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Hey you proud 256gb owners, how you dealing?

3

3SQ Machine

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 8, 2019
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Just snagged a deal on a NEW M3 16/256 13" and it was so darn cheap felt like I had to give it a shot. For years, swore I needed 512gb minimum, 1tb ideal, mainly for the "convenience" of music production libraries + other random files always on device.

Also swore I needed a MBP for that, but realizing now that even last-year's base M3 is quite capable.

So, trying this minimalism out. With the entire logic library on device and a handful of projects, I've got 45gb remaining. Thinking I'll offload the library and just plug in when producing -- freeing up a good 80-90gb -- if I need to. I've also got iCloud, optimize storage on, cleared out junky apps, etc.

You long term 256gb people, how's it working out? You hitting the limits all the time and cursing the base model or managing just fine?

Honestly, outside of the paltry storage, there's not much meaningfully different with this MBA than the higher-spec M3 and M4 I tried out.
 
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Back when the MBA was first released with its paltry HD I planned to mainly use NAS, since I would have rarely left the house with it anyway. I ended up getting an iMac instead so it wasn't an issue.

Now I'm looking at the Mac mini and wondering if I should shell out for the HD upgrade or do the NAS thing.
 
I've owned a base Mac mini m4 since Christmas. I use 50Gb iCloud for most files and photos. My biggest consumer is system files, at 71GB, I think from some previous VMs I used to run (linux Mint to test it before putting it on a Chromebook, MacOS 13 for fun). I once started over from fresh and all of that shrunk considerably, to like 10-15GB. reinstalled VMs and up it went, even after deleting them. But I still have 100GB free. I store most things on sd cards and thumb drives because I have a ton of them and can't yet afford a ssd.

Long story short, I'm doing fine for the most part. I would get an external ssd for your purposes.
 
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No issues whatsoever, machine only gets pretty light use so a small amount of storage is used by the OS and apps. Documents are synced from cloud storage and I just "keep offline" a small number of them, they don't all need to be on the machine. Same with Apple Music, just have a few playlists available offline. Large files (movies/Garageband stuff etc) are kept on an external SSD and I'm usually running at about 180GB free of the 256GB.
 
Corefile said:
If I don't have a Windows 11 VM then it's great for me on 256GB.
Click to expand...

I run a Parallels VM off an external SSD and it seems to work just fine (mostly MS Office type stuff and legacy Windows software). If you're not pushing the VM hard, then you might want to try that too.

WebHead said:
Back when the MBA was first released with its paltry HD I planned to mainly use NAS, since I would have rarely left the house with it anyway. I ended up getting an iMac instead so it wasn't an issue.

Now I'm looking at the Mac mini and wondering if I should shell out for the HD upgrade or do the NAS thing.
Click to expand...

There are lots of posts and videos about being able to upgrade the M4 Mac mini internal storage or use an external SSD. Perhaps buy the base spec and upgrade it?
 
I'm still using a mid-2014 13" Pro with 16 GB of ram and 256 SSD. I could easily upgrade to 512 with a OEM or NVMe but have never had the need since I store a lot of my documents on a NAS.

My employer provides a WFH laptop and all work files are saved on a work server.
 
I was using 256GB for a while but now using 512GB. Back when I had 256GB I set up a NAS and I still use that. I keep the bulk of my photos (for example) on the NAS but with a split library so more more recent stuff I might keep local. (I use Lightroom).

I also can VPN into it from remote, although it's slower, of course.
 
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3SQ Machine said:
You long term 256gb people, how's it working out? You hitting the limits all the time and cursing the base model or managing just fine?
Click to expand...
The 256GB of my Mac mini M4 is enough for me; I only use a third of the internal drive with all my apps installed on it. But obviously, my photo library and all my Final Cut and Resolve video edits are on external drives. This is why the base mini M4 remains an incredible value in terms of price/performance.
Since it's a desktop computer, I don't mind working with an external SSD at all.
But for a MacBook that we take with us on the go, my opinion would change...
 
bob_zz123 said:
No issues whatsoever, machine only gets pretty light use so a small amount of storage is used by the OS and apps. Documents are synced from cloud storage and I just "keep offline" a small number of them, they don't all need to be on the machine. Same with Apple Music, just have a few playlists available offline. Large files (movies/Garageband stuff etc) are kept on an external SSD and I'm usually running at about 180GB free of the 256GB.
Click to expand...
I would say the issue is having to worry about storing files on an external SSD.

I got the base model macbook M1 upgraded to a 1Tb and have never had to worry about storying anything off-device. That's what having no issues is like.
 
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Now that iCloud Drive* supports pinning of files (to keep them from being purged when space gets low) I could probably just get by on 256 GB. But it didn't have that feature when I was trying to work with my base model M1 Air, and it just killed me. Seemed like every time I went to work with something it had been offloaded and I had to download it again. So, I ended up selling the machine and bought a used one with more storage and rolled with that instead. And when I finally got an M4 Air a few months ago, I went with 512 GB because I was pretty sure I'd regret not spending the $200 to bump it up.

* I know, I could've switched to Dropbox or something, but I was and am still using a 2TB iCloud plan and want/ed to get the most out of it.
 
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Eric_WVGG said:
I’m an SSD minimalist. Some tips…
- use GrandPerspective to get a real picture of what's occupying the drive: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/grandperspective/id1111570163?mt=12
- use HyperSpace to get free space from duplicated files: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hyperspace-reclaim-disk-space/id6739505345?mt=12
- install a second SSD! https://us.transcend-info.com/product/memory-card/jetdrive-lite-330
Click to expand...
Is there a USB-C version of the memory-card? The MBA models do not have any memory-card slots, only USB-C ports.
 
CalMin said:
There are lots of posts and videos about being able to upgrade the M4 Mac mini internal storage or use an external SSD. Perhaps buy the base spec and upgrade it?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip, I figured that like the RAM the HD was non-user-upgradable.
 
IMG_1039.jpg


Here's the best low-profile external I could get (just came in today). I used the JetDrive previously on my 14" MBP. There are a surprising lack of affordable options. Zike was a close second, but this "Orico Flashpod" was only about $50 for 512gb. There is a Twopan drive designed for iphones that is extremely overpriced. I also have a "T" shaped USB-C connector so I can have the drive perpendicular.

Avoid the 256gb option (SLOWWWWW speeds). The 512gb is no speed champ, either -- getting 750-820 mb/s with APFS. I suspect it would be speedier with a different format like ex-fat.

I just loaded up my Logic Library so I can plug it in when ready to do audio production. It definitely thermal throttled a couple of times. Can't figure out how much additional power draw it's consuming yet but should get a good sense over a couple days.

Needless to say, I doubt the longevity of this drive but locating the 90gb stock Logic Library on there is a no-brainer since if it fails I'll just re-download it.

135gb free now!
 
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Amazing: base M1 MBA (7/8/256) with two users logged in with Fast User Switching enabled. We've had it since Sep 2021. I have probably 20 programs open (I rarely cmd+Q anything, they tend to bug out on their own after a while. :) ) right now. This thing has been on so many road trips (movie screen for kids) and airplanes (the same). I love it. When I thought it was toast due to an accident, I had a replacement at Wal-Mart teed up, but AppleCare came through at zero cost.

I just can't justify spending the money to upgrade when this machine is faster than both my work Dell laptops: XPS 13 (9310) and Inspiron 5490.
 
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My "256GB" mac mini is a 2Tb mac mini -- love the M4 mini for so many reasons. Before the conversion I used a RAID with 36TB of storage and a 2TB Thunderbolt SSD enclosure for storage -- Still use my RAID obviously though it's in need of more storage very soon!

Have had at least 1TB in my Macs since 2011, and that's really it's not enough for any video work and barely works for keeping a library of a couple thousand raw photos at hand I'm actively editing after a series of back to back shoots.

256 is fine if you mostly consume. But any visual art or creation field really needs Many TBs of storage. Hell, the memory cards in my cameras are 1TB nvme ssds (Cfexpress) and a RAW or ProRES video day fills them easily. I need space to dump a 1TB card at least a couple times plus working space for caches and render files and all that so I connect a 4TB project/scratch SSD to my Mac if I'm even thinking about working on a video project, and keep several 4TB SSDS around in case I have multiple projects or shooting days that overlap.

Basically I'm saying that in 2025, the "Pro" line should start at 4TB storage, even if that meant a slight upcharge (like $250 more than current, not whatever Apple charges for 4TBs lol) but I don't mind that the non pro line starts at 256gb -- some people truly don't need more.
 
On this MacBook Air that is not my main work machine 256 GB does fine. I am running Sonoma to avoid AI, and that helps. Only half the music library is loaded, which helps, and I don't store movies on this machine, which helps.

The server is a 2014 Mini with 1.5 TB internal and a 2 TB external drive. That's where Everything is stored. Well, almost everything, the legacy server, a Quicksilver G4, also has 1.5 TB for the legacy PPC, 68k, Apple // software and some other stuff.
 
I can get by if I leave everything in cloud and optimised which I don’t mind doing for my portable machine but I couldn’t live like this as my only solution as it’s just too risky with nothing being backed up.
 
When I was producing two simple and short HD videos (2 minutes and 10 minutes) on my 256GB 2017 MacBook Pro, my drive filled up long before I was done editing, I couldn’t even export the 1080p videos, my drive was literally full to the point of system slowdowns.
Not the same as working with audio files and editing software, but the only 2cts I can add.
I’m just glad I recently upgraded to a 1TB M1 Pro. Gave my sister my old MBP because she wants to edit some videos in Final Cut, let’s hope she doesn’t run into storage problems like I did.
 
The five computers I manage with 256GB storage (for six people; one is shared) and 8GB RAM work a treat for their use cases. Most of them were fine on 128GB (which is what I had them on before this). For my wife, 512GB would probably suffice but since she keeps her machines the better part of a decade, I got her to splurge. I overdo it: I could survive just fine having my work files on an external but I overpay Apple to be lazy (and I don’t like having things all over the place, which is how I end up as I’m easily distracted). The speed difference would never be noticeable for my use cases and 256GB is more than enough for my core files.
 
Like a lot of people went with base HD 256 GB on my MBA M2. I have only used 71.2 GB's so far. But that is mostly because my MBA is not my primary computer. My Mac mini M2 has 1 TB HD and it fills up pretty fast. I have a decent amount of video and music files, but still have over 400 GB left in free space.

The thing was it seemed silly to me to pay $200 to get 512 GB, when I could pay $400 to go to a full 1 TB. If I was going to upgrade my MBA storage I would go to 1 TB and just skip the 512 GB option. But since I knew I would never fill up the 256 GB on my Air I decided to just purchase the base model.
 
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