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Am I safe with a 256GB SSD?

D

daanodinot

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 26, 2015
393
1,013
I can't decide between the 256GB and 512GB SSD for the 27" iMac. I plan to put the following things (of significance) on the SSD:

- Bootcamp with OS X and Windows 10 (incl. drivers, updates etc.)
- Chrome browser (incl. cache etc.)
- Steam with one big game (e.g. Skyrim) and a few small ones (e.g. Rayman Origins) installed
- Microsoft Office
- A few smaller apps: Tweetbot, Plex Media Player, GoodSync

All my data, except a few documents that I fequently have to access, will be on an external hard drive. Could anyone give a rough estimate of how much space all this would require?
 
I think you know better than anyone else how much space your apps take up. 256 is enough for sure if you're using an external drive to store media.

That being said I think 256 gb is way too small for a desktop machine. Just for peace of mind I think I'd go for the 512.
 
You will regret not going for the 512. It will also help resale value for sure. Spend a bit more than you can afford. Also, remember you need a pretty large amount of free space at all times on the boot drive to run efficiently.
 
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keysofanxiety said:
No way.
Click to expand...
Actually huffy is totally fine saying that, going to have zero impact on performance and a tiny impact on load times compared to an internal drive.

OP, you will be fine with 256 gigs but make sure you have things in place now for external storage. Preferably a drive that has thunderbolt AND usb 3 connectivity. When you're running bootcamp, windows won't be able to use any thunderbolt drives, you'll need to be hooked up via usb. This is a totally doable scenario, I'm doing it right now with 512 gigs and have tons of room to spare. The OS and apps really don't take up that much space, games use 2-40 gigs, the biggest user of space is stuff like media (and honestly there's no need to keep that stored internally on your ssd.

I will put out the suggestion of just getting the fusion drive. Very few people are actually going to get a real benifit from the SSD over the fusion drive anyway, just get the 2 gig and be done. ;)
 
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Samuelsan2001 said:
Just remember if you go fusion the windows partition in bootcamp will be on the HDD anyway.
Click to expand...
I'd love to go 2TB fusion drive and be done with it, but the Windows partition on the HDD is indeed the problem for me.

EDIT: And now that I think about it, a 2TB fusion drive only has 128GB flash, so it will be even worse...
 
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KeyMs92 said:
I can't decide between the 256GB and 512GB SSD for the 27" iMac. I plan to put the following things (of significance) on the SSD:

- Bootcamp with OS X and Windows 10 (incl. drivers, updates etc.)
- Chrome browser (incl. cache etc.)
- Steam with one big game (e.g. Skyrim) and a few small ones (e.g. Rayman Origins) installed
- Microsoft Office
- A few smaller apps: Tweetbot, Plex Media Player, GoodSync

All my data, except a few documents that I fequently have to access, will be on an external hard drive. Could anyone give a rough estimate of how much space all this would require?
Click to expand...


I have a 256GB SSD. My daily usage is similar to yours: Web surfing, Word Processing and Steam Gaming (I have Ark, FM16, DOTA installed on OSX currently, total 33gb) . I'm also using Apple Music for music online streaming. Some important document and data stored on my internal drive as well (around 20Gb) And I have two 2TB external HDD for other data.

Right now I have 128GB left. Still plenty space for me. But I don't have a bootcamp partition. I'm considering split half of them into bootcamp for PC gaming.
 
KeyMs92 said:
I can't decide between the 256GB and 512GB SSD for the 27" iMac. I plan to put the following things (of significance) on the SSD:

- Bootcamp with OS X and Windows 10 (incl. drivers, updates etc.)
- Chrome browser (incl. cache etc.)
- Steam with one big game (e.g. Skyrim) and a few small ones (e.g. Rayman Origins) installed
- Microsoft Office
- A few smaller apps: Tweetbot, Plex Media Player, GoodSync

All my data, except a few documents that I fequently have to access, will be on an external hard drive. Could anyone give a rough estimate of how much space all this would require?
Click to expand...
You will not regret getting the higher storage. You will eventually regret getting the lesser amount. Always happens.
 
I had a similar dilemma, but even 512gb isn't enough and 1tb pricing is out there leaving not much choice. As long as I keep my media off the main drive, 256gb is plenty space.
 
Just go with 256Gb and if you need more storage buy an external SSD later on. Prices are coming down all the time so in a year or two you will probably be able to pick up a 1tb external SSD for dramatically cheaper than now,

I'm using a 256GB SSD with a 1TB external USB 3 HDD and when i do need to access it its very quick -- I prefer a bloat and clutter free desktop, with old documents/movies/music etc kept on the external drive.
 
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I was going with 256 until the last moment and decided to go with 512. This machine packs a great ssd I think this was a good option to increase and stay a bit more on the safe side
 
Moriske said:
By continuing to drag files to your SSD, yourself being the bottling neck in your system ;)
Click to expand...

So true, I really want to avoid buying a computer far beyond $2000 and then having to work part time as a "file manager" so to speak.
 
Reality is even with 512gb I need to play file manager and 1tb takes me in to $3000 territory.
 
Moriske said:
By continuing to drag files to your SSD, yourself being the bottling neck in your system ;)
Click to expand...


Well, i only drag them there once i'm done with them and i think i might use them again in future. Otherwise its in the trash.

Its just a 5 minute job at the end of each day to keep things in order. I have OCD though so don't follow my example! haha
 
xgman said:
It will also help resale value for sure. Spend a bit more than you can afford.
Click to expand...


Thats not a logical selling point for upgrading because there will be more depreciation with the 512 SSD. Nothing wrong with getting a 512 SSD but doing it as an investment is not one of them.
 
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fathergll said:
Thats not a logical selling point for upgrading because there will be more depreciation with the 512 SSD. Nothing wrong with getting a 512 SSD but doing it as an investment is not one of them.
Click to expand...

Actually there were some upgrades that turned out to increase resale value by more than what they cost, at least in some constellations. But in this particular case, I don't see this happening either, it's just not enough of a show stopper difference.
 
KeyMs92 said:
I can't decide between the 256GB and 512GB SSD for the 27" iMac.
Click to expand...

unless you need it immediately, why not wait for Black Friday/Cyber Monday for them to go on sale. you can also check Newegg & Amazon they have daily 24-72hr special sales on SSDs'...
 
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