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Any buy 128gb and happy?
- Thread starter Imsuperjp
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It really depends per use case. If you don’t plan on storing pictures, videos, and movies or installing a ton of apps, you’ll probably be fine. Just also keep in mind that after formatting and the OS, the actual available space is going to be a good amount less than 128gb.
Also, as long as you do not download large files (especially more than one), you should be fine. But you'll also need to watch your space closely, and do as much cleanup on your own as possible.
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I've been using a 128GB MBA for four years now. I do mostly writing and light photo editing, have only downloaded a handful of programs, and still have 50GB available to me. However, I bounce most of my photos to an external drive and clean up my internal drive space about every six months.
Like with most things Mac, it depends on your personal use case.
Like with most things Mac, it depends on your personal use case.
If you use iCloud Drive to store stuff in your Documents folder and Desktop, you will likely be fine. I have a 256GB Macbook, and I must admit I've been very positively surprised at how seamless iCloud Drive makes it.
I use a NAS for external storage and 256GB for local storage. This means I can keep stuff local while working on it (photos in LR, GarageBand, etc) and benefit from SSD speed; then move stuff to NAS when I'm less likely to need to access it, and accept the slower access times.
256GB works for me. 128GB would not. As mentioned, it depends how much data you need to keep handy and how comfortable you are shuffling it around. Even if 128GB worked for 99% of the population it may not work for you.
256GB works for me. 128GB would not. As mentioned, it depends how much data you need to keep handy and how comfortable you are shuffling it around. Even if 128GB worked for 99% of the population it may not work for you.
I got my wife a 128 GB Mac Mini. But I can just throw on a USB flash drive for more storage if she needs it. I could not get by with 128 GB.
Thanks for all the replies - most helpful! I was looking at 2nd Hand MBA's, so if I start with 128, I can upgrade to 256 later if needed. We have a Synology NAS with 3TB, and that seems to work out really well.
NB: If anyone has a spare MBA they want to offload for a reasonable price, just let me know!
NB: If anyone has a spare MBA they want to offload for a reasonable price, just let me know!
IMO go for a refurbished 2018 256GB over a new 128GB 2019 any day of the week if you absolutely can't spend more. It's about the same price ($1,019 to be exact) and you get a faster as well as more capacious SSD. The only thing you lose is true tone, everything else is exactly the same.
You could also buy an external SSD, along with a slim enclosure, to have extra space. And with Black Friday coming up, prices should be good. And in fact, there is the possibility that the machine you want to buy will also be on sale.
Believe it or not, SSDs made by Samsung are rated the best. I have 4 of them (1 internal, and 3 external), and I can attest to that.
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Thanks for all the replies - most helpful! I was looking at 2nd Hand MBA's, so if I start with 128, I can upgrade to 256 later if needed. We have a Synology NAS with 3TB, and that seems to work out really well.
NB: If anyone has a spare MBA they want to offload for a reasonable price, just let me know!
You can most certainly get an external ssd for more space as needed. But unfortunately Apple has the internal ssd’s and ram soldered in on the 2019 MB machines and cannot be replaced. So just keep that in mind.
Thanks for all the replies - most helpful! I was looking at 2nd Hand MBA's, so if I start with 128, I can upgrade to 256 later if needed. We have a Synology NAS with 3TB, and that seems to work out really well.
NB: If anyone has a spare MBA they want to offload for a reasonable price, just let me know!
If you're using NAS, keep in mind that the Air and base 13" Pro have significantly slower wifi than the mid tier 13" Pro and 15" Pros.
Yes, valid points. But as long as the op managers the space wisely on the internal 128 gig (actually more like 122 or 123 gig) SSD, the external SSD can be used for accessing and storing larger files.
Regarding pricing, I just saw this via the site www.macworld.com:
Upgrade to a speedy 512GB SSD for just $49 today
The 512GB Silicon Power A55 is just $49 at Amazon today.
www.pcworld.com
I am willing to bet that we'll see 500 gig SSDs as low as $45 to $50 this coming Black Friday "season", and slightly more for 512 gig SSDs. My recommendation would be a Samsung 500 gig 860 EVO SSD. Very, very reliable, and fast. And for an enclosure, the ones by Orico are excellent:
ORICO USB 3.0 to SATA III 2.5" External Hard Drive Enclosure for 2.5 Inch 7mm-9.5mm SATA HDD/SSD Tool Free [UASP Supported],Black(2189U3)
ORICO USB 3.0 to SATA III 2.5" External Hard Drive Enclosure for 2.5 Inch 7mm-9.5mm SATA HDD/SSD Tool Free [UASP Supported],Black(2189U3)
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I have 256gb, I'm careful, keep as much as I can in the cloud and delete stuff but it's over half full.
It wouldn't be enough for me.
If you listen to books on Audible, or download films to watch, or play games it quickly adds up even if you delete often and the trouble is, they are compressed when stored but expand when in use.
You've also got to think of 3 or 4 years from now? Will it be enough then or is the machine cheap enough to change before that?
If f you are willing to spend $100 or so on a Samsung 850 Evo and keep it on a USB dongle, then it will be fast enough to hardly tell the difference. But it's still a pain.
I would go with 256 if you can but it you really can't and it means you can have a nice machine, then it's probably worth it.
It wouldn't be enough for me.
If you listen to books on Audible, or download films to watch, or play games it quickly adds up even if you delete often and the trouble is, they are compressed when stored but expand when in use.
You've also got to think of 3 or 4 years from now? Will it be enough then or is the machine cheap enough to change before that?
If f you are willing to spend $100 or so on a Samsung 850 Evo and keep it on a USB dongle, then it will be fast enough to hardly tell the difference. But it's still a pain.
I would go with 256 if you can but it you really can't and it means you can have a nice machine, then it's probably worth it.
All excellent points. And yeah, going initially with a 256 gig (actually more like 252 gig) SSD is a wise move. Again, with Black Friday coming up, machines with a 256 gig SSD could be on sale.
And one slight correction: it is a Samsung 860 EVO 500 gig SSD that I stated above. Not sure if you could find an 850 model.
I have 2014/2015 MBPs and they have the SD slot. The 2014 has a 512 GB SD-card (cheap storage). It's good enough to store videos as far as performance goes. When the 1 TB SD cards drop in price, then I'll get one of those. I just leave the SD card in all the time unless I need to move files to my other MBP. The SD card does stick out a little but I'm fine with it. There are smaller XD cards that are flush with the side of the laptop but this is good enough for me.
The "System" portion on my 2015 rMPB SSD takes up 141.94GB. Maybe it's time for a fresh install.
Perhaps I'm unusual, but always bought the lowest storage (while upgrading the RAM). Had 64 GB in my MBA, 128 GB in rMBP, and now 128 GB in 2018 MM.
Use my Macs for academic and commercial work. Only stream TV and movies. Got about 5,600 videos and photos.
Never got close to filling my storage: currently got 53 GB to play with.
So, I guess it depends on use case -- but certainly not a given everyone needs at least 256 GB, just in case.
Use my Macs for academic and commercial work. Only stream TV and movies. Got about 5,600 videos and photos.
Never got close to filling my storage: currently got 53 GB to play with.
So, I guess it depends on use case -- but certainly not a given everyone needs at least 256 GB, just in case.
If you have good internet then most of your stuff can be stored on the cloud if you're going to be using smallish documents, spreadsheets, etc. If you're going to do VMs or large video/images then maybe 256 would be better.
128GB is too little if you have music and photos. My wife and daughter both have them and we had to get card slot memory expanders. But new Mac laptops do not have card slots. :-(
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The Jet Drive Lite series is specifically designed for MacBook Air and MacBook Pro with Retina display computers. Transcend's Jet Drive Lite expansion cards are a quick and easy way to gain the additional space you need without adding any bulk to your MacBook computer. Simply insert Jet Drive Lit...
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