computer with 256GB and I am always running out of space and having to delete/move stuff to an external. It wastes time and is a huge hassle. I'll also be traveling a lot more to places without good internet (overseas) so I figure it will be nice to have a bunch of movies and TV shows and stuff downloaded at all times versus relying on streaming/on demand access.

The way I look at it, the extra $400 or so for the space bump isn't that much if you consider a 4 year lifespan. $400 / 48 months = $8.33 per month. Even at a 3 year (to last through AppleCare+) is $11/month. I can think of a lot less useful ways I spend $11 a month right now (I spent $5 on chips yesterday which I would have been way better off without, for example).
 
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When it comes to stuff that cannot be easily replaced my theory is always to buy the largest amount of internal storage and RAM that you can legitimately afford. If this were a desktop I would say that would matter less, because external drives aren't really an inconvenience in most cases. Generally more of a pain in the butt to have to regularly use them with a laptop.
 
I went with the 1 TB just because I started running out of space on my old laptop and it was pretty annoying to have to manage things. I had a smaller SSD and a larger HD but it was just getting to the point that the SSD was running out of space on programs and I was running out of things I'd want to move over to the HD or delete. It was an old laptop so the SSD wasn't that big but it's just not something I'm interested in repeating now. It's also nice because with the laptop I'm not always going to be able to connect to networks so I do like having things local. If you use a lot of cloud maybe it's not important but I like having the storage on a laptop.
 
OP wrote:
"I am thinking of getting the MacBook Pro 15" with 512 GB or 1 TB."

If you've got the cash to toss away for the 1tb SSD, well, do it.

But I wouldn't (and I -do- "have the cash" available).
Just not worth it to me for what you get in exchange…
 
You mentioned that you currently have a machine with 512GB. How full is the drive? That will go a long ways to tell you what you want to know. I’ve been living with half full 256GB machines for the past few years so I went with the 512GB drive. I keep most of my day to day files in the cloud (OneDrive) and a back up on a local NAS. So I don’t really have any need for a larger internal drive. If the upgrade to 1TB was reasonable I would consider it, but what Apple charges is rediculous.
 
As Karnicopia said, buy the most you can financially afford. My system too has a 1TB SSD. There are things I want to keep on the computer and when traveling it will photos transferred from memory cards. So the space will be used but just not always used.
 
If external storage is viable for you, and you want something faster than the LaCie (or just a second physical drive in the event the LaCie were to fail), an external solid state drive is often more economical than more internal storage - in some cases, you can buy a 1TB external SSD for less money than the 512 to 1TB upgrade price.
 
As other people said, it pretty much depends on how much space you think you'll need. If you estimate that during the lifetime of the machine you will fill more than 512 GB, it's worth to take the plunge, otherwise I'd just save the money.

I personally have a large collection of multimedia files (videos, movies, DSLR photos, music) which I like to be able to view and edit on the go without relying too much on external drives, so I would struggle with less than 1 TB, but that's just me. If you don't keep a lot of large files on your laptop, 512 GB + external storage will be totally fine. In short, buy as much as you need and can afford, since you can't upgrade later.
 
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