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Is 128GB of extra SSD space worth $300?
- Thread starter OSMac
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Uh..
No, it's way overpriced. But, again. SSD is expensive. Look at other companies they do not come with SSD as standard. Samsung series 9 is even pricier than MBA, so can't really complain.
Also, Bestbuy is selling MBA with 256 GB SSD for 1499 dollars. That's 100 dollars less than retail price of 1599 dollars. So it will be 200 dollars more instead of 300 dollars. But, still I think it's still too expensive.
No, it's way overpriced. But, again. SSD is expensive. Look at other companies they do not come with SSD as standard. Samsung series 9 is even pricier than MBA, so can't really complain.
Also, Bestbuy is selling MBA with 256 GB SSD for 1499 dollars. That's 100 dollars less than retail price of 1599 dollars. So it will be 200 dollars more instead of 300 dollars. But, still I think it's still too expensive.
Depends on your use case.
I opted to purchase the 128GB model and spend the additional $300 on a 2TB Time Capsule. It just made more sense for me.
I opted to purchase the 128GB model and spend the additional $300 on a 2TB Time Capsule. It just made more sense for me.
Overpriced in what sense? The price difference on 120-128GB vs 256SSDs is around $250 or so. That is not "way overpriced" given you can't really upgrade on your own later.
To the OP, if you have the money get it. An external is the cheaper option but why not get both an external for backup and the 256GB for everyday use.
Overpriced in sense that all the apple products are high priced and they make huge money from it. SSD prices are falling everyday. You can upgrade your SSD. It's not easy though. But, again. other competitors are even more expensive than apple.
I'd put some of that $300 towards a large external magnetic drive instead. SSD storage is wonderful for what it is, but the price per GB is appalling and failure rates tend to be relatively high. Going with a larger drive implies that you intend to store a lot of data on it, and SSDs aren't really suited for that. Frequent minor write operations will eventually result in performance degradation and you don't want to risk losing all of your data in the event of a drive failure.
I'm doing just fine with a 128 GB SSD in my MBP, but that machine is a satellite to a desktop with several terrabytes of magnetic storage.
I'm doing just fine with a 128 GB SSD in my MBP, but that machine is a satellite to a desktop with several terrabytes of magnetic storage.
Apple SSD's have TRIM, so degredation isnt really an issue.
For things like MBPs, SandForce SSDs don't suffer from performance degradation either.
Apple products are priced along the same lines as business laptops and SSD prices have not fallen much. Nobody is selling the SSDs that Apple are using at the except OWC: http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC/Aura_Pro_Express
Which is a lot more than Apple is charging.
TRIM mitigates degradation; it doesn't prevent it outright. Here's a relatively non-technical explanation: http://www.anandtech.com/show/2738/10. The SandForce controllers feature internal garbage collection in addition to trim (though TRIM is not officially supported for third party drives in OS X, sadly).
The good news is that you can ultimately restore performance with a secure erase (i.e. a partition reformat followed by a 0-pass overwrite), so SSD performance degradation isn't necessarily permanent. It's just a pain to fix.
It's nuts Apple doesn't support TRIM (except with their own drives). Basically without it, SSDs hit half speed writes...still not the end of the world, but...
Anyway, the problem with external storage of course is it's much less convenient, and takes up another USB port.
I *THINK* a 256GB (240 really, or whatever) would be just barely livable for me for a lot of stuff, with some room for my shows from my Tivo, etc. 128 is really, REALLY pushing it. 64 is...okay for a kind of single use system, I guess.
Anyway, the problem with external storage of course is it's much less convenient, and takes up another USB port.
I *THINK* a 256GB (240 really, or whatever) would be just barely livable for me for a lot of stuff, with some room for my shows from my Tivo, etc. 128 is really, REALLY pushing it. 64 is...okay for a kind of single use system, I guess.
It actually isn't. Based on it's performance it's about the only reasonable upgrade apple sells.
Ultimately, it depends on your usage.
I'm being frugal with my HD space right now, just because I'm paranoid that I'll run out of space eventually. But really, it should only run out if you keep your iTunes library on there or a lot of videos. I got a nice 2 TB external hard drive to back up my info and keep whatever libraries I have on there. So now I'm only about 40 gb in the base 128 gb SSD model and I have plenty of space to go.
Nowadays, the only applications that should really take a lot of space are video games. I installed Team Fortress 2 (which runs great!) and it took up 10 gbs. If you have the money though, by all means go for it, it wouldn't hurt.
I'm being frugal with my HD space right now, just because I'm paranoid that I'll run out of space eventually. But really, it should only run out if you keep your iTunes library on there or a lot of videos. I got a nice 2 TB external hard drive to back up my info and keep whatever libraries I have on there. So now I'm only about 40 gb in the base 128 gb SSD model and I have plenty of space to go.
Nowadays, the only applications that should really take a lot of space are video games. I installed Team Fortress 2 (which runs great!) and it took up 10 gbs. If you have the money though, by all means go for it, it wouldn't hurt.
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256 isn't enough for me anyway so I'm just getting the 128 and putting my entire iMovie library on an external drive. Not worth the $300 IMO.
256 isn't enough for me anyway so I'm just getting the 128 and putting my entire iMovie library on an external drive. Not worth the $300 IMO.
That's something worth considering-I can see how that could be the case for a lot of people.
For me...well, I used to have a 320GB, and that got SUPER tight, and I'm on 500GB, which is fine...I *THINK* 256 is decent for me if I'm careful.
Yes.
it ain't cheap, but you cant upgrade, so might as well max out
You can upgrade easily, someone linked available OWC upgrades above.
Some people order 128GB Airs and upgrade them to 480GB right away. It costs more than the Air itself but hey
I linked the OWC but at the price they charge, there is no reason you should be buying it from them. Get the 256 if you need/can afford it.
With 360GB at $750 it's not that far from what Apple charges for the 128GB extra ($300) and you're left with a spare 128GB SSD chip that likely will be thunderbolt-linkable sooner or later.
For a lot of people who are going to need extra SSD for work it's not that much morestill a better deal than a MacBook Pro with 256GB SSD.
