NEW 2017 15" MBP: 256GB and iCloud Storage sufficient?

[ducatiti]

Hello all! I haven't been in this section of the forum for years. I finally upgraded from a late 2013 13" MBP to a 2017 15" MBP 1st tier with 256GB. I have always downloaded to my pictures to my iMac but would like to now edit photos on my MBP. I don't play games and don't install much apps.

Having that said, I have around 180GB of pictures and home videos.

-If I manually import this to my new MBP and enable picture backup on iCloud, will iCloud automatically reduce the size of the pictures?

-Is there a way to save all the pictures in iCloud instead of my local drive? I don't want to carry around an external drive and/or dongles when accessing my pictures.

-Last question, if I import pictures from my DSLR to my MBP, will Photos sync automatically with my iPhone. I have 256GB iphone X btw.

I just wanted to know what my options are before I decide to exchange for the 512GB version.

Yes, since I asked, I probably do need a 512GB MPB but would like to know the answers for my questions above =)

Thank you in advance for your kind assistance.

 

[Mobster1983]

Exchange it. I actually just started using iCloud photos this week and it is a big help. But I had to upgrade my iCloud account so now I am paying per month. So get it works great. My MBP hold the main photos and all my albums/events synced right over to my phone and iPad. Personally I prefer the photos on my HD, but I suppose you could keep them solely on the cloud. However, a full HD sure to the smaller size can affect performance and if everything is stored on the cloud you will have to download whenever you open. Not a huge deal, but can be annoying if you are trying to edit or go thru lots of photos on your MBP.

 

[ducatiti]

Exchange it. I actually just started using iCloud photos this week and it is a big help. But I had to upgrade my iCloud account so now I am paying per month. So get it works great. My MBP hold the main photos and all my albums/events synced right over to my phone and iPad. Personally I prefer the photos on my HD, but I suppose you could keep them solely on the cloud. However, a full HD sure to the smaller size can affect performance and if everything is stored on the cloud you will have to download whenever you open. Not a huge deal, but can be annoying if you are trying to edit or go thru lots of photos on your MBP.

Thanks for your input. I may do an exchange.

So how do you configure to save the pictures on iCloud instead of your MBP?

 

[Bending Pixels]

Keep it - buy an external drive and keep all of your images and videos on it. That's what most photographers are doing. You can even do this with Photos for Mac (do a search for "photos for mac and library on separate drive").

You might want to look at something like Lightroom or another DAM for image management and editing.

 

[Mobster1983]

Thanks for your input. I may do an exchange.

So how do you configure to save the pictures on iCloud instead of your MBP?

Open Photos and go to Preferences. Turn on iCloud Photo Library and then "Optimize Mac Storage." This will move the photos onto iCloud if the space on your MBP is limited.

 

[ducatiti]

Open Photos and go to Preferences. Turn on iCloud Photo Library and then "Optimize Mac Storage." This will move the photos onto iCloud if the space on your MBP is limited.

Thanks but when does the system start doing this, when about to run out of space?

 

[Jaekae]

i had a 256gb macbook pro for some years and the only thing i was regretting was to not get 512gb or more

 

[whg]

. . . I finally upgraded from a late 2013 13" MBP to a 2017 15" MBP 1st tier with 256GB. . . .

I just wanted to know what my options are before I decide to exchange for the 512GB version.

Yes, since I asked, I probably do need a 512GB MPB but would like to know the answers for my questions above =)
. . .

Do yourself a favour and exchange for the 512GB SSD. Even if 256GB are big enough today, keep your new Macbook more future proof. I also think that you should never fill up an SSD for best performance. An external storage defeats the purpose of a notebook, in my opinion. It's OK for backups, but nor for all time use.

Many on these forums also recommend to buy AppleCare, so that you are save for 3 years in the case your keyboard gets a problem. While I personally like the new keyboards, there is some evidence that they are less robust than previous versions.

 

[ducatiti]

Do yourself a favour and exchange for the 512GB SSD. Even if 256GB are big enough today, keep your new Macbook more future proof. I also think that you should never fill up an SSD for best performance. An external storage defeats the purpose of a notebook, in my opinion. It's OK for backups, but nor for all time use.

Many on these forums also recommend to buy AppleCare, so that you are save for 3 years in the case your keyboard gets a problem. While I personally like the new keyboards, there is some evidence that they are less robust than previous versions.

Thank you for the suggestions.

Will a keyboard protector help the probable failure? I have not read much of the problems and don’t intend to It will just give me worries lol.

 

[Fishrrman]

I wouldn't trust "the cloud" -- not Apple's iCloud or anybody else's -- as my only backup.

You need something "within immediate reach of your hands". What if you can't get to the cloud in a moment of need?

I'd suggest an external drive (could be an SSD, or even a platter-based HDD will do), and either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper to create a BOOTABLE cloned backup.

There's nothing that can "get you going again" in an "I can't boot!" moment faster than a cloned backup (assuming the boot problem is due to something on your drive).

Cloud backup might be useful in a complete disaster (such as a fire, in which the physical computer is lost), but something "close-at-hand" can be very handy otherwise.

 

[Dark]

I just purchased a refurb nTB 13" with base 128gig ssd and upgraded 16gig ram for work.

Even though I have an iMac at home, I am thinking about the storage in my new MBP. (Call it Paranoia)

Between my iCloud drive, OneDrive and Google Drive I have all the storage in the world for my files. The only content on my internal drive other than the OS is my apps. For my purposes I opted for the ram upgrade over the storage. Worst case I always add an external drive.

Being that this is your main machine, and you use it for photo editing the 512gb may not be the worst idea.....

 

[ducatiti]

I just purchased a refurb nTB 13" with base 128gig ssd and upgraded 16gig ram for work.

Even though I have an iMac at home, I am thinking about the storage in my new MBP. (Call it Paranoia)

Between my iCloud drive, OneDrive and Google Drive I have all the storage in the world for my files. The only content on my internal drive other than the OS is my apps. For my purposes I opted for the ram upgrade over the storage. Worst case I always add an external drive.

Being that this is your main machine, and you use it for photo editing the 512gb may not be the worst idea.....

Mind sharing how one drive works, or Google? Does it act like the a photo app of which you can access the pics like Photos? With 200GB of photo, what’s the cheapest form of storage? I don’t really want to pay $9.99 per month for 2TB.

 

[PBG4 Dude]

Exchange for the 512GB SSD model. You’ll get better CPU (larger on-chip cache) and GPU (4GB VRAM) as well.

Your photo album isn’t going to get smaller.

 

[parseckadet]

Relying on any one form of storage is a mistake, cloud or otherwise. You need to follow the 3-2-1 methodology.
3: Stuff is kept in three different places; one is your primary workspace/disk, the other two are backups.
2: Backups are on two different forms of media. So your SSD would be one form, and the cloud would be a second.
1: One of those backups needs to be physically located off-site. This is to prevent data loss in the event of a catastrophic even, such as your house burning down.

So given all of this, and given how the optimize storage feature works in Photos, I would not suggest using that feature if this is your ONLY Mac. Its nature makes it too difficult to create full backups. But iCloud photo storage does work well, and I think you could use it to satisfy conditions 2 and 1.

 

[tomdwan]

Hello all! I haven't been in this section of the forum for years. I finally upgraded from a late 2013 13" MBP to a 2017 15" MBP 1st tier with 256GB. I have always downloaded to my pictures to my iMac but would like to now edit photos on my MBP. I don't play games and don't install much apps.

Having that said, I have around 180GB of pictures and home videos.

-If I manually import this to my new MBP and enable picture backup on iCloud, will iCloud automatically reduce the size of the pictures?

-Is there a way to save all the pictures in iCloud instead of my local drive? I don't want to carry around an external drive and/or dongles when accessing my pictures.

-Last question, if I import pictures from my DSLR to my MBP, will Photos sync automatically with my iPhone. I have 256GB iphone X btw.

I just wanted to know what my options are before I decide to exchange for the 512GB version.

Yes, since I asked, I probably do need a 512GB MPB but would like to know the answers for my questions above =)

Thank you in advance for your kind assistance.

I have the 512GB version, and it fills up in no time, so yes, definitely get at least 512GB. I also think that for most people, the 512GB and 4GB graphics card is the best configuration.