I am buying a new Macbook air and wondering if it's worth the extra money. I currently have a much older Macbook (like the white plastic one, not a pro) and in the "about this computer" information it says there are 4gb of storage, I don't know if this is true or if I am missing something but if it really only has 4gb and I haven't had any storage problems using it for 4 years of college then obviously I will only get 128gb. Does anyone know if the old macbooks really only have about 4gb of storage? or Is 128 really not a lot and I should get 256?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Should I buy 128gb or 256?
- Thread starter shp46
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
the 4GB is for the RAM
look under SATA to see your hard drive, it will tell you its size,amount used, amount of space left, you can make your decision from their
look under SATA to see your hard drive, it will tell you its size,amount used, amount of space left, you can make your decision from their
Gigahertz. its like RPM in a car, a measure of speed. More is better, but its GHZ per core, so 4 slower cores can be better than 2 faster cores.
That 4GB is your RAM.
What kind of stuff are you going to store on your computer?
If it's just applications, photos, documents, some music and a few films then 128GB should last you a good while. If you're going to be storing loads of music, films and games then 256GB is the one for you.
What kind of stuff are you going to store on your computer?
If it's just applications, photos, documents, some music and a few films then 128GB should last you a good while. If you're going to be storing loads of music, films and games then 256GB is the one for you.
Since the internal storage isn't something which can be upgraded later, buy as much as you can afford. The downside is that as long as the storage exists, it will get filled.
I'm going to want to transfer most of my old documents and all my photos and music and it looks like I'm at about 120 right now on this computer so I think I am going to go with the 256, thanks for the help! does anyone know what the ghz is and is it worth paying extra for the bigger one?
What are you main usage patterns? What do you do most on the old Mac you have? What do you see yourself doing in a near future if you get the machine?
GHz is the frequency of CPU as others have said.
SSDs have storage and RAM is memory although both are measured in GB.
Think of RAM as short term memory, like when you cram for a test. When you close the test (or program) that memory is erased.
Storage is like long term memory, for example the text book you should be reading all semester. You may have an error when loading the test, but the information should still be there when you restart.
For any computer without a dedicated graphics card, which includes the MacBook Air, Mac Mini, and low end iMac, 4GB of RAM (memory) may not be enough so for that I would recommend 8GB.
For storage, it seems like 256 may be better than 128 for you BUT, while you may need some songs and some photos on your computer, you should be able to store some on an external drive.
I have 2 external hard drives, 1 Toshiba and 1 Seagate. They hold about 1TB (1000 GB of storage) and only cost about $70 (probably less now). I have all my past school files, work-related files, other stored documents, recorded VHS tapes, DVD collection, photo albums, and music collection on them. On my actual computer I only have about 1GB of photos and videos, 2GB of iMovie files, and about 2GB of music.
External hard drives are much slower than SSDs so they are better for archiving than daily use, but unless you absolutely NEED all of your photos and music on your computer at once, an external hard drive may be better and cheaper than larger SSD.
Why buy a very nice portable computer only to carry around a ton of external hard drives?
That's a mentality I don't understand. The only justification I have for carrying a external is for backup.
You will not notice any difference between 4gb and 8gb of ram.
If you need to run a ton of apps simoultaneously you might want 8.
If you want to run VMs you might want 16.
If you ever manage to exceed 4gb Mavericks will swap to the ssd but pcie ssds are so fast today that there is no lag with normal usage. Storing on externals can get annoying and 128gb might limit the speed by mavericks not being able to swap as much. Overall I think external storage somewhat defeats the purpose of a laptop.
A lot of people jump for the 8gb ram version for peace of mind reasons.
thats why there are great deals on the basemodels with 4gb ram.
Get the 4gb/256gb base model on sale! safe up to 300,- that way and spend your money on other things.
We bought the 4gb/256gb not so long ago and it will certainly last you at least 4years.
Judge the knowledge of the poster
Without any intention on being rude to anyone.
If the original poster did not know who big their hard drive was, I think they are unlikely to be installing second OS's or running virtual machines.
Advice:
If money is tight, get the cheaper one, if you are rich, get the more expensive one.
Without any intention on being rude to anyone.
If the original poster did not know who big their hard drive was, I think they are unlikely to be installing second OS's or running virtual machines.
Advice:
If money is tight, get the cheaper one, if you are rich, get the more expensive one.
Depends.
Primary computer or secondary computer?
Are u going to run parallels or bootcamp.
If you are using it as primary computer and planning in keeping it 2 plus years. Get 256gb ssd.
If you are running parallels or bootcamo. Get 256gb ssd.
Everything else is a toss up.
Primary computer or secondary computer?
Are u going to run parallels or bootcamp.
If you are using it as primary computer and planning in keeping it 2 plus years. Get 256gb ssd.
If you are running parallels or bootcamo. Get 256gb ssd.
Everything else is a toss up.
You make a great point about the SSD being faster than a traditional HDD for paging/swapping.
Nonetheless, SSDs are slower than RAM.
https://forums.macrumors.com/archive/index.php/t-1125624.html
MBAs also need RAM for the GPU, so 4 can become more like 2.5GB and with only 2.5 you will notice more bouts of lag.
With 8GB total you can also make a small RAM disk for help loading and editing certain files and reducing wear on the SSD which is important because SSDs are not as sturdy as HDDs and give less warning before failing.
Though I do agree, a new MBA should last 4 years or so.
Nonetheless, SSDs are slower than RAM.
https://forums.macrumors.com/archive/index.php/t-1125624.html
MBAs also need RAM for the GPU, so 4 can become more like 2.5GB and with only 2.5 you will notice more bouts of lag.
With 8GB total you can also make a small RAM disk for help loading and editing certain files and reducing wear on the SSD which is important because SSDs are not as sturdy as HDDs and give less warning before failing.
Though I do agree, a new MBA should last 4 years or so.