Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Spend Extra or go External?

jessep28

jessep28

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 8, 2006
380
0
Omaha, NE
I blame you all for converting me to the Mac world...haha. I enjoy my iMac so much, but that notebook desire is eating at me again.

Now that the C2D Macbooks are out I want to get a notebook before I have to deal with "real bills" when I graduate this spring.

The White C2D Macbook runs $1356 EDU Priced - I factored in a 2GB upgrade for RAM. I feel that is necessary for maximum performance.

Question #1:

Would you recommend spending the $135 for the extra 40 GB of HD space, or would you recommend an external HD? The extra 40 GB is expensive, but of course nothing beats the convenience of internal.

I don't do any video editing or store tons of movies, but I am going into accounting, so I may at some point need to throw windows on there, which of course needs a minimum of a 15GB (Vista) partition plus space for programs and files.

Question #2

WHo makes the best external hard drives?

Thanks again.

Jesse
 
jessep28 said:
Question #1:

Would you recommend spending the $135 for the extra 40 GB of HD space, or would you recommend an external HD? The extra 40 GB is expensive, but of course nothing beats the convenience of internal.

I don't do any video editing or store tons of movies, but I am going into accounting, so I may at some point need to throw windows on there, which of course needs a minimum of a 15GB (Vista) partition plus space for programs and files.
Click to expand...


I am a huge proponent of getting as much internal HD space as you can afford in a portable. Having to lug around an external to do everything you want defeats the purpose of having a portable to begin with.

Oh, and welcome to the wonderful world of accounting. :)
And for what its worth (coming from a public accountant), unless you're going into business for yourself or going into some specialized industry in the field, I dont see why you'd be doing work on your personal computer. Most firms wouldnt want you having confidential corporate information on an unsecured personal computer anyway.
 
tkidBOSTON said:
Oh, and welcome to the wonderful world of accounting. :)
And for what its worth (coming from a public accountant), unless you're going into business for yourself or going into some specialized industry in the field, I dont see why you'd be doing work on your personal computer. Most firms wouldnt want you having confidential corporate information on an unsecured personal computer anyway.
Click to expand...

I never thought of that and it makes sense on the confidentially standpoint. That makes me happy since I probably won't be using personal resources for work.

I can't wait to get out of school this Spring. It will be a euphoric period until I start my "real job" and then soon going back to my University for Graduate work so I can sit for the CPA exam...boatloads of fun! :)

I may just try to take some of the "easier" exams while working for my CPA, primarily the CFE exam. Forensic accounting sounds interesting.
 
As it's a portable, I agree that you should get as much internal as possible/reasonable.

But, if money is your main concern, decide what size HDD you will need internal and you could always have an external (or several as in my case) that I keep at home for all the stuff not required on the portables or that I share between all my computers.

And, if it comes down to it and I know I'll need something on the externals while out and about, I just make sure I can access the drives over the net before I leave (good for big files that I don't want to copy over and over, put it on my iPod (which I carry around always anyway) for access from the portable or - if it fits - put it on a flash drive.
 
Well 80GB should be plenty for me. I have 250 on my iMac and Finder tells me I have 209 left.

I had 40 on my Windows machine from 4 years ago and came close, but never filled up the HD.
 
The 2GB RAM from Apple is actually pretty reasonably priced! So you can't go wrong there. I would get the 120GB drive if you can afford it! Otherwise 80GB is perfectly fine, but realize once you have the OS + install other apps + iTunes you've used up like 40GB (more or less, depending on your iTunes library size). :eek:
 
tkidBOSTON said:
I am a huge proponent of getting as much internal HD space as you can afford in a portable. Having to lug around an external to do everything you want defeats the purpose of having a portable to begin with.
Click to expand...

My thoughts exactly. Which is why I went for the 200GB hd on the Macbook Pro I just ordered :D
 
tkidBOSTON said:
I am a huge proponent of getting as much internal HD space as you can afford in a portable. Having to lug around an external to do everything you want defeats the purpose of having a portable to begin with.
Click to expand...

I couldn't agree more. Even though my 250GB lacie external HD was a lot cheaper, and a lot more spacious than the biggest HD I could get for my 1G MB (120GB was too small for me), it is a pain to carry around this external HD, and I wish I had waited for the 200GB internal HD that is a BTO option for the current MB's and MBP's.

Oh well...
 
dextertangocci said:
I couldn't agree more. Even though my 250GB lacie external HD was a lot cheaper, and a lot more spacious than the biggest HD I could get for my 1G MB (120GB was too small for me), it is a pain to carry around this external HD, and I wish I had waited for the 200GB internal HD that is a BTO option for the current MB's and MBP's.

Oh well...
Click to expand...

i would get as much internal HD space as possible, esp. with a portable. i waited for 2nd gen c2d mb's just for this and got a 200gb hd for the one i just ordered. should last me a couple of years.
 
Makes sense. I was just curious since I could save $150. But I am willing to spend the money to get a better configuration in the long run. I wanted to see if I could be more economical for $150 and get 6 times the storage space when I needed it.
 
Buy the MacBook with the smallest internal HD you can. The HD on the macbook is user upgradable. It is easy to swap it out and put in a new one. Then buy a 160GB drive for about $95 and put that in. Now for only $95 more you not only have a large internal drive but a spare drive that you can install into a firewire or USB enclosure and use for back ups.

Paying Apple for the upgrade is not economical because you don't get to keep the smaller drive and pay a premium for the larger one.
 
Agree w/ ChrisA... on the MB that just ordered today, upgraded the RAM to 2GB, but kept the 80HD. They wanted $315 for the 200GB, which is quite high, IMHO. Plus, the external HD should actually be faster. The $157 for the extra RAM, especially for the digital photography part, to me, was worth that part.
 
MSM Hobbes said:
Agree w/ ChrisA... on the MB that just ordered today, upgraded the RAM to 2GB, but kept the 80HD. They wanted $315 for the 200GB, which is quite high, IMHO. Plus, the external HD should actually be faster. The $157 for the extra RAM, especially for the digital photography part, to me, was worth that part.
Click to expand...

ChrisA makes a good point about the HD = the 200HD is only 180 with the edu discount so i figured it was worth the cost.
 
whawhat said:
ChrisA makes a good point about the HD = the 200HD is only 180 with the edu discount so i figured it was worth the cost.
Click to expand...

Hmmmmmm,,, either my writing is getting so bad I can't read it, but, could have swore that the Apple guy told me today that the education discount for that 200 GB HD was $315. :confused:
 
It's $315 for the 200GB upgrade with Apple EDU pricing:

hdprice.png
 
You can buy a new drive (120GB) for a lot less!

For 135$ bucks you can get this (actually 120$ - 120GB 5400RPM):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822116021

or even this for a little more you can get 160 GB (~$160):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822145113

or may be a 100GB 7200 rpm disk (150$).

As soon as you get the notebook swapt the drives (very easy for the macbook!) ...and sell / make the internal drive as an external drive back up drive.

Paying apple 135$ for 40 gb upgrade is ridiculous.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back