16” upgrade suggestions

[MDiddy]

Hi everyone!

I’m close to pulling the trigger on a new 16”, but I’m concerned it’s not upgradable. So I’m considering going to 32GB / 2TB on the M2 Pro. I do mostly web/mobile development. I’m replacing an early 2015 15” and I’ve upgraded the drive to a 1TB.

I expect to own this one for another 6-7 years or so. Just looking for opinions for or against? If I only do one upgrade, which would be more important and why?

Thank you!

 

[sam_dean]

You can add an external SSD later. SoC & RAM cannot be upgraded without above and beyond methods that is mostly practiced in Shenzhen

Also consider the price of the upgrades you make may cost the equivalent of a newer laptop with better RAM & SSD in 3-4 years time.

I'd only buy more RAM & SSD if you have a use case today and not in half a decade's time.

 

[maflynn]

but I’m concerned it’s not upgradable. So I’m considering going to 32GB / 2TB on the M2 Pro

You're right its not upgradeable, but do you need 2TB of storage? If you can live with 1TB, I suggest that you then rely on iCloud storage for anything non-critical, that offloads any local storage, and as mentioned the use of external drives is an option as well.

Basically, I'd upgrade the ram over storage simply because you have alternatives to mitigate the storage, but not so with the ram

 

[tstafford]

RAM > SSD > Cores for me. I am an aggressive user of iCloud storage mostly because it allows me to access my files from any of my devices. Has the added benefit of keeping SSD size down and making transition to new devices quicker.

 

[Basic75]

I am an aggressive user of iCloud storage mostly because it allows me to access my files from any of my devices.

Is there a way to make a backup of everything on iCloud?

 

[maflynn]

Is there a way to make a backup of everything on iCloud?

Other then copying the data yourself, I don't believe so

 

[tstafford]

Is there a way to make a backup of everything on iCloud?

Technically I think maflynn is correct. Practically it's as simple as downloading the data to the local drive. If you use iCloud, files and folders either have a cloud symbol after their name or not. Ones that have the cloud are not stored locally. One's w/o the cloud are stored both on iCloud and with a local copy as well. If one makes changes to the doc those changes are synchronized. I'm sure there are more sophisticated approaches to cloud storage but iCloud is cheap and works great for me.

 

[Basic75]

Practically it's as simple as downloading the data to the local drive. If you use iCloud, files and folders either have a cloud symbol after their name or not. Ones that have the cloud are not stored locally.

So to make a backup you have to make sure everything is local and then dig around ~/Library to find these local copies? Can you force your Mac to download everything locally in preparation of a backup? Would be useless if some files weren't included.