Should I get a external SSD drive?

[HALE101]

Hi there, I'm a complete newbie to all this stuff but I have a 2017 MacBook pro with only 8 gb of ram, my question is that if I but a Samsung t5 250 gb external ssd what will it do? Does it make my computer run faster? Does it help with streaming HDMI or chromcast? What are other benefits? Sorry if this is a dumb question

 

[mroy16]

An external SSD will only add more storage. The SSD in your laptop is already faster, so you'll not see any sort of speed or performance benefit. All you get is more space for storage or back-up.

 

[jerryk]

First, this has nothing to do with the RAM in your computer. That is used to run programs.

Second, it will not increase the performance of streaming or any other tasks unless the computer's internal drive is getting near full. Then you can use an external drive as a place to store data (ex. pictures, movies, etc) from your computer to free up space on the computer's storage drive.

The other use of an external drive is backup the data on your computers so you can recover files that are lost if the machine is stolen, malfunction, or destroyed, or you accidentally delete them.

 

[Fishrrman]

8gb of RAM is fine for all except the really heavy-duty stuff.
What are you using the computer for?
How large is the internal hard drive?

 

[maerz001]

It's like putting a trailer on a car.

You can put in more stuff but it won't drive faster nor does your oldschool radio suddenly plays MP3s with it

Here a useful tip how to go on:
https://www.digitalunite.com/guides/computer-basics/